Pennsylvania · Private foundation
The Specter Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $5.5M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 62
- Grants FY2024
- 73
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 58%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $3,483,333
- Organizations funded a year
- 49 to 73
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 6
- Total assets, FY2024
- $44M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 58% of the organizations The Specter Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 20% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $869k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 56 | $5.3M | 23% |
| FY2023 | 73 | $4.4M | 58% |
| FY2022 | 72 | $5.5M | 43% |
| FY2021 | 55 | $1.9M | 29% |
| FY2020 | 49 | $5.5M | 16% |
| FY2019 | 60 | $5.9M | 43% |
| FY2018 | 61 | $1.9M | 26% |
| FY2017 | 64 | $1.6M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drexel University | $8,704,479 | 5 | 0% |
| Share Food Program | $6,841,666 | 7 | 7% |
| Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School | $1,481,600 | 6 | 1% |
| Cambridge in America | $756,850 | 5 | 1% |
| Our Generation Speaks Inc | $246,000 | 3 | 6% |
| Har Zion Temple | $137,050 | 8 | n/a |
| Steel City Squash Inc | $105,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Society Hill Synagogue | $100,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Drueding Center | $95,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends | $88,333 | 3 | n/a |
Show all 118 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 98 recipients with no EIN on record ($12M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Specter Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: The Saramar Charitable Fund · The William Penn Foundation · The Philadelphia Foundation · Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey · Erlbaum Family Foundation · The Daniel B and Florence E Green Foundation · Katz Family Charitable Trust · Daniel M Tabas Family Foundation · The Gordon Charter Foundation · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Specter Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Specter Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
About The Specter Foundation
- How much does The Specter Foundation give?
- The Specter Foundation reported 62 grants totaling $5,493,616 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 49 and 73 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does The Specter Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (41%), Food & Nutrition (31%), Recreation & Sports (17%).
- Who are The Specter Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Drexel University ($8.7M), Share Food Program ($6.8M), Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School ($1.5M).
- Does The Specter Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 58% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Specter Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Specter Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Saramar Charitable Fund, The William Penn Foundation, The Philadelphia Foundation.
- Where is The Specter Foundation based?
- The Specter Foundation is based in PA.
Play a game based on Specter’s filings →