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The Specter Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2024still arriving
62
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$3.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$14MFood & Nutrition$10MRecreation & Sports$5.8MCrime & Legal$1.0MPhilanthropy$834kArts & Culture$463kReligion$375kInternational$243kOther$0
02FY2024 · 62 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k42 grants · $138k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $226k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $647k
  • $250k+2 grants · $4.5M
$5,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$44M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SHAREFOOD$3,483,333
UC LAW SAN FRANCISCO$1,000,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA$201,000
CAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA$126,850
DREXEL UNIVERSITY FUND$100,000
DELAWARE VALLEY FRIENDS SCHOOL$83,333
OUR GENERATION SPEAKS$82,000
TRIBE 12$53,500
HAR ZION TEMPLE$27,500
SQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE$25,000
US SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOCIATION$25,000
WEITZMAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY$25,000
HOLY REDEEMER HEALTH SYSTEMS DEV DEPT$25,000
US SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOCIATION$25,000
PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL$18,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $196k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 80% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PROJECT HOME: $10k → 9%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $5k → 7%CHILDREN FIRST: $8k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $4k → 7%CHILDREN FIRST: $5k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $3k → 7%CHILDREN FIRST: $5k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $3k → 7%THE DRUEDING CENTER: $35k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $2k → 7%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $1k → 7%PUBLIC CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: $3k → 22%DRUEDING CENTER: $25k → 22%PUBLIC CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: $3k → 22%DRUEDING CENTER: $20k → 22%PUBLIC CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: $3k → 22%DRUEDING CENTER: $10k → 22%DRUEDING CENTER: $5k → 22%PUBLIC CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: $1k → 22%CHILDREN FIRST: $1k → 22%CHARITY WATER: $500 → 17%PROJECT HOME: $5k → 22%MOTHER'S HOME: $3k → 10%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $2k → 7%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $2k → 7%WOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $2k → 7%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $1k → 7%WOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $1k → 7%WOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $1k → 7%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $500 → 7%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $500 → 7%WOMENS CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $500 → 7%WOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $500 → 7%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE: $13k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $5k → 22%CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (: $3k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $1k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $3k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $3k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $2k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $1k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $1k → 22%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
IA
PA
NJ
CA
CO
MD
NC
DC
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$30M · 100 repeat orgs$2.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

100 repeat relationships: 43 still active in FY2024, 57 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

100
103

Total granted

$30M
$2.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+12%

Still filing today

58%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $226k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalHealthEnvironmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • DU
    DREXEL UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2018–2022 · $8.7M · revenue +7%
  • SF
    SHARE FOOD PROGRAM
    7× · 2017–2023 · $6.8M · revenue +572%
  • RA
    RAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL
    6× · 2017–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +56%

Funded once

  • PC
    PENN CHARTER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M
  • PS
    PENN SQUASH CENTER
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • BU
    BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY (OUR GENERATION SPEAKS)
    one grant, 2023 · $144k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
2
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
3
Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media

Philadelphia jewish film and medias mission is to educate and engage diverse philadelphia communities, jewish and non-jewish alike, by presenting world-class film premieres, repertory cinema, and associated programs that are inspired by…

Human Services
4
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

To prepare students for the rabbinate and to issue the traditional certificate of ordination in connection therewith. the seminary is authorized to confer the degree of master of hebrew literature (m.h.l.), doctor of hebrew literature…

Education
5
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
6
Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life At the Penn State University

To enrich the lives of jewish and undergraduate students so that they may enrich the jewish people and the world. penn state hillel's student leaders, professionals, and lay leaders are dedicated to creating a pluralistic, welcoming, and…

—
7
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
8
Saint Joseph's University

As philadelphia's jesuit catholic university, saint joseph's provides a rigorous, student-centered education rooted in the liberal arts. we prepare students for personal excellence, professional success, and engaged citizenship. striving…

Education
9
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
10
Fuchs Mizrachi Schools

The mission of fuchs mizrachi school is to educate each child in the orthodox jewish religious zionist tradition, imbued with the love of g-d, torah, people and the land of israel.

—
11
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
12
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Family & Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia; the most unlike its peers is Lower Merion Conservancy. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

118 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 118 of the 223 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
115/118
Grantees still filing
86/118
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

US SQUASH: $4,838,334 · OtherUS SQUASHSHAREFOOD: $3,508,333 · OtherSHAREFOODRAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $1,481,600 · OtherRAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOLUC LAW SAN FRANCISCO: $1,013,000 · OtherUC LAW SAN FRANCISCOPENN CHARTER SCHOOL: $1,000,000 · OtherPENN CHARTER SCHOOL+134 more: $2,701,071 · Other+134 moreDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $8,704,479 · EducationDREXEL UNIVERSITYTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $897,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENN…+21 more: $813,350 · Education+21 moreSHARE FOOD PROGRAM: $6,841,666 · Food & NutritionSHARE FOOD PROGRAM+2 more: $37,000 · Food & NutritionCAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA: $756,850 · InternationalBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $35,000 · InternationalJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $31,400 · International+7 more: $19,800 · InternationalJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $499,000 · PhilanthropyAMERICA GIVES INC: $20,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $21,500 · PhilanthropyOUR GENERATION SPEAKS INC: $246,000 · Arts & CultureWEITZMAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY: $27,500 · Arts & CulturePHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $24,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK YOUTH SYMPHONY INC: $13,750 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $28,000 · Arts & CultureDRUEDING CENTER: $95,000 · Human ServicesChildren First PA: $29,500 · Human ServicesJEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $17,400 · Human ServicesJEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH: $12,500 · Human ServicesWOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $10,500 · Human ServicesPROJECT HOME: $10,000 · Human ServicesHOPEPHL: $8,500 · Human Services+3 more: $12,500 · Human Services
Other$14,542,338Education$10,414,829Food & Nutrition$6,878,666International$843,050Philanthropy$540,500Arts & Culture$339,250Human Services$195,900

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $8,704,479 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetSHARE FOOD PROGRAM: $6,841,666 over 7y, 6.8% of budgetRAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $1,481,600 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $897,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA: $756,850 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $499,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $320,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetOUR GENERATION SPEAKS INC: $246,000 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetSTEEL CITY SQUASH INC: $105,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetDRUEDING CENTER: $95,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetWILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $85,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCORPORATION OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE: $80,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetOrot: $56,900 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetTRIBE 12: $53,500 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetSQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC: $37,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetPHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY: $35,600 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER PHILADELPHIA COALITION AGAINST HUNGER: $32,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $31,400 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMACCABI USA INC: $31,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetChildren First PA: $29,500 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetWEITZMAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY: $27,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $24,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSQUASHDRIVE: $22,500 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $22,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUC LAW SF FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICA GIVES INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $20,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $17,400 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S CRISIS TREATMENT CENTER: $16,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetVETRI FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN: $15,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetRACQUET CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNEW YORK YOUTH SYMPHONY INC: $13,750 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetTHE ROCK SCHOOL FOR DANCE EDUCATION: $12,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJEWBELONG INC: $12,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LEKET ISRAEL INC: $12,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICA SHARE USA INC: $12,247 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetJACK M BARRACK HEBREW ACADEMY: $12,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $12,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetWOMEN'S CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $10,500 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT HOME: $10,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY PHILADELPHIA INC: $8,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOPEPHL: $8,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMaternity Care Coalition: $8,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds DREXEL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds SHARE FOOD PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds RAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds CAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA ↗
  • Who funds BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds OUR GENERATION SPEAKS INC ↗
  • Who funds STEEL CITY SQUASH INC ↗
  • Who funds DRUEDING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds CORPORATION OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Orot ↗
  • Who funds TRIBE 12 ↗
  • Who funds SQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GREATER PHILADELPHIA COALITION AGAINST HUNGER ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗
  • Who funds MACCABI USA INC ↗

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.

The Saramar Charitabl…The William Penn Foun…The Philadelphia Foun…Jewish Federation of …Henry Dolfinger 2 Tru…United Way of Greater…Erlbaum Family Founda…The Daniel B and Flor…Katz Family Charitabl…Daniel M Tabas Family…The Gordon Charter Fo…Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…
The Saramar Charitable FundPA52.6× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Specter Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Specter Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Brandeis University: 9% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Mount Holyoke College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
26report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

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.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 223 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Specter’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home