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The Spira Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Spira Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$3.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

67% of The Spira Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to National Philanthropic Trust, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

1
’20
2
’21
2
’22
1
’23
2
’24
1
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Philanthropy$2.0MInternational$1.0MFood & Nutrition$239kHousing & Shelter$225kEducation$150kHealth$95kEnvironment$49k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PROJECT HOPE$1,000,000
NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST$1,000,000
DAFGIVING360$1,000,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 62% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $1.0M → 7%SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK: $45k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50k → 22%OPERATION HOPE NORTH COUNTY: $150k → 11%PROJECT HOPE: $1.0M → 14%ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $45k → 17%CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION: $49k → 6%MARYLAND FOOD BANK: $50k → 11%SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK: $25k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50k → 22%OPERATION HOPE NORTH COUNTY: $75k → 11%MARYLAND FOOD BANK: $49k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IMMUNE HEALTH INNOVATION FUND: $50k → 22%MARYLAND FOOD BANK: $45k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50k → 22%MARYLAND FOOD BANK: $25k → 11%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.
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.

28%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$464k · 3 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
4

Total granted

$464k
$193k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+74%

Still filing today

67%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalHousing & ShelterHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • OH
    OPERATION HOPE-NORTH COUNTY INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $225k · revenue +66%
  • TM
    THE MARYLAND FOOD BANK INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $169k · revenue +18%
  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK
    2× · 2020–2021 · $70k

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IMMUNE HEALTH INNOVATION FUND
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $49k · revenue -5%
  • SK
    SUSAN KOMEN FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $49k
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
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
2
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
3
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
4
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

For more than 125 years, the mission of the johns hopkins hospital has been to lead the world in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and to train tomorrow's great physicians, nurses and scientists. above all, we aim to provide the…

Health
5
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
6
National Network of Public Health Institutes Inc

The national network of public health institutes, inc. (nnphi) is a national public health organization chartered on june 21, 2001. its mission is to support national public health system initiatives and strengthen public health institutes…

Health
7
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
8
The Poptech Institute

Poptech's mission is to accelerate the positive impact of world-changing people, projects and ideas. founded in 1996 by bob metcalfe (inventor, ethernet) and john sculley (apple, pepsi), poptech originally provided a forum to critically…

Education
9
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
10
Marc Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Foundation

The lustgarten foundation is the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research in the world. see schedule o.the lustgarten foundation is boldly leading the way through hope and innovation, turning fear into action through education…

Human Services
11
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
12
The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Fdn Group

Susan g. komen 's mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities & investing in breakthrough research to prevent & cure breast cancer.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Philanthropic Trust; the most unlike its peers is The Maryland Food Bank Inc. 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

8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 11 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
5/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,000,000 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INCNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $1,000,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUSTPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 · InternationalPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-…THE MARYLAND FOOD BANK INC: $169,000 · OtherTHE MARYLA…SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK: $70,000 · OtherSECOND HAR…UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IMMUNE HEALTH INNOVATION FUND: $50,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY…SUSAN KOMEN FOUNDATION: $49,000 · OtherSUSAN KOME…OPERATION HOPE-NORTH COUNTY INC: $225,000 · Housing & ShelterTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $150,000 · EducationCHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION INC: $49,000 · EnvironmentST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $45,000 · Health
Philanthropy$2,000,000International$1,000,000Other$338,000Housing & Shelter$225,000Education$150,000Environment$49,000Health$45,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOPERATION HOPE-NORTH COUNTY INC: $225,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetTHE MARYLAND FOOD BANK INC: $169,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION INC: $49,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $45,000 over 1y, 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • The Maryland Food Bank Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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.

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 11 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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