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The Townsend Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Townsend Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$8.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
48
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$26MYouth Development$4.7MEmployment$3.7MCivil Rights$2.1MFood & Nutrition$1.2MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.2MHealth$1.2MInternational$780kOther$0
02FY2024 · 48 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $457k
  • $50k–250k14 grants · $1.5M
  • $250k+10 grants · $6.5M
$50,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$25k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA$1,500,000
Individual grant recipient$1,200,000
CATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS$1,000,000
HOPEWORKS$500,000
HOPEWORKS$500,000
U-GO INITIATIVE$500,000
U-GO INITIATIVE$350,000
MIGHTY WRITERS$350,000
NETWORK ADVOCATES FOR CATH SOC JUST$350,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS$250,000
INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCI$200,000
CAMDEN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL$200,000
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FDN$200,000
BERKS CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL$150,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF CAMDEN COUNT$125,000
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 (FY18–24, $3.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%U-GO INITIATIVE: $500k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $500k → 10%CATHEDRAL KITCHEN: $50k → 12%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $50k → 8%U-GO INITIATIVE: $500k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $250k → 10%CATHEDRAL KITCHEN: $35k → 12%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $35k → 8%U-GO INITIATIVE: $350k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $100k → 10%CATHEDRAL KITCHEN: $35k → 12%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $30k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $100k → 10%CATHEDRAL KITCHEN: $25k → 12%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $25k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $100k → 10%CATHEDRAL KITCHEN: $25k → 12%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $25k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $50k → 10%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $25k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $10k → 10%HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $25k → 8%INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCI: $200k → 12%INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCI: $35k → 12%INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCI: $15k → 12%INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCI: $10k → 12%INTERFAITH HOMELESS OUTREACH COUNCIL: $10k → 12%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

MN
NY
MA
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CA
VA
MD
DC
AL
FL
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$40M · 48 repeat orgs$3.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

48 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
39

Total granted

$40M
$3.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+23%

Still filing today

69%
31%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $590k 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
EducationHuman ServicesInternationalHealthYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitOther
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

  • HP
    HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA
    7× · 2018–2024 · $5.2M · revenue +332%
  • H'
    HOPEWORKS 'N CAMDEN INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.9M · revenue +576%
  • MIGHTY WRITERS
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.4M · revenue +521%

Funded once

  • U
    U-GO
    one grant, 2022 · $500k
  • PS
    PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT
    one grant, 2018 · $425k
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC
    one grant, 2017 · $300k · revenue +12%
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
Equal Opportunity Schools

Equal opportunity schools' mission is to strengthen educator and system leader capacity to break down barriers to increase access, belonging, and success in rigorous college and career-prep secondary school courses for students of color…

Education
2
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

United way's mission is to end intergenerational poverty in our region by harnessing, leveraging and strategically investing the collective power of donors, advocates and volunteers, to help individuals and families break the cycle of…

Philanthropy
3
Foundations Inc

Foundations is dedicated to improving the quality of education for our nation's most vulnerable children by strengthening the skills of educators through professional learning. foundations, inc. is a not-for-profit educational service…

—
4
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
5
Springboard Collaborative

Springboard collaborative combines targeted student instruction with parent training in an incentivized system that closes the literacy gap, by transferring the summer from a barrier into a springboard for financially disadvantaged…

Human Services
6
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
7
The New York Opportunity Network Inc Dba the Opportunity Network

The opportunity network ignites the drive, curiosity, and agency of underrepresented students on their paths to and through college and into thriving careers, powered by our commitment to access and community.

Education
8
The Philadelphia Education Fund

The mission of the philadelphia education fund (pef) is to create equitable access to opportunities for students by providing resources and expertise that build paths to college and career success. pef focuses on philadelphia public school…

Youth Development
9
Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia

With over 20 years of experience and over 30,000 scholarships awarded, csfp provides philadelphia children with eight-year, needs-based scholarships to attend safe, quality, k-8th grade schools. continued on schedule o.supporting…

Education
10
Children First Pa

Summary

Human Services
11
Read Alliance Inc

Read alliance, inc (read alliance) works to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities. read impacts two populations…

Education
12
Albright College

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Reading Partners; the most unlike its peers is Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council. 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

47 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. 47 of the 90 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
46/47
Grantees still filing
37/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS CAMDEN: $6,750,000 · OtherCATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS CAMDENCAMDEN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $1,736,265 · OtherCAMDEN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLIndividual grant recipient: $1,630,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: $1,500,000 · OtherAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNIONRACC FOUNDATION: $835,000 · OtherBERKS CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL INC: $675,000 · Other+51 more: $7,110,735 · Other+51 moreHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $5,200,000 · EducationHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIAHOPEWORKS 'N CAMDEN INC: $3,880,171 · EducationHOPEWORKS 'N CAMDEN INCMIGHTY WRITERS: $3,365,000 · EducationMIGHTY WRITERSDONORSCHOOSEORG: $1,802,618 · EducationDONORSCHOOSEORGROOM TO READ: $800,000 · Education+12 more: $2,004,991 · Education+12 moreU-GO INITIATIVE: $1,350,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,210,000 · Human ServicesInterfaith Homeless Outreach Council: $270,000 · Human ServicesHEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $215,000 · Human ServicesTHE CATHEDRAL SOUP KITCHEN INC: $170,000 · Human ServicesFeeding America: $900,000 · Food & NutritionPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $300,000 · HealthThe Fistula Foundation: $280,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF NORTHERN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY INC: $150,000 · Health+1 more: $10,000 · HealthNETWORK EDUCATION PROGRAM NETWORK ADVOCATES FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE: $575,000 · Public BenefitCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $120,000 · Public BenefitInternational Rescue Committee INC: $350,000 · InternationalHIAS INC: $300,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $25,000 · International+1 more: $5,000 · International
Other$20,237,000Education$17,052,780Human Services$3,215,000Food & Nutrition$900,000Health$740,000Public Benefit$695,000International$680,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS CAMDEN: $6,750,000 over 7y, 16% of budgetHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $5,200,000 over 7y, 19% of budgetHOPEWORKS 'N CAMDEN INC: $3,880,171 over 8y, 18% of budgetMIGHTY WRITERS: $3,365,000 over 8y, 19% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $1,802,618 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetU-GO INITIATIVE: $1,350,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,210,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $900,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetROOM TO READ: $800,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetNETWORK EDUCATION PROGRAM NETWORK ADVOCATES FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE: $575,000 over 6y, 10% of budgetBOOKSMILES A NEW JERSEY NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $477,000 over 6y, 74% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $450,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFIRST BOOK: $425,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES PARTNERSHIPS: $410,000 over 8y, 15% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $350,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $300,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHIAS INC: $300,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGREAT ASPIRATIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM INC: $300,000 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetCAMDEN COUNTY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $291,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetThe Fistula Foundation: $280,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetInterfaith Homeless Outreach Council: $270,000 over 4y, 42% of budgetATLANTIC CAPE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI: $250,991 over 6y, 6.9% of budgetLA SALLE UNIVERSITY: $250,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: $215,000 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetNATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS: $200,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBESS THE BOOK BUS INC: $175,000 over 5y, 8.4% of budgetTHE CATHEDRAL SOUP KITCHEN INC: $170,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetHOPE PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION: $160,000 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetGUADALUPE FAMILY SERVICES INC: $160,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetCLEVELAND KIDS' BOOK BANK: $150,000 over 5y, 8.3% of budgetREACH OUT AND READ INC: $150,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF NORTHERN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY INC: $150,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE COOPER FOUNDATION INC: $125,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $120,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetPROPEL AMERICA: $100,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CAMDEN COUNTY INC: $40,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREADING PARTNERS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLITERACY COUNCIL OF READING-BERKS: $15,500 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetPHILADELPHIA YOUTH ORGANIZATION: $15,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetThe Magee Memorial Hospital for Convalescents: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEXCELLENT EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE INC: $9,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetHUMANITARIAN SOCIAL INNOVATIONS: $5,000 over 1y, 2.6% 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 CATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS CAMDEN ↗
  • Who funds HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA ↗
  • Who funds HOPEWORKS 'N CAMDEN INC ↗
  • Who funds MIGHTY WRITERS ↗
  • Who funds DONORSCHOOSEORG ↗
  • Who funds U-GO INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds Feeding America ↗
  • Who funds ROOM TO READ ↗
  • Who funds NETWORK EDUCATION PROGRAM NETWORK ADVOCATES FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds BOOKSMILES A NEW JERSEY NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds FIRST BOOK ↗
  • Who funds AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES PARTNERSHIPS ↗
  • Who funds International Rescue Committee INC ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds HIAS INC ↗
  • Who funds GREAT ASPIRATIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds CAMDEN COUNTY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds The Fistula Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council ↗
  • Who funds ATLANTIC CAPE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI ↗
  • Who funds LA SALLE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds BESS THE BOOK BUS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CATHEDRAL SOUP KITCHEN 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.

United Way of Greater…Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…The Philadelphia Foun…The William Penn Foun…Community Foundation …Domenica Foundation I…Oceanfirst FoundationRavitz Family Foundat…Wsfs Cares FoundationAmerican Water Charit…Td Charitable Foundat…David and Marilyn Kru…
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New JerseyPA24.9× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · The Philadelphia Foundation · The William Penn Foundation · Community Foundation of New Jersey · Domenica Foundation Inc · Oceanfirst Foundation · Ravitz Family Foundation · Wsfs Cares Foundation · American Water Charitable Foundationinc · Td Charitable Foundation · David and Marilyn Krupnick Foundation

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 Townsend Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Townsend Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Reach Out and Read Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Booksmiles a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation: 1% of income from government
  • Bess the Book Bus Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.

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 90 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 Townsend’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