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The William S Rothermel Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The William S Rothermel Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$2k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$16kEducation$12kRecreation & Sports$3kHealth$2kYouth Development$400Human Services$100Religion$100International$100
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$125
Median grant
1
States reached
$213k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AACA MUSEUM INC$2,294
ROBERT STARR MEMORIAL FUND$500
SIMEONE FOUNDATION MUSEUM$125
LANCASTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$125
BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES$100
Individual grant recipient$100
NED SMITH CENTER$100
IMPACT KENYA INITIATIVE$100
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%RADNOR HUNT CONCOURSE d'Elegance: $3k → 6%ROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION: $250 → 8%TRANSITIONAL LIVING CENTER: $100 → 9%BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES: $250 → 11%HISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATION: $1k → 11%THE PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 12%AACA MUSEUM INC: $3k → 12%SIMEONE FOUNDATION MUSEUM: $150 → 22%INDIVIDUAL NONDISQUALIFIED RECIPIEN: $250 → 7%MALCOLM PRAY ACHIEVEMENT CENTER: $100 → 9%PALM BEACH CONCOURS: $250 → 11%BOY'S & GIRL'S CLUB OF BROWARD COUNTY: $100 → 13%AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION: $100 → 8%ROBERT STARR MEMORIAL FUND: $500 → 9%BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES: $100 → 11%PENN COLLEGE CLASSIC CRUISERS: $1k → 12%AACA MUSEUM INC: $2k → 12%SIMEONE FOUNDATION MUSEUM: $125 → 22%MALCOLM PRAY ACHIEVEMENT CENTER: $100 → 9%A-T CHILDREN'S PROJECT: $100 → 13%AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH ORGAN FUND: $100 → 8%NED SMITH CENTER: $100 → 9%BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES: $100 → 11%PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY: $500 → 12%AACA MUSEUM INC: $2k → 12%SIMEONE FOUNDATION MUSEUM: $125 → 22%MALCOLM PRAY ACHIEVEMENT CENTER: $100 → 9%CONESTOGA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $100 → 9%THE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEY: $1k → 12%NED SMITH CENTER: $100 → 9%AACA MUSEUM INC: $700 → 12%IMPACT KENYA INITIATIVE: $100 → 9%AACA MUSEUM INC: $500 → 12%LANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNING: $1k → 9%THE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEY: $500 → 12%LANCASTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $125 → 9%AACA MUSEUM INC: $479 → 12%LANCASTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $125 → 9%PIERCE AND CHASE RUTTER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATIONAACA LIBRARY: $250 → 12%PET PANTRY: $100 → 9%AACA MUSEUM INC: $100 → 12%THE JANUS SCHOOL: $100 → 9%NED SMITH CENTER: $200 → 12%RAILROAD MUSEUM OF PENNSYLVANIA: $100 → 9%NED SMITH CENTER: $100 → 12%NED SMITH CENTER: $100 → 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.
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.

46%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$15k · 10 repeat orgs$18k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
16

Total granted

$15k
$17k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+52%

Still filing today

40%
31%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $700 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
Arts & CultureEducationScience & TechYouth DevelopmentHealthOther
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

  • AM
    AACA MUSEUM INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $8k · revenue +11%
  • LD
    LANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNING
    2× · 2019–2021 · $1k · revenue +92%
  • BM
    BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES
    3× · 2021–2024 · $450 · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • PC
    PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +201%
  • RH
    RADNOR HUNT CONCOURSE d'Elegance
    one grant, 2022 · $3k
  • HV
    HISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
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
Classic Car Club of America Education Foundation

The educational foundation supports the study, research and dissemination of educational materials related to the maintenance, operation and restoration of "full classic" automobiles as defined and identified by the classic car club of…

Education
2
National Automotive and Truck Museu

To acquire, preserve, and interpret for the purpose of education; buildings, vehicles, artifacts, and literature of the automotive and truck industry of the united states.

Arts & Culture
3
Museum of American Speed
—
4
Durant Motors Automobile Museum

It is our mission to preserve and display durant marquee automobiles and documents for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations. in addition, we intend to enhance the public knowledge of william c. durant and his…

Arts & Culture
5
Auburn Automotive Heritage Inc

Auburn automotive heritage, inc., dba the auburn cord duesenberg automobile museum, an educational nonprofit 501(c)(3), is an art deco treasure, faithfully presenting its original 1930's grandeur - a place where landmark automotive…

Arts & Culture
6
The Lloyd Ganton Auto Museum Foundation
—
7
Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum
Arts & Culture
8
Automobile Driving Museum

The automobile driving museum exists to preserve automotive history, interpret the hisotrical significance, educate guests and provide them with the opportunity to take a ride in one of the museum's historic collector vehicles.

Arts & Culture
9
Moore Auto Classic Museum
Arts & Culture
10
Pa Museum of Military Vehicles
Arts & Culture
11
San Diego Automotive Museum

The Museum functions as an educational and cultural institutionexercising community responsibility for the preservation of the automotive arts and sciences

Arts & Culture
12
Rockefeller Archive Center
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Pennsylvania College of Technology Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Aaca Museum 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

11 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. 11 of the 29 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · OtherPENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INCRADNOR HUNT CONCOURSE d'Elegance: $2,500 · OtherRADNOR HUNT CONCOURSE d'EleganceTHE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEY: $1,525 · OtherTHE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEYAMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS FOUNDATION: $1,500 · OtherAMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS FOUNDATIONHISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATION: $1,400 · OtherHISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATIONLANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNING: $1,350 · OtherLANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNINGPENN COLLEGE CLASSIC CRUISERS: $1,000 · Other+14 more: $4,200 · Other+14 moreAACA MUSEUM INC: $8,373 · Arts & CultureAACA MUSEUM INCBOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES: $450 · Arts & CultureROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION: $350 · Arts & CultureTHE JANUS SCHOOL: $100 · EducationCONESTOGA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $100 · EducationIMPACT KENYA INITIATIVE: $100 · HealthAtaxia Telangiectasia Children's Project Inc: $100 · Science & TechBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $100 · Youth Development
Other$23,475Arts & Culture$9,173Education$200Health$100Science & Tech$100Youth Development$100

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAACA MUSEUM INC: $8,373 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEY: $1,525 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNING: $1,350 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES: $450 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION: $350 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JANUS SCHOOL: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIMPACT KENYA INITIATIVE: $100 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAtaxia Telangiectasia Children's Project Inc: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONESTOGA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $100 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.

  • Who funds PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds AACA MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ELEGANCE AT HERSHEY ↗
  • Who funds LANCASTER DOLLARS FOR HIGHER LEARNING ↗
  • Who funds BOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES ↗
  • Who funds ROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE JANUS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds IMPACT KENYA INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds Ataxia Telangiectasia Children's Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BROWARD COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds CONESTOGA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Clark Associates Char…Amazonsmile Foundation
Clark Associates Charitable FoundationPA13.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Clark Associates Charitable Foundation · Amazonsmile 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 William S Rothermel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The William S Rothermel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 William S Rothermel Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The William S Rothermel 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 29 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 William S Rothermel’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