· Private foundation
Thomas L Cline 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
72% of Thomas L Cline Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Adams County Community Foundation Inc, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year Thomas L Cline Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 6 organizations, $324k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2019
- Under $10k1 grant · $5k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $66k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $253k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CONEWAGO VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT | $100,000 |
| ADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL | $80,000 |
| ADAMS COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM | $73,325 |
| ADAMS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| EAST BERLIN COMMUNITY LIBRARY | $20,000 |
| POSITIVE ENERGY ARTS FOUNDATION | $16,000 |
| HACC FOUNDATION-MECHATRONICS SCHOLARSHIP | $10,000 |
| UPPER ADAMS CHRISTIANS TOGETHER | $5,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.
4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2019, 1 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $49k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CVCONEWAGO VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT3× · 2019–2021 · $300k
- ACADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL3× · 2018–2020 · $240k · revenue -15%
THE KEEWAYDIN FOUNDATION2× · 2017–2018 · $200k · revenue +63%
Funded once
- TWTRUENORTH WELLNESS SERVICESone grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue -15%
- ESEASTER SEALSone grant, 2017 · $77k
- HAHARRISBURG AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +31%
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.
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.
The mission of the adamstown library is to maintain and improve the quality of life in our community by providing access to cultural, intellectual, and informational resources and programs to promote life-long learning for all ages. the…
The adams county economic development corporation is a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing countywide economic development services to benefit the citizens of adams county. the organization's programs are designed to…
To provide educational, informational, cultural, and recreational services to the public. services are provided in bethlehem, pennsylvania and its supporting communities.
To create a musical community where high quality instruction and performance opportunities are available to all.
The mission of the franklin county library system is to enrich the lives of the residents of the region through access to materials, information, and services imparting the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of others, through qualified…
To enhance personalized academic skills development, professional exploration, and relevant work-ready skills for all learner groups in adams county through countywide partnerships.
The mission of the berks arts council is to inspire, engage and unite our community through arts education, collaboration, and presentation.
The gettysburg adams chamber of commerce supports and strengthens our members and the adams county area by promoting diverse economic opportunities through advocacy, building relationships, providing timely information and developing…
Public lending library
Association-public library
To enrich the quality of life in Lancaster County by building vibrant and inclusive communities connecting arts, culture, education, and economic vitality.
Public lending library
How this is measured
12 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. 12 of the 19 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 ADAMS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL ↗
- Who funds THE KEEWAYDIN FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA YOUTH BALLET ↗
- Who funds TRUENORTH WELLNESS SERVICES ↗
- Who funds ADAMS COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM INC ↗
- Who funds EAST BERLIN COMMUNITY LIBRARY ↗
- Who funds TOTEM POLE PLAYHOUSE ↗
- Who funds POSITIVE ENERGY ARTS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HARRISBURG AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds STRAWBERRY HILL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds UPPER ADAMS CHRISTIANS TOGETHER dba Johns Meals ↗
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: Adams County Community Foundation Inc · Robert C Hoffman Tw Charitable · Rice Family Foundation · Airie Knipel Harry V and J William Warehime Foundation · The Donald B and Dorothy L Stabler Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Thomas L Cline Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas L Cline Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Thomas L Cline Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Thomas L Cline 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.
Play a game based on Thomas L Cline’s filings →