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Plinth

· Public charity

United Way of Erie County

United Way of Erie County's mission is to mobilize resources to break the cycle of poverty and improve our community.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$429k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Health$4.2MHuman Services$3.8MEducation$2.5MPhilanthropy$1.3MHousing & Shelter$621kPublic Safety & Disaster$569kYouth Development$566kArts & Culture$502kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 9 grants below total $714,353 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,079,676 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $365,323 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $184k
  • $250k+1 grant · $429k
$30,102
Median grant
1
States reached
$41M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Safe Harbor Behav Health$429,174
United Way of SW PA$116,412
Achievement Center$67,560
Erie Civic Theatre Associatio$40,212
Gannon University$30,102
Erie Community Foundation$10,000
Cystic Fibrosis Assoc of Erie$7,686
Girard School Dist Foundation$7,656
Second Harvest Food Bank$5,551
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–23, $4.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Bethesda Childrens Home: $36k → 14%Family Services on Northwestern PA: $296k → 15%Bethesda Childrens Home: $18k → 14%Family Services on Northwestern PA: $267k → 15%American Red Cross: $185k → 15%Family Services on Northwestern PA: $174k → 15%American Red Cross: $157k → 15%American Red Cross: $153k → 15%Family Services on Northwestern PA: $114k → 15%Family Services on Northwestern PA: $87k → 15%American Red Cross: $74k → 15%Erie Family Center: $70k → 15%Erie Family Center: $46k → 15%Erie Family Center: $11k → 15%St Martin Center: $269k → 15%St Martin Center: $184k → 15%St Martin Center: $113k → 15%St Martin Center: $53k → 15%Hospice of Metropolitan Erie: $9k → 15%Barber National Institute: $46k → 15%Barber National Institute: $43k → 15%The Sight Center of Northwest PA: $123k → 15%The Sight Center of Northwest PA: $118k → 15%The Sight Center of Northwest PA: $31k → 15%The Sight Center of Northwest PA: $12k → 15%GECAC: $219k → 15%GECAC: $211k → 15%GECAC: $160k → 15%YMCA of Greater Erie: $141k → 15%YMCA of Greater Erie: $91k → 15%YMCA of Greater Erie: $84k → 15%YMCA of Greater Erie: $46k → 15%YMCA of Greater Erie: $35k → 15%GECAC: $34k → 15%GECAC: $17k → 15%GECAC: $17k → 15%Safe Journey: $62k → 15%Safe Journey: $56k → 15%Safe Journey: $53k → 15%Union City Family Support Ctr: $27k → 15%Safe Journey: $26k → 15%Union City Family Support Ctr: $14k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$14M · 57 repeat orgs$186k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +46% since the first grant, against +40% for the ones you funded once.

57 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2025, 50 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

57
14

Total granted

$14M
$186k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+40%

Still filing today

82%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthEducationHousing & ShelterYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • AC
    ACHIEVEMENT CENTER INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +18%
  • EC
    EARLY CONNECTIONS INC
    6× · 2017–2022 · $1.0M · revenue +2%
  • FS
    FAMILY SERVICES OF NW PA
    5× · 2017–2021 · $938k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • VT
    VENANGO TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC
    one grant, 2017 · $27k · revenue -24%
  • NT
    NORTHWEST TRI-COUNTY INTERMEDIATE UNIT #5 - ADULT
    one grant, 2017 · $22k
  • II
    INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ERIE PA
    one grant, 2017 · $21k

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Greater Erie Economic Development Corporation
—
2
Erie County Economic Development Charitable Fund

To facilitate both the creation and retention of jobs within erie county and increase economic opportunities for individuals and businesses through comprehensive economic development programs.

—
3
Erie Independence House Inc

Erie Independence House, Inc. (EIH) exists to enhance and promote independence in people with disabilities through the provision of accessible, affordable, adaptive housing necessary for them to lead productive, independent lives. We offer…

—
4
Erie Together

Were working together to make the Erie region a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work and thrive.

Community Improvement
5
Jewish Community Council of Erie

The Jewish Community Council of Erie is a community-based organization serving individuals and families in the Erie area with a wide range of social and educational services, as well as capacity-building support to other community-based…

Philanthropy
6
Community Action Commission of Erie Huron & Richland Counties Inc

To focus all available local, state, private and federal resources upon the goal of enabling low income families and low income individual of all ages to obtain the skills knowledge and motivations, and secure the opportunities needed for…

Human Services
7
East Erie County Emergency Medical Services Corporation

To provide emergency medical services with advanced and basic life support capabilities, ambulance transportation services, and providing trained personnel to assist local fire departments.

Community Improvement
8
Erie Day School Inc

Erie day school is a co-educational, independent elementary school (toddler through grade 8) located in erie, pa. our educational approach values the individual talents, traits, and abilities of our students.

Education
9
United Way of Erie County Inc

To increase the organized capacity for people to care for one another.

—
10
Environment Erie

A non-profit organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, enhancement, and sustainable development of the lake erie watershed in pennsylvania.

—
11
Mental Health Services - Erie Co Northw

The mission is to establish nurturing and sustained relationships with individuals, families and community stakeholders to foster growth, self-efficancy and independence by providing innovative evidenced based treatment focused on a whole…

—
12
Erie County Court Appointed Special Advocate

Child advocacy

Civil Rights

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Erie Homes for Children & Adults Inc and the most unlike its peers is Creative Community Connectors Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 51 years old; the field is 27. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number15%2%<5yr13%5%5–10yr14%7%10–20yr15%15%20–35yr24%29%35–55yr20%42%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value15%0%<5yr13%2%5–10yr14%2%10–20yr15%6%20–35yr24%32%35–55yr20%58%55yr+

The field is 15% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 6% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/73
the rest of the field
6%
107/1,758

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 62 of the 73 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
58/62
Grantees still filing
42/62
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

FAMILY SERVICES OF NW PA — $938,181 · Human ServicesFAMILY SERVICES OF NW PAGreater Erie Community Action Committee — $657,433 · Human ServicesGreater Erie Community Action C…St Martin Center — $619,495 · Human ServicesSt Martin CenterAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $568,638 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & I…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER ERIE — $396,553 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATI…THE SIGHT CENTER OF NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA — $284,689 · Human ServicesTHE SIGHT CENTER OF NORTHWEST P…SAFENET INC — $206,318 · Human ServicesSafe Journey — $196,610 · Human Services+5 more — $318,944 · Human Services+5 moreSafe Harbor Behavioral Health of UPMC Hamot — $1,451,034 · HealthSafe Harbor Behavioral Heal…ACHIEVEMENT CENTER INC — $1,397,263 · HealthACHIEVEMENT CENTER INCHAMOT HEALTH FOUNDATION — $300,600 · HealthHAMOT HEALTH FOUNDATIONCRIME VICTIM CENTER OF ERIE COUNTY INC — $193,313 · HealthJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER INC — $179,884 · Health+4 more — $150,319 · HealthEARLY CONNECTIONS INC — $1,049,629 · OtherEARLY CONNECTIONS INCPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY — $368,503 · OtherPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSIT…US COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC — $266,357 · OtherUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AN…THE SALVATION ARMY — $232,214 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYBooker T Washington Center — $229,892 · OtherBooker T Washington CenterERIE CIVIC THEATRE ASSOCIATION — $228,657 · OtherERIE CIVIC THEATRE ASSOCIATI…URBAN ERIE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $167,650 · OtherBAYFRONT NATO INC — $136,899 · Other+26 more — $1,077,693 · Other+26 moreTHE UNITED WAY OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA — $1,226,985 · PhilanthropyTHE UNITE…+3 more — $47,326 · PhilanthropyGANNON UNIVERSITY — $476,263 · EducationMERCYHURST UNIVERSITY — $226,621 · EducationErie Maritime Foundation Bayfront Maritime Center — $108,984 · EducationEAGLES NEST LEADERSHIP CORPORATION — $102,500 · EducationIroquois School District Foundation — $83,908 · EducationGIRARD SCHOOL DISTRICT FOUNDATION — $50,260 · EducationERIE COUNTY VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL FOUNDATION — $50,135 · Education+2 more — $47,244 · EducationCommunity Shelter Services Inc — $620,909 · Housing & ShelterERIE DAWN INC — $51,437 · Housing & ShelterBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF ERIE INC — $455,805 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG ENTREPRENEUR SOCIETY INC — $17,000 · Youth Development
Human Services$4,186,861Health$3,672,413Other$3,757,494Philanthropy$1,274,311Education$1,145,915Housing & Shelter$672,346Youth Development$472,805

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSafe Harbor Behavioral Health of UPMC Hamot — $1,451,034 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetACHIEVEMENT CENTER INC — $1,397,263 over 8y, 2.4% of budgetTHE UNITED WAY OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA — $1,226,985 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetEARLY CONNECTIONS INC — $1,049,629 over 6y, 8.5% of budgetFAMILY SERVICES OF NW PA — $938,181 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetGreater Erie Community Action Committee — $657,433 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetCommunity Shelter Services Inc — $620,909 over 4y, 10% of budgetSt Martin Center — $619,495 over 4y, 10% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $568,638 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGANNON UNIVERSITY — $476,263 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF ERIE INC — $455,805 over 3y, 18% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER ERIE — $396,553 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetHAMOT HEALTH FOUNDATION — $300,600 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetTHE SIGHT CENTER OF NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA — $284,689 over 4y, 18% of budgetUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC — $266,357 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetERIE CIVIC THEATRE ASSOCIATION — $228,657 over 9y, 2.3% of budgetMERCYHURST UNIVERSITY — $226,621 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSAFENET INC — $206,318 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetSafe Journey — $196,610 over 4y, 12% of budgetCRIME VICTIM CENTER OF ERIE COUNTY INC — $193,313 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER INC — $179,884 over 3y, 13% of budgetURBAN ERIE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $167,650 over 2y, 22% of budgetBAYFRONT NATO INC — $136,899 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetERIE FAMILY CENTER — $126,390 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetSisters of St Joseph Neighborhood Network — $113,990 over 2y, 11% of budgetErie Maritime Foundation Bayfront Maritime Center — $108,984 over 2y, 13% of budgetERIE CENTER ON HEALTH AND AGING — $105,242 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetDR GERTRUDE A BARBER CENTER INC — $89,038 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetIroquois School District Foundation — $83,908 over 7y, 35% of budgetMetro-Erie Meals on Wheels Inc — $70,222 over 2y, 13% of budgetMULTI-CULTURAL HEALTH EVALUATION DELIVERY SYSTEM INC — $67,584 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetCREATIVE COMMUNITY CONNECTORS INC — $67,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetSt Pauls Free Clinic Inc — $66,844 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetNAMI OF ERIE COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA — $63,959 over 2y, 12% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF NW PA INC — $58,296 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBETHESDA CHILDREN'S HOME — $54,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCYSTIC FIBROSIS ASSOCIATION OF ERIE COUNTY — $52,784 over 6y, 12% of budgetMERCY CENTER FOR WOMEN INC — $51,685 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetERIE DAWN INC — $51,437 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetNORTHWESTERN PA CLEFT PALATE INSTITUTE — $50,750 over 2y, 25% of budgetCOMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR INDEPENDENCE INC — $50,671 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGIRARD SCHOOL DISTRICT FOUNDATION — $50,260 over 6y, 14% of budgetERIE COUNTY VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL FOUNDATION — $50,135 over 2y, 30% of budgetMulticultural Community Resource Center — $47,854 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ARTS COUNCIL OF ERIE — $43,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetUNION CITY FAMILY SUPPORT CENTER INC — $40,500 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $35,115 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFoundation for Eries Public Schools — $28,744 over 2y, 16% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Erie Community Founda…Wabtec FoundationNorthwest Charitable …M J Surgala TrHamot Health Foundati…Firstenergy FoundationGreater Erie Communit…Greater Erie Economic…The Britton Family Fo…Northwest Institute o…Employees'Community S…Merwin Foundation
Erie Community FoundationPA102.1× affinity49 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Erie Community Foundation · Wabtec Foundation · Northwest Charitable Foundation · M J Surgala Tr · Hamot Health Foundation · Firstenergy Foundation · Greater Erie Community Action Committee · Greater Erie Economic Development Corporation · The Britton Family Foundation · Northwest Institute of Research · Employees'Community Services Fund of General Electric · Merwin Foundation

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

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization United Way of Erie County funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
27report 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

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 73 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines