How much does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation give?

Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation reported 35 grants totaling $304,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 35 and 45 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Environment (44%), Arts & Culture (12%), Education (11%).

Who are Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Lancaster County Conservancy ($1.3M), Lancaster Farmland Trust ($197k), Lancasterhistoryorg ($160k).

Does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 6% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.

Which funders back the same organizations as Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lancaster County Community Foundation, The Steinman Foundation, Ferree Foundation.

Where is Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation based?

Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation is based in PA.

Foundation Dossiers

Pennsylvania · Private foundation

Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$304k
Granted FY2024(still arriving): 35
Grants FY2024: 35
Organizations funded FY2023: 6%
First-time grantees FY2023

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2024: $5,000
Largest grant, FY2024: $50,000
Organizations funded a year: 35 to 45; FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024: 1
Total assets, FY2024: $9.4M
Applications: Takes unsolicited applications; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 6% of the organizations Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 9% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Arts & CultureReligionEducationPhilanthropyHuman ServicesPublic Safety & DisasterOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2024still arriving	32	$284k	3%
FY2023	35	$302k	6%
FY2022	38	$304k	5%
FY2021	39	$1.4M	5%
FY2020	42	$361k	17%
FY2018	39	$400k	8%
FY2017	45	$378k	n/a

97% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$1.5MArts & Culture$423kEducation$381kHealth$205kHuman Services$191kYouth Development$136kHousing & Shelter$133kPhilanthropy$120kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Lancaster County Conservancy	$1,311,693	7	7%
Lancaster Farmland Trust	$196,667	7	1%
Lancasterhistoryorg	$160,000	7	2%
Lancaster Country Day School	$153,500	7	0%
Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster Inc	$118,500	7	2%
Tenfold	$65,000	7	0%
Young Men's Christian Association of Lancaster County	$53,500	5	0%
Lancaster Science Center	$50,000	6	2%
Little Conestoga Creek Foundation	$50,000	2	3%
Rock Ford Foundation	$46,000	7	2%

Show all 42 grantees

All grantees of Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Lancaster County Conservancy	$1,311,693	7	7%
Lancaster Farmland Trust	$196,667	7	1%
Lancasterhistoryorg	$160,000	7	2%
Lancaster Country Day School	$153,500	7	0%
Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster Inc	$118,500	7	2%
Tenfold	$65,000	7	0%
Young Men's Christian Association of Lancaster County	$53,500	5	0%
Lancaster Science Center	$50,000	6	2%
Little Conestoga Creek Foundation	$50,000	2	3%
Rock Ford Foundation	$46,000	7	2%
Lancaster General Health Foundation	$45,500	5	1%
Lancaster County Food Hub	$42,500	4	1%
Thaddeus Stevens College of Tech	$40,000	3	n/a
Samaritan Center	$38,500	6	1%
Milagro House Inc	$38,500	7	1%
Jeff Musser Foundation	$35,000	7	3%
Casa of Lancaster and Lebanon Counties	$35,000	7	1%
The Edible Classroom	$32,500	3	9%
The Janus School	$27,500	2	1%
United Disabilities Services	$27,500	7	0%
Pennsylvania College of Art & Design	$25,000	7	0%
Lancaster Health Center	$25,000	5	0%
Aaron's Acres	$23,500	7	1%
Power Packs Project	$22,500	2	1%
Lancaster City Police Foundation	$22,500	4	5%
Water Street Ministries	$22,500	7	0%
Lancaster Symphony Orchestra	$19,000	7	1%
Demuth Foundation	$18,500	7	1%
Visioncorps	$17,500	7	0%
Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pa	$15,000	2	0%
The American Chestnut Foundation	$14,000	6	0%
The Arc of Lancaster County	$13,500	3	2%
Lancaster Public Library	$12,500	3	0%
Central Market Trust	$12,500	1	1%
Friendship Community	$10,500	6	0%
North Museum Corporation	$10,000	1	1%
Adamstown Area Library	$10,000	2	1%
Lancaster Mennonite Conference Historical Society	$10,000	7	0%
Fulton Theatre Company	$5,000	2	0%
Keystone Human Services	$2,500	1	0%
Lifecycles Inc	$2,000	1	1%
Lancaster Recreation Commission	$1,000	1	n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 20 recipients with no EIN on record ($505k), not named here.

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 40.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Lancaster County Community FoundationPA83.5× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lancaster County Community Foundation · The Steinman Foundation · Ferree Foundation · Clark Associates Charitable Foundation · High Foundation · Fulton Family Foundation · Thomas a and Georgina T Russo Foundation · Richard S & Ann B Barshinger Family Fdn · Pryor E & Arlene R Neuber Charitable Trust · United Way of Lancaster County · Ppl Foundation · The Abigail L Longenecker Memorial 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.

Compare Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation with peer funders

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How do I get to Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Willis and Elsie Shenk 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.

About Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation

How much does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation give?: Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation reported 35 grants totaling $304,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 35 and 45 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Environment (44%), Arts & Culture (12%), Education (11%).
Who are Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Lancaster County Conservancy ($1.3M), Lancaster Farmland Trust ($197k), Lancasterhistoryorg ($160k).
Does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2023, 6% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lancaster County Community Foundation, The Steinman Foundation, Ferree Foundation.
Where is Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation based?: Willis and Elsie Shenk Foundation is based in PA.