Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
Benchmark School
Benchmark School (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,128,980 to it, the largest being SILVERBACK EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS DANCE AND ATHLETICS ($1,891,824). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $5.1M
- Net assets
- $22M
What Benchmark School does
Mission
Benchmark School is committed to helping bright students who learn differently, or have yet to reach their academic potential, develop the confidence, strategies, and knowledge to become lifelong learners, thinkers, and problem-solvers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Follow-up data over the past 50 years demonstrates that benchmark graduates are successful in high school, college, and life. Graduates report that they are successful because benchmark helped them understand themselves as learners, approach tasks strategically, think flexibly, advocate for themselves, and take control of their own learning. At the heart of benchmark's success is an exceptional teaching staff comprised of knowledgeable and caring individuals who are deeply committed to the extensive professional development that is woven into the fabric of the school. This commitment to professional development supports the school's enduring dedication to innovation and excellence.
$8,178,822 spentof which $2,103,511 as grants$8,746,787 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,178,822.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $22M to $26M (+14%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 14% · 2022 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Benjamin B Rogers
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $77k → $1.2M.
10 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Benchmark School’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Benchmark School leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
51% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Benchmark School.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 40% · 2019 25% · 2020 35% · 2021 36% · 2022 62% · 2023 53% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of Benchmark School's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
97% of Benchmark School's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like Benchmark School
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Benchmark School: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Benchmark School?
- Benchmark School (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,128,980 to it, the largest being SILVERBACK EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS DANCE AND ATHLETICS ($1,891,824). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Benchmark School have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $5,128,980 in grants to Benchmark School, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Benchmark School?
- SILVERBACK EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS DANCE AND ATHLETICS is the largest funder on record, with $1,891,824 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Benchmark School find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Benchmark School →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 42 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing