Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,425,756 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,582,436). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.2M
- Funders on record
- 71
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region does
Mission
To ignite the power and promise of youth and close the mentoring gap, by creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships and strengthening the quality of the mentoring field.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Mentoring services: through community-based and school-based youth mentoring programs, more than 1,300 children are served annually in chester, delaware, montgomery and philadelphia counties in pennsylvania, and burlington, camden and gloucester counties in new jersey. Program achievements include a rating of three stars by charity navigator (the nation's largest and most utilized charity evaluator), gold standard for top performing agencies in the nation, and 1,387 children and mentors positively impacted during 2024. During 2024, of the children in youth mentoriing programs for 12 months or more, 98% of littles avoided or ceased substance use, 94% of littles stayed on track with or improved behavior in school, 97% of littles kept or created plans for high school graduation and beyond. Also provided capacity building, training & quality assurance to 345 to 350 organizations in the region.
$4,695,431 spent96% of program spendingAs an affiliated organization of big brothers big sisters independence, mentor independence region (mir) was launched in 2015 to expand the mentoring field's regional capacity to reach more youth, and to pair them with caring, committed adult mentors, mir works directly with mentoring programs by assisting with trainings, technical assistance, quality assessment, professional networking, and advocacy. During 2024, 395 programs were directly supported, 65 trainings were delivered, 1,452 adult participants were trained, 550 technical assistance hours were delivered, 250 quality assessment reviews were completed, and approximately 179,000 youth were positively impacted. Mir's mission is to fuel the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships for greater philadelphia's young people and to close the mentoring gap.
$210,242 spent4% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,905,673.
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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $6.3M to $8.9M (+42%).
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: 2017 24% · 2018 25% · 2019 21% · 2020 24% · 2021 32% · 2022 13% · 2023 25% · 2024 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Marcus Allen
CEO
Board chair
Stephen Smith
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 27 funders, grant income fell $1.2M → $1.1M.
22 of 71 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 71 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
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
90% 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 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 22% · 2019 18% · 2020 18% · 2021 21% · 2022 91% · 2023 22% — diversifying over time.
“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
44% of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
68% of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $4.9M that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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.
Against its field
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION's revenue fell 15% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,928 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.
- Department of Justice$1.0M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION: 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 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION?
- BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,425,756 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,582,436). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION have?
- IRS filings report 71 organizations giving $15,425,756 in grants to BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $7,582,436 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INDEPENDENCE REGION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 71 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