Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA
BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,931,378 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($324,997). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $2.9M
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia does
Mission
Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia (formerly known as summerbridge of greater philadelphia - a breakthrough program) operates a comprehensive academic enrichment program that builds a path from middle school to college for low-income students from the philadelphia region's under-resourced schools. The program also inspires talented high school and college students to become educators and engaged citizens by giving them responsibility for teaching in the program. The organization's support is primarily from contributions. On january 22, 2020, breakthrough entered into a program management agreement with germantown friends school (gfs) whereby gfs would administer the breakthrough academic program. On march 22, 2021, the organization signed an affiliation agreement with gfs, whereby the organization became a wholly owned subsidiary of gfs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia (formerly known as summerbridge of greater philadelphia - a breakthrough program) operates a comprehensive academic enrichment program that builds a path from middle school to college for low-income students from the philadelphia region's under-resourced schools. The program also inspires talented high school and college students to become educators and engaged citizens by giving them responsibility for teaching in the program. The organization's support is primarily from contributions.
$792,121 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $792,121.
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 $252k to $2.2M (+770%).
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% · 2024 9% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
102% of BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Michelle Palmer
Executive director
Board chair
Dana Weeks
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $277k → $589k.
11 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
28% 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 BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 25% · 2019 59% · 2020 18% · 2021 20% · 2022 29% · 2023 28% — 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
40% of BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
57% of BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $512k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Germatown Friends School · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: 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 BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA?
- BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,931,378 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($324,997). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $2,931,378 in grants to BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA, 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA?
- THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $324,997 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BREAKTHROUGH OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA 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 Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia →
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 67 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