Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
CATALYST CONNECTION
CATALYST CONNECTION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,578,362 to it, the largest being PA IRC NETWORK FOUNDATION ($12,604,589). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.6M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Catalyst Connection does
Mission
Catalyst Connection is an economic development organization whose mission is to advance the performance of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in southwestern pennsylvania by accelerating their growth and productivity improvements.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Manufacturing extension partnership (mep) and consulting activities are organized to develop and educate the region's small and medium-sized manufacturers. Mep provides professional services to manufacturers that enhance the companies' competitiveness and strengthen their employment base while providing for economic contributions to the community.
$4,088,154 spent$2,662,512 earned by the program34% of program spendingSmall manufacturer supplier initiatives are initiatives that assist manufacturers in entering supply chains of larger original equipment manufacturers including the department of defense, market introduction (marcellus shale), new product development (additive and robotics), adopting export (itar), and process control technologies (iso, kata), and more. This also includes shared services provided to economic development organizations focused on supporting small manufacturers.
$5,584,116 spent47% of program spendingWorkforce - provide training and education through work-based school to work programs, develop a properly skilled workforce to support manufacturing and technology based enterprises.
$2,250,285 spent19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $11,922,555.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.6M to $8.7M (+31%).
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 60% · 2018 50% · 2019 52% · 2020 66% · 2021 74% · 2022 78% · 2023 72% · 2024 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of CATALYST CONNECTION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (68% 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
Petra Mitchell President
& chief executive officer
Board chair
Tricia Breeger
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $1.6M.
From the IRS filings of CATALYST CONNECTION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
CATALYST CONNECTION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
81% 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 CATALYST CONNECTION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 96% · 2019 58% · 2020 81% · 2021 81% · 2022 89% · 2023 73% — 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
22% of CATALYST CONNECTION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
98% of CATALYST CONNECTION's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
CATALYST CONNECTION has grown faster than half of the 482 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 482 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CATALYST CONNECTION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $28.3M on record.
- Appalachian Regional Commission$14.2M
- Department of Commerce$5.8M
- Department of Defense$5.0M
- Department of Labor$3.2M
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 CATALYST CONNECTION
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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CATALYST CONNECTION: 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 CATALYST CONNECTION?
- CATALYST CONNECTION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,578,362 to it, the largest being PA IRC NETWORK FOUNDATION ($12,604,589). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CATALYST CONNECTION have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $16,578,362 in grants to CATALYST CONNECTION, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CATALYST CONNECTION?
- PA IRC NETWORK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $12,604,589 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CATALYST CONNECTION 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 Catalyst Connection →
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 18 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