Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
EARLY CONNECTIONS INC
EARLY CONNECTIONS INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,418,381 to it, the largest being United Way of Erie County ($1,049,629). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.3M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Early Connections Inc does
Mission
The organization is a leading organization in northwestern pennsylvania for quality early care and education. The organization provides direct service as well as training and planning leadership for a wide georaphic region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Early care and education - to support the well-being of families through developmentally appropriate early care and education, family programs, outreach, and integration (or referral) of available services throughout erie county to enhance the quality of life for families with young children.
$2,643,123 spent$749,830 earned by the program91% of program spendingErie's future fund - scholarship program to children from low income families to attend a high quality early childhood education program in erie county.
$245,672 spentof which $211,202 as grants9% of program spendingFood program - to provide breakfast, lunch, and a snack to all children who attend the organization's childcare facilities at no cost to their families; this helps ensure that children get the nutrition they need for healthy development and learning.
$114,362 earned by the program
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,888,795.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.1M to $2.7M (+28%).
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 6% · 2022 52% · 2023 61% · 2024 49% · 2025 48%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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 Harkins
Executive director through july 2025
Board chair
Michael Plazony
Board president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $283k → $132k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 EARLY CONNECTIONS INC’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
EARLY CONNECTIONS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 EARLY CONNECTIONS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 96% · 2019 83% · 2020 77% · 2021 77% · 2022 58% · 2023 76% — 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
50% of EARLY CONNECTIONS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
100% of EARLY CONNECTIONS INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $201k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 EARLY CONNECTIONS INC
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 EARLY CONNECTIONS INC: 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 EARLY CONNECTIONS INC?
- EARLY CONNECTIONS INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,418,381 to it, the largest being United Way of Erie County ($1,049,629). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EARLY CONNECTIONS INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,418,381 in grants to EARLY CONNECTIONS INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EARLY CONNECTIONS INC?
- United Way of Erie County is the largest funder on record, with $1,049,629 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EARLY CONNECTIONS INC 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 11 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing