Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
FAME
FAME (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,553,504 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($875,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $9.0M
What Fame does
Mission
To educate, empower and embolden african american youth to become student ambassadors of today, leaders of tomorrow and stewards of their communities by providing access to college preparatory education at participating independent schools in the greater pittsburgh area through the provision of need based financial assistance.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2023 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Fame ceased the internship/enrichment program and the stem program.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Fame scholarship/educational program - Fame provided scholarship and educational support for 50 bright and talented african american students to attend participating college preparatory independent schools. In addition to the scholarships provided, Fame also provides tutoring free of charge to Fame scholars and subsidizes the cost of books, college planning, and a variety of other educational expenses as necessary.
$632,971 spentof which $424,687 as grants56% of program spendingFame academy - Fame academy provides middle school students seeking a higher quality education within the greater pittsburgh area the academic foundation necessary to be competitive in the independent school application process, increasing the number of african american students with financial need that receive a rigorous education. The Fame academy helps students excel within their home school community and exposes them to colleges and a variety of career choices. Within the Fame academy, students also travel twice a year, once to cities outside of pittsburgh and once to a partner boarding school for an overnight, one-week stay. Students attend academic courses on saturdays throughout the school year and for six weeks during the summer.
$253,282 spent22% of program spendingTeachers' academy - the teachers' academy is the newest initiative added to our program portfolio which seeks to address the lack of african american educators in the independent and public-school spaces. The teachers' academy will give aspiring teachers the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience and professional development at the Fame academy and with external partners. Fame fellows will benefit from an intense curriculum and 3-year career mentorship designed by a cohort of educational advisors to address the lack of black educators in independent and public-school education.
$245,123 spent22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,131,376.
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 $11M to $9.3M (−18%).
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 5% · 2023 34% · 2024 39%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of FAME’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% 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
Darryl Wiley
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Michael Larson-Edwards
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $59k → $255k.
7 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 FAME’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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
FAME has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
34% 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 FAME.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 63% · 2019 83% · 2020 65% · 2021 53% · 2022 36% · 2023 24% — 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
56% of FAME's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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 FAME's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $701k 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.
Against its field
FAME's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like FAME
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
52%
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 FAME: 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 FAME?
- FAME (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,553,504 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($875,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FAME have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $2,553,504 in grants to FAME, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAME?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $875,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAME 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 Fame →
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 33 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