Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)
FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,669,116 to it, the largest being ABELE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($978,500). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.8M
- Funders on record
- 86
- Grants received
- $5.7M
- Net assets
- $48M
What Founding Forward (Formerly the Union League Legacy Foundation) does
Mission
Founding forward informs and engages citizens through transformational educational experiences grounded in american history. These experiences enable students, teachers, and citizens to understand, appreciate, and practice the principles, rights, and responsibilities of american citizenship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education and outreach - founding forward presents a number of educational programs including good citizen day, tours of the historic league house, treasures from the archives presentations, exhibits, support for national history day philadelphia, speaker programs, and civics education. Civics education programs are offered to primary and secondary school students and focus on civic responsibility, american history, and the founding documents. Additional education programs targeting teachers provide history and civic content by exposing teachers to extraordinary scholars and thinkers in programs on the constitution, american history, character development, and american values.
$5,112,350 spent$538,275 earned by the program82% of program spendingScholarships - founding forward administers two scholarship programs. The union league scholarship program provides scholarships to deserving young men and women from the greater philadelphia region who previously were awarded the good citizenship award. The abele scholarship program provides scholarships for post-secondary education to children/dependents of union league employees. Scholarships range from $750 to $15,000 per annum.
$572,198 spentof which $365,021 as grants$119,941 earned by the program9% of program spendingPreservation and collections - founding forward helps preserve the historic properties of the union league of philadelphia - the league house in center city and guard house in gladwyne. It is also the steward of an extensive civil war collection that includes the archives of the military order of the loyal legion of the united states, the civil war museum of philadelphia and the union league of philadelphia. The collection is open to the public for research. It has been used for dozens of scholarly publication over the past several years.
$509,521 spent$69,270 earned by the program8% of program spendingHonoring acts of civic virtue - through its national awards program, founding forward recognizes individuals and organizations as examples of civic responsibility. This program recognizes adults and students for community service, public communications, student essays, special events, and outstanding work in the classroom.
$39,799 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,233,868.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $23M to $47M (+100%).
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 3% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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.
Board chair
Jim Dunigan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $200 → $1.3M.
13 of 86 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 86 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
FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
32% 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 FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION).
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 50% · 2020 41% · 2021 11% · 2022 30% · 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
40% of FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)'s funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
54% of FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)'s grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,064 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,064 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$30k
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 FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Union League of Philadelphia · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION): 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 FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)?
- FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,669,116 to it, the largest being ABELE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($978,500). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) have?
- IRS filings report 86 organizations giving $5,669,116 in grants to FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION), 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION)?
- ABELE FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $978,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOUNDING FORWARD (FORMERLY THE UNION LEAGUE LEGACY FOUNDATION) 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 Founding Forward (Formerly the Union League Legacy Foundation) →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 86 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