Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 125 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,200,483 to it, the largest being THE TOWNSEND FOUNDATION INC ($5,200,000). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 125
- Grants received
- $26M
- Net assets
- $40M
What Heights Philadelphia does
Mission
Heights is a new kind of organization, an economic mobility catalyst. We believe that creating pathways to educational and workforce success for low-income, black and brown, and first-generation-to-college students is the keystone of a more equitable and prosperous philadelphia. Heights is committed to building those pathways through college and career advising, industry-aligned programming, transformative partnerships, and a community of support that invests and believes in students and their right to economic mobility and educational equality. As a result, students have defined pathways to key industries that provide family-sustaining pay and career opportunities in the philadelphia region. They have an actionable postsecondary plan, are prepared for their postsecondary opportunities, and feel supported by and connected to a larger network of people who invest in their success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
K-12 programs: at Heights Philadelphia, our work focuses on connecting educational trajectory with economic opportunities that lead to family-sustaining employment, which is essential to fix the generational poverty that plagues our city and narrows our students' paths to prosperity. Middle school programming focuses on a high school selection advising curriculum for students and families, with the goal of increasing the number of black and brown underserved students at sdp criteria-based, high performing high schools. Heights staff are embedded in four k-8 schools and our impact will span district-wide by offering workshops for all families and students and building the capacity of teachers to advise students on the high school selection process. In the summer before 9th grade, comprehensive summer bridge programming will ensure students have a smooth transition to high school.high school programming focuses on school-wide college and career programming, as well as recruiting cohorts of students for advising, enrichment, and equity based programming. Heights staff are embedded in 19 sdp high schools in the 22-23 year. Heights coordinators lead the college and career programming,…
$5,574,244 spent$1,790,502 earned by the program66% of program spendingCollge and career programs: college programming ensures that students who matriculate to college have the support needed to graduate from college. Heights staff provide individualized advising, campus visits, and programming for students from philadelphia at colleges across the country and will expand annually to support new cohorts of students. Heights also provides each collegian with stipends to assist with indirect costs such as books and transportation, as well as the opportunity to apply for funds to cover the cost of summer classes if needed to increase persistence. Heights has 21 agreements with universities that provide scholarships and on-campus support for students. Career programming will simplify the path to employment by guiding students through their journey to life sustaining careers with a 5 step process: exposure, exploration, planning, opportunity and support. Heights has been developing a group of anchor partners that will provide internships, mentoring, and scaled employment opportunities. We wish to focus on exposure to careers in the life sciences, stem, and technology; careers where the population of students we serve has historically been underrepresented.…
$1,116,778 spent13% of program spendingCommunity access pathways and step up to college: Heights Philadelphia's outreach futures initiative brings the organization's services and expertise to the broader community. Outreach futures offers a range of programs and services to students, families and youth-serving professionals throughout philadelphia. A key component of Heights Philadelphia's outreach services is the annual publication of step up to college: philadelphia's guide to the college preparation, application and admissions and financial aid processes. Copies of the guide are distributed to high school students, community-based organizations and the free library of philadelphia without cost to remove any barriers to access. Content from the guide also is available through digital media.
$1,480,495 spentof which $1,005,624 as grants17% of program spendingHeights Philadelphia has a contract with the charles e. Ellis trust to administer funds to eligible philadelphia high school girls for tuition and educational enrichment. Expenses are those associated with the administration of the trust. Additionally, Heights Philadelphia administered 2 programs in philadelphia which awarded students for their academic accomplishments.
$301,835 spent$381,047 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,473,352.
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 $14M to $40M (+184%).
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 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% 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
Sean Vereen
President & CEO
Board chair
Greg Anderson
Chair, board member
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 58 funders, grant income rose $438k → $10M.
15 of 125 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 HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 125 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
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 19% · 2019 25% · 2020 25% · 2021 25% · 2022 32% · 2023 49% — growing more concentrated.
“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
46% of HEIGHTS 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
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like HEIGHTS 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
67% 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 HEIGHTS 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 HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA?
- HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 125 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,200,483 to it, the largest being THE TOWNSEND FOUNDATION INC ($5,200,000). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA have?
- IRS filings report 125 organizations giving $26,200,483 in grants to HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA, 82 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA?
- THE TOWNSEND FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HEIGHTS 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 Heights 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 125 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