Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PEIRCE COLLEGE
PEIRCE COLLEGE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,594,355 to it, the largest being THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC ($500,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $0
What Peirce College does
Mission
Organization's mission: Peirce College empowers adult learners to improve their lives by achieving career goals through academic offerings aligned with evolving workforce needs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Effective june 30, 2025 Peirce College merged with lackawanna college. Peirce College did not survive as a result of the merger. At the time of merger, lackawanna college planned to continue the academic programs previously offered at Peirce College. The merger agreement stipulated that students of the Peirce College would be otherwise provided for by another comparable lackawanna college academic program or by another university or college via an affiliation or articulation agreement.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Program service: founded in 1865, Peirce College is a private institution providing practical leading-edge curricula primarily to working adult learners. The college awards master, bachelor, and associate degrees as well as certificates in business, health care, information technology, liberal studies and legal studies. Peirce College is acredited by the middle states commission on higher education. The bachelor of science, associate of science and the certificate of proficiency in paralegal studies are recognized and approved by the american bar association (aba). The accreditation council for business schools and programs (acbsp) accredits Peirce College's bachelor, associate and certificates of proficiency in business administration and accounting.
$18,536,330 spentof which $6,312,433 as grants$11,685,129 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $18,536,330.
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 2024 to 2025, from $33M to $0 (−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: 2017 20% · 2018 19% · 2019 21% · 2020 23% · 2021 22% · 2022 34% · 2023 27% · 2024 22% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Dr Mary Ellen Caro
President and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 9 funders, grant income rose $31k → $608k.
4 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 PEIRCE COLLEGE’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
PEIRCE COLLEGE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
42% 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 PEIRCE COLLEGE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 83% · 2020 68% · 2021 55% · 2022 25% · 2023 47% — 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
43% of PEIRCE COLLEGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
69% of PEIRCE COLLEGE's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41k 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.
Government funding PEIRCE COLLEGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.5M on record.
- Department of Education$8.5M
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 PEIRCE COLLEGE
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Peirce Preferred Member LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PEIRCE COLLEGE: 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 PEIRCE COLLEGE?
- PEIRCE COLLEGE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,594,355 to it, the largest being THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC ($500,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PEIRCE COLLEGE have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $2,594,355 in grants to PEIRCE COLLEGE, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PEIRCE COLLEGE?
- THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PEIRCE COLLEGE 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 Peirce College →
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 21 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