Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,996,202 to it, the largest being DAVID S SHAPIRA FOUNDATION ($812,350). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $8.3M
What Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education Foundation does
Mission
To support the educational mission and activities of pennsylvania's state system of higher education (state system) by generating private sector financial support and engaging in other activities to advance the state system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The passhe foundation exists to power pennsylvania's talent pipeline, advance university excellence, and forge partnerships to advance pennsylvania's talent strategy, as the fundraising arm of pennsylvania's state system of higher education. Passhe foundation is a strategic partner of the state system office of the chancellor, leads consortia fundraising efforts on behalf of multi-university projects and initiatives, and serves as a convener to bring together leaders and organizations from the public and private sector. In support of powering pennsylvania's talent pipeline, the foundation secures funds for and manages programs awarding scholarships and emergency grants that are need-based, industry-focused, and academically competitive to students attending the 10 universities of pennsylvania's state system of higher education. During the 2024-25 fiscal year, the foundation awarded 1,065 scholarships and emergency grants, totaling $1,640,211. These scholarships improve access to and affordability of higher education, ensuring students persist through to graduation and attain a degree. One-third of the state system's students come from low-income households. A similar percentage…
$2,500,055 spentof which $2,384,060 as grants84% of program spendingTo forge partnerships and advance university excellence, the foundation identifies and acquires resources to support system-wide initiatives and multi-campus initiatives. Passhe foundation secured funds and created employer partnerships to kick-start an initiative to embed real world work experiences into the academic curriculum through a multi-university pilot program involving five of its universities and which will launch across the state system's 10 universities and 14 campuses in the 2027-28 academic year. During the 2024-25 year, the foundation also secured philanthropic support to accelerate course and program sharing initiatives and to convene state system and university leadership to reimagine its university-based and system-wide strategies for building pennsylvania's educator training pipeline. This summit, occurring in fall 2025, will facilitate regional collaboration and equip state system universities to effectively and efficiently prepare the teacher corps pennsylvania needs to grow and thrive.
$479,769 spentof which $155,000 as grants$218,400 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,979,824.
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 $4.6M to $11M (+136%).
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 18% · 2018 17% · 2019 22% · 2020 23% · 2021 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 28% · 2024 6% · 2025 34%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Shelley Scherer
President & CEO
Board chair
David S Kerr
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $3k → $786k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION’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
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 27% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
46% 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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 48% · 2019 80% · 2020 75% · 2021 95% · 2022 91% · 2023 95% — 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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION'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
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $219k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $350k on record.
- Appalachian Regional Commission$350k
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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION 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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION 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 PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,996,202 to it, the largest being DAVID S SHAPIRA FOUNDATION ($812,350). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $2,996,202 in grants to PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- DAVID S SHAPIRA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $812,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION 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.
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 14 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