Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,616,325 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,920,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Pittsburgh Glass Center Inc does
Mission
Glass art: we teach it. We create it. We promote it. We support those who make it. Pittsburgh glass center (pgc) cultivates an inclusive and welcoming environment that encourages everyone, from the casually curious to the master artist, to learn, create, and be inspired by glass. We share our passion for glass locally and globally to advance a more diverse, vibrant, and accessible glass art community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Classes and workshops:workshops and classes are given in each of our four studios: the flame shop, hot shop, casting studio and cold shop.pittsburgh glass center classes range from short 20 minute experiences called "make it now," to multi-day workshops, to eight-week classes during the fall, winter, and spring, and twelve weeks of one-week summer intensive classes. The fall, winter, and spring classes and workshops pull students mainly from allegheny and surrounding counties. Each semester carnegie mellon university enrolls over 40 students to participate in our eight-week session of classes. During the summer our master classes draw students from around the world. Participants have come from over 40 states and 12 foreign countries. Pittsburgh glass center offers classes and workshops for both adults and teens and has recently been expanding teen programming to include a variety of offerings for students ages 14-18. Classes offered both at the pittsburgh glass center as well as through residency programs that take glass art into the classroom.
$1,480,500 spent$1,290,385 earned by the program52% of program spendingEducation and outreach:community outreach programs include tours with demonstrations in the studios, glass art sales that promote the work of artists who create here, artists' lectures, and college internships.hot jams are free public events held on the first friday of the month and coincide with the penn avenue arts initiative's unblurred community events. Hot jams feature glass blowing and flame working demonstrations by local and internationally renowned glass artists. Hot jams attract hundreds of people, often first-time visitors to the pittsburgh glass center. Free public lectures coincide with artists residencies at pittsburgh glass center and are often in collaboration with other cultural organizations, including the frick art and historical center, carnegie museum of art, and the mattress factory. These free programs educate our visitors and students about the history of american studio glass in the region and the current practice of the art form from across the united states.
$500,050 spent$22,378 earned by the program18% of program spendingExhibitions and residencies:pittsburgh glass center's hodge gallery is an exhibition space where the pittsburgh glass center presents the work of local, national and international glass and mixed media artists. The gallery presents three exhibitions a year and is always free and open to the public. Pittsburgh glass center's dynamic residencies and exhibits have garnered national media attention, satisfied the artists' desire for studio time, and resulted in comprehensive catalogues that market the artists and the glass center. Our exhibition and residency program sets us apart from other public access glass facilities.
$407,865 spent$6,543 earned by the program14% of program spendingPgc offers studio and equipment rental to advanced students and professional glass artists. The rentals provide an accessible and supportive studio environment for the creation of glass art as well as facilitate the production and development of glass art in the pittsburgh region. Pgc has also implemented new strategies to attract and train new studio renters including an "open studio" program for students currently enrolled in classes.pgc's teen program (sio2) is comprised of classes and events that introduce the science and art of hot glass to middle and high school students in the pittsburgh region. The program allows students to create glass art and to understand the scientific principles behind hot glass, while instilling life lessons such as teamwork, dedication, discipline, achievement, and respect. The lessons of sio2 go beyond a glass studio art program to enhance students' academic, creative, and personal development.
$452,632 spent$297,688 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,841,047.
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 $6.8M to $17M (+149%).
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 4% · 2018 4% · 2019 8% · 2020 11% · 2021 9% · 2022 10% · 2023 6% · 2024 5% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% 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
Heather Mcelwee
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $486k → $4.3M.
9 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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 83% · 2018 30% · 2019 42% · 2020 36% · 2021 27% · 2022 44% · 2023 52% — 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
67% of PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
96% of PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $145k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$145k
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 PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC
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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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
- Pgc Qalicb · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC: 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 PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC?
- PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,616,325 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,920,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $13,616,325 in grants to PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,920,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC 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 Pittsburgh Glass Center →
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 59 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