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Indiana · Nonprofit

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC (Indiana) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,016,334 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,250,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$65M
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$22M
Net assets
$59M
12/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 5%
01What it does

What Project Lead the Way Inc does

Mission

Project lead the way (pltw) empowers students to thrive in an evolving world.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Pltw provides a transformative learning experience for prek-12 students and teachers across the u.s. Through our pathways in computer science, engineering, and biomedical science. Pltw empowers students to develop in-demand knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in an evolving world, and provides teachers with the support and resources they need to devote more time to inspiring students. Pltw students and teachers find additional support from our larger network of prek-12 schools, administrators colleges and universities, and corporate and philanthropic partner across the country united around a passion for providing students with inspiring, engaging, and empowering learning opportunities.

    $53,379,400 spentof which $7,154,838 as grants$52,500,007 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $53,379,400.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($60M) Expenses 100 ($62M) Net assets 100 ($16M)2021 Revenue 133 ($80M) Expenses 68 ($42M) Net assets 344 ($54M)2022 Revenue 109 ($65M) Expenses 93 ($58M) Net assets 375 ($59M)2023 Revenue 101 ($61M) Expenses 97 ($60M) Net assets 381 ($60M)2024 Revenue 116 ($70M) Expenses 105 ($65M) Net assets 410 ($65M)2025 Revenue 107 ($65M) Expenses 114 ($71M) Net assets 375 ($59M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (107)Expenses (114)Net assets (375)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $56M to $92M (+65%).

$56M
$92M
$104M
$103M
$104M
$94M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 7% · 2022 2% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

23% of PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,254 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.8M
’20
$38M
’21
$7.8M
’22
$905k
’23
$4.4M
’24
−$6.0M
’25
3.2
months of
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.

20202021202220232025
Listed2325262019
Joined·+12+6+3·
No longer listed·1059·
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $970k → $3.2M.

6 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC’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

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

30% 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 PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC.

33%
largest funder
70%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 55% · 2021 84% · 2022 41% · 2023 42% — 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

75% of PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 57% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y

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

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside Indiana, across 10 states in all.

MN
IL
WI
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
GA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’21
’22
’23
Indiana out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.6M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 12 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−9% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve3.2mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.7M on record.

State$4.7M
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
By state
  • MA$3.3M
  • DE$1.4M

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 PROJECT LEAD THE WAY 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 Indiana

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 15%Fundraising 2%

Governance

9
board members
89%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 50 states

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

Part of a family of 4 related entities

  • Pltw Assessments Inc · corp_trust
  • Pltw Connections Inc · corp_trust
  • Pltw Holdings Inc · corp_trust
  • Pltw Foundation Inc · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROJECT LEAD THE WAY 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.

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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 PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC?
PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC (Indiana) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,016,334 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,250,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $22,016,334 in grants to PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC?
LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PROJECT LEAD THE WAY INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 2020–2025), 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