Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT
THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,542,063 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($347,869). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 82
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What The Pennsylvania Innocence Project does
Mission
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project works to exonerate those convicted of crimes they did not commit, to prevent innocent people from being convicted and to help the wrongfully convicted in their transition to freedom.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Paip executes the mission in several ways: (1) conducting thorough legal and factual review of claims of innocence raised by incarcerated individuals, and where such review reveals credible claims of actual innocence, partners with pro bono outside counsel to provide legal representation seeking exoneration; (2) engaging in advocacy, and, when appropriate, working with the law enforcement community to address systemic causes of wrongful convictions, increase access to justice, and prevent wrongful convictions; (3) providing clinical training and experience to students in the fields of law, journalism, criminal justice, and forensic science to educate a new generation of advocates for the innocent; and 4) providing support to exonerees who, often after many years in prison, return to their communities. Paip receives participation by law students and faculty from accredited law schools in greater philadelphia and throughout pennsylvania, as well as students and faculty in various other disciplines, including journalism, criminal justice and forensic science whose academic focus is directly relevant to advancing paip's mission.
$1,010,724 spent$34,500 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,010,724.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2019 to 2020, from $1.2M to $1.8M (+45%).
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: 2020 6% · 2021 16% · 2022 4% · 2023 6% · 2024 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 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
Zane Memeger
Exec dir/vic
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $318k → $448k.
21 of 82 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 82 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
THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
44% 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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 21% · 2019 22% · 2020 16% · 2021 18% · 2022 17% · 2023 17% — 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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
78% of THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT has grown faster than half of the 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.2M on record.
- Department of Justice$1.2M
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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT
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
93%
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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT: 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 THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT?
- THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,542,063 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($347,869). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 82 organizations giving $3,542,063 in grants to THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT, 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $347,869 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT 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 Pennsylvania Innocence Project →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 82 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