Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
United Way of Erie County
United Way of Erie County (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,017,781 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($685,222). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.1M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $40M
What United Way of Erie County does
Mission
United Way of Erie County's mission is to mobilize resources to break the cycle of poverty and improve our community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community Schools - This model is a strategy (not a program) for organizing school and community resources around student success. A community school is both a place and set of partnerships that help address health, wellness and the social needs of its students, families and surrounding neighborhood. Schools become centers of the community, open to everyone, all day, every day, evenings and weekends.
$3,850,727 spent$247,894 earned by the program87% of program spendingImagination Library - Provides a high-quality, age-appropriate book to any child in Erie County under the age of five. Also recruits and trains volunteer Reading Buddies who help parents and caregivers better understand how to read and interact with young children.
$317,486 spent7% of program spendingCommunity Impact - Connecting Erie County residents to Erie based social service resources, and provide financial support designated by donors.
$271,927 spent$17,896 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,440,140.
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 2023 to 2024, from $29M to $38M (+29%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 10% · 2023 2% · 2024 3% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of United Way of Erie County’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $317k → $367k.
8 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $14M from 10 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Erie Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money United Way of Erie County raised.
From the IRS filings of United Way of Erie County’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
United Way of Erie County has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% 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
57% 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 United Way of Erie County.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 24% · 2019 44% · 2020 21% · 2021 63% · 2022 31% · 2023 74% — growing more concentrated.
“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
63% of United Way of Erie County's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 82% 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
85% of United Way of Erie County's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $933k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
United Way of Erie County holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding United Way of Erie County receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.8M on record.
- Department of Education$2.4M
- Department of the Treasury$445k
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 United Way of Erie County
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for United Way of Erie County: 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 United Way of Erie County?
- United Way of Erie County (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,017,781 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($685,222). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does United Way of Erie County have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $2,017,781 in grants to United Way of Erie County, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of United Way of Erie County?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $685,222 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like United Way of Erie County 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 28 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