Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT
UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,176,439 to it, the largest being THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC ($4,200,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $21M
- Net assets
- $8.1M
What University City District does
Mission
University City District is a partnership of world-renowned anchor institutions, small businesses and residents that creates opportunity, improves economic vitality and quality of life in the university city area of west philadelphia. Our primary mission is community revitalization. We work within a place-based, data-driven framework to invest in world-class public spaces, address crime and public safety, bring life to commercial corridors, connect low-income residents to careers, and promote job growth and innovation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Clean and safe - University City District is dedicated to the physical beauty and safety of our neighborhood. Our public space maintenance employees work seven days a week to clean and enhance more than 160 commercial and residential blocks through street cleanings, graffiti removal, trash collection, and more. Our public safety ambassadors patrol the streets and serve as highly-visible deterrents to crime while offering assistance to those in need, from residents to local employees to the unhoused population. Approximately 187,000 people, 650 organizations and businesses benefit from the program.
$4,467,323 spent$916,377 earned by the program34% of program spendingThe skills initiative - the skills initiative is University City District's nationally recognized workforce development program. For over ten years, the skills initiative, formerly known as wpsi, has solidified its role as one of the highest-performing workforce intermediaries in the country by building customized talent solutions that bridge the divide between unemployed philadelphians seeking opportunity and employers seeking talent. The skills initiative runs year-round, cohort-based, jobs-driven training models that harness the hiring power of our area's major employers while cultivating our neighbors' talent. Approximately 295 people and 80 organizations and businesses have been affiliated with the program in the previous year.
$3,776,848 spentof which $147,518 as grants$213,856 earned by the program29% of program spendingEconomic development - University City District has extensive experience creating all-season temporary spaces that attract visitors, generate economic activity, and foster community. Ucd has spearheaded successful projects in philadelphia including the porch at 30th street station, trolley portal gardens, and the lucy bus system in partnership with septa. Ucd also provides services that help businesses looking to open, expand, or relocate in university city. Approximately 187,000 people, 650 organizations and businesses benefit from the program.
$2,220,147 spent$1,688,715 earned by the program17% of program spendingGreen city works - University City District runs a landscaping social enterprise, green city works (gcw), that provides high-quality landscaping services to clients throughout philadelphia while connecting local community members to good, stable jobs. University City District is committed to advancing our services, our labor force, and our community through green space improvements. Gcw assists in maintaining spaces in university city that are managed by ucd and runs landscape maintenance and design-build programs in our neighborhood and throughout philadelphia. Approximately 187,000 people and 650 organizations and businesses benefit from the program.marketing and events - ucd partners with local performers, business owners, and organizations throughout the year to help bring neighbors, visitors, and businesses together through a wide selection of events. We bring live music, arts, crafts, and holiday events to trolley portal gardens, entertain thousands with our curated film series movies in clark park, present our wildly popular baltimore avenue dollar stroll, and draw diners into restaurants during our summer university city dining days promotion. We routinely plan smaller…
$2,772,476 spent$1,052,424 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,236,794.
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 2017 to 2018, from $5.9M to $11M (+92%).
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: 2019 0% · 2021 5% · 2023 5% · 2024 8% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Caitlin Garozzo
Exec. Dir., west philadelp
Board chair
Craig Carnaroli
Chairman, officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 12 funders, grant income fell $1.1M → $1.0M.
6 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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: $36M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania). These are real filings, and they are not money UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT raised.
From the IRS filings of UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT’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
UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
41% 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 UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 42% · 2019 60% · 2020 89% · 2021 40% · 2022 35% · 2023 43% — 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
46% of UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
56% of UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.3M 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
UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT's revenue grew 25% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 328 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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
- Ucd Transportation Management Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT: 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 UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT?
- UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,176,439 to it, the largest being THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC ($4,200,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $21,176,439 in grants to UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT?
- THE LENFEST FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT 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 27 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