Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,289 to it, the largest being Erie Community Foundation ($48,390). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT's revenue fell 43% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,719 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- United Way of Erie Countyshared funderslocal
- Nextdoor Foundationportfolio match
- Pee Dee Electric Membership Corpportfolio match
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.
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 45% · 2018 44% · 2019 40% · 2020 67% · 2021 47% · 2022 47% · 2023 68% · 2024 45% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (75% 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
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $16k → $7k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT’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
WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% 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 WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2019 88% · 2020 100% · 2021 89% · 2022 88% · 2023 86% — 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.
Where its funders are
69% of WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $22k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $48k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 3 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- United Way of Erie Countyshared funderslocalPA · backs 49 organizations that share your funders · funds 60 organizations near you
- Nextdoor Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pee Dee Electric Membership Corpportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Fm Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- US Wind Force Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Leary Firefighters Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Mid-South Resource Conservation and Development Council Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Gary Sinise Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Scott Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Gvec Charitable Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $218k on record.
- Department of Homeland Security$218k
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 WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT?
- WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,289 to it, the largest being Erie Community Foundation ($48,390). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $70,289 in grants to WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT?
- Erie Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $48,390 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WEST LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT 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 3funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing