Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,587,785 to it, the largest being THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION ($1,170,603). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $42M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $82M
What Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children does
Mission
The mission of Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children is to nurture the unique abilities of individuals with blindness and visual impairment through educational excellence and a lifetime of learning.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Specialized educational, therapeutic and support services are provided to approximately 200 enrolled students, who in addition to visual impairment, evidence additional significant health challenges. Residential programming is provided to around 20 students who live in outlying districts. The school is divided into three curriculum programs: primary, middle, and secondary. Small class sizes of no more than eight students ensure students receive the individualized attention and instruction necessary to reach their fullest potential. Classroom teams consist of a family engagement coordinator, certified teacher of the visually impaired, occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech language pathologist, orientation and mobility instructor, behavior support specialist, nurse and instructional aides.
$26,638,540 spent$26,461,354 earned by the program88% of program spendingThe outreach program provides vital information, consultation and direct services to hundreds of visually impaired students, agencies, school districts, intermediate units and families throughout the region. The program is dedicated to helping parents and educators make real, tangible impact in the quality of education of students with visual impairment throughout western pennsylvania.
$1,801,495 spent$1,398,735 earned by the program6% of program spendingEach summer, Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children offers a supplemental extended school year (esy) program to both school-age and preschool students enrolled at the school. During this 3-week program, special education and related services are provided which align with their individualized education program (iep) goals.without additional summer programming, children with visual impairments and additional disabilities-such as cognitive, physical, and sensory challenges-often lose the progress they've made during the school year. The additional support provided through the esy program helps students retain and strengthen these emerging skills, setting them up for a successful start to the next school year.
$799,262 spent$619,800 earned by the program3% of program spendingOther program services consist of the a child's view: vision in extraordinary ways and lavi program. "a child's view: vision in extraordinary ways" early childhood center provides comprehensive childcare for children with or without visual impairments from the ages of six weeks to five years. This innovative program is designed to benefit all children, regardless of their ability level or sensory impairments. Accredited by the national association for the education of young children, a child's view is a high quality and innovative childcare program. "lavi: learning adventures for the visually impaired" is a licensed adult training facility (atf) for graduates of the wpsbc ages 21 to 59. The program runs year-round at our oakland campus. Occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech language pathologists are available to provide related service consultations and the use of assistive technology devices. Throughout the day lavi participants engage in a variety of instructional, vocational, and recreational activities adapted to maximize participation.
$1,125,421 spent$365,021 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $30,364,718.
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 2019 to 2020, from $335M to $95M (−72%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 12% · 2023 2% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
28% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $146k → $238k.
6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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: $34M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN raised.
From the IRS filings of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN’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
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 82% · 2019 86% · 2020 76% · 2021 69% · 2022 81% · 2023 84% — 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
50% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
94% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN'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 $97k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN's revenue grew 50% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN: 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 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN?
- WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,587,785 to it, the largest being THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION ($1,170,603). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $1,587,785 in grants to WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN?
- THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,170,603 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL FOR BLIND CHILDREN 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 Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children →
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 16 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