Funders › Pennsylvania

Corson Foundation

Plymouth Meeting, PA · EIN 23-6390878. Reported 79 grants totalling $663,906 to 41 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$663,906granted, 2021-2024
41recipients, as named on its returns
70%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,556,015assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Corson Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $10,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $81,360. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
21 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
24 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
15 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Ursinus CollegeCollegeville, PA$258,060442024
Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, PA$65,100332023
Einstein Medical Center - MontgomeryEast Norriton, PA$56,600332023
William Penn CharterPhiladelphia, PA$42,300332023
Plymouth Meeting Friends SchoolPlymouth Meeting, PA$31,000332023
Greenwich Country Day SchoolGreenwich, CT$30,000222024
Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityWest Palm Beach, FL$29,325222022
Mercersburg AcademyMercersburg, PA$27,000332023
Williams CollegeWilliamston, MA$21,500442024
Wissahickon Charter SchoolPhiladelphia, PA$18,000442024
Challenge ProgramWilmington, DE$16,000442024
Shriners HospitalPhiladelphia, PA$12,000332023
Albert Einstein SocietyPhildelphia, PA$10,000112024
Fox Chase Cancer CenterPhiladelphia, PA$6,000222023
Cabrini UniversityRadnor, PA$5,000112022
Cleveland ClinicCleveland, OH$5,000112023
Grennich Country Day SchoolGreenwich, CT$5,000112023
Wissahickon FoundationPhiladelphia, PA$5,000112024
Commonwealth LifeHarrisburg, PA$4,521112022
PhilabundancePhiladelphia, PA$3,000332023
The Big PictureProvidence, RI$3,000332023
Wounded Warrior ProjectJacksonville, FL$1,500332023
Einstein Medical Center of MontcoEast Norriton, PA$1,000112024
Guardian ProjectNew York, NY$1,000112023
Legacy of HopeWilmington, DE$1,000112022
St Paul EducationGrosse Pointe Farms, MI$1,000112023
Team Western Ky Relief FundFrankfort, KY$1,000112021
The Guardian ProjectMenlo Park, CA$1,000112024
Brooklyn Boat WorksBrooklyn, NY$500112024
Upper Merion Police AssociationKing of Prussia, PA$500112024
American Heart AssociationDallas, TX$300332023
Avalon Fire DepartmentAvalon, NJ$300332023
Penn Medicine HospiceBala Cynwyd, PA$250112022
The V FoundationMorrisville, NC$250112023
Abington Health FoundationDublin, OH$200112023
Avalon Rescue FundAvalon, NJ$200222024
Avalon Rescue SquadAvalon, NJ$100112021
Conservancy of Sw FlNaples, FL$100112021
Missionary Sisters of CharityNorristown, PA$100112021
Penn CharterPhiladelphia, PA$100112024
The Friendly HomeRochester, NY$100112021

19 of 41 (46%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 70%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 43 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Education
24 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Human Services
4 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants
Medical Research
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$178,500$1,000
202220$189,996$4,760
202323$201,710$1,000
202413$93,700$4,500

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

82% of its giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Pennsylvania
$546K
Connecticut
$35K
Florida
$31K
Massachusetts
$22K
Delaware
$17K
Ohio
$5K
Rhode Island
$3K
New York
$2K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program10 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation6 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Pennsylvania.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Corson Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 710, Plymouth Meeting, PA, 19462. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 23-6390878 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.