FundersPennsylvania

Gamber Foundation

Lancaster, PA · EIN 23-2331958. Reported 89 grants totalling $1,065,450 to 27 organizations across tax years 2020-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$1,065,450granted, 2020-2023
27organizations funded
100%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,452,970assets, 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. Gamber 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $6,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $3,000 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
13 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
30 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
31 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Schreiber Pediatric Rehab CenterLancaster, PA$108,750442023
United Disabilities ServicesLancaster, PA$105,000442023
Water Street Rescue MinistriesLancaster, PA$104,000442023
Boys and Girls Clubs of LancasterLancaster, PA$95,000442023
Community Action PartnershipLancaster, PA$60,000442023
Lancaster Cleft Palate ClinicLancaster, PA$60,000442023
Lancaster Early Education CenterLancaster, PA$60,000442023
The Gate HouseLancaster, PA$50,000442023
The Lancaster Salvation ArmyLancaster, PA$50,000332023
Lancaster Area Habitat for HumanityLancaster, PA$40,000442023
ExcentiaLancaster, PA$38,000442023
Milagro HouseLancaster, PA$37,000442023
Tabor Community ServicestenfoldLancaster, PA$36,000332023
Friendship Community MinistriesLititz, PA$32,500442023
Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy ServicesLititz, PA$28,500442023
Aaron's AcresLancaster, PA$26,700442023
Bridges at WorthmoreWorton, MD$26,000442023
The Mix at Arbor Place Youth CenterLancaster, PA$16,000332023
Anchorage LancasterLancaster, PA$15,000332023
Salvation ArmyLancaster, PA$15,000112020
The Bancroft HouseFranconia, NH$12,000442023
The Loft Community PartnershipMillersville, PA$12,000442023
Transitional Living CenterLancaster, PA$12,000112020
University of Vermont-Grasse MountBurlington, VT$12,000442023
Mom's House Inc of LancasterLancaster, PA$5,000112020
The Mix LancasterLancaster, PA$5,000112020
First United Methodist ChurchLancaster, PA$4,000112020

22 of 27 (81%) 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 100%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 37 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
17 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Diseases & Disorders
8 grants
Housing & Shelter
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202023$267,000$9,500
202122$267,000$9,750
202222$263,650$9,750
202322$267,800$10,000

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 95% of this one's giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Pennsylvania
$1.0M
Maryland
$26K
New Hampshire
$12K
Vermont
$12K

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Lancaster County Community Foundation10 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation6 shared recipientsThe Steinman Foundation6 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  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 human services in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Gamber Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 2220 Dutch Gold Drive, Lancaster, PA, 17601. 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 23-2331958 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

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