The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc. is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based public charity that provides funding to arts and culture organizations. Established in 1991, it serves Philadelphia County with funding from the City of Philadelphia and provides operating support to Philadelphia-based organizations.
Key facts about The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc
In short: The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc gave $7.8M across 234 grants in 2025 (avg $33K), mostly in Pennsylvania. 21% of 2025 grantees were new. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990.
- EIN
- 23-2683335
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990, 2025
- Annual giving (2025)
- $7,786,459
- Grants made (2025)
- 234
- Average grant
- $33,275
- Median grant
- $17,892
- New grantees (estimate)
- 21% first-time grantees (49 of 234, 2025)
- Total assets
- $7,338,351
- Primary geography
- Pennsylvania (99% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
Data from IRS Form 990, 2025; updated September 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology).
Financial Overview
From 2025 IRS Form 990 · View filing
Total Assets
$7.3M
+585.1% YoY
Annual Giving
$7.8M
+66.4% YoY
Grant Count
234
-19.0% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$33K
+105.5% YoY
Is The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc open to new grantees?
21%
first-time grantees, 2025
In 2025, 49 of 234 grantees (21%) were first-time recipients. First grants averaged $78K; repeat grants $21K. How we count
Medians: $19K first-time, $18K repeat.
Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990 filings (2020–2025). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.
Mission & Focus Areas
The Fund’s stated mission is to champion equitable grantmaking for Philadelphia’s arts and culture community by providing sustainable, unrestricted funding to community-based organizations. Its stated goals include supporting general operations, recognizing artistic quality and organizations’ contributions, promoting arts and culture as engines of social, educational, and economic development, and increasing participation among culturally diverse constituencies.
The Fund supports organizations across artistic disciplines and cultural practices. Examples of grantees’ stated missions illustrate the range of work represented: Please Touch Museum says it creates learning opportunities through play; Liberty Bell Pops says it delivers musical experiences to the public; and Headlong Dance Theater says it creates and performs new dance theater works and seeks to bring dance to broader audiences. These are the grantees’ descriptions of their own work.
Grantmaking
In filing year 2025, the Fund reported 234 grants totaling $7,786,459. Awards ranged from $5,431 to $501,944, with a median of $17,892. The largest listed awards included $501,944 to The Carpenters’ Company of the City of Philadelphia and $500,000 each to Greater Philadelphia Health Action, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Please Touch Museum, and St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children. The stated purpose for each was operations. Other listed awards included $300,000 to Fiesta Schoolyards, $250,000 each to Attic Youth Center and Global Philadelphia Association, and $209,000 to CultureTrust Greater Philadelphia.
Review Cycle
is closed. A separate 2026 Community Impact Grant offers an additional $10,000 to a subset of Art & Culture grantees; eligible organizations must have annual budgets of $500,000 or less and meet additional criteria. That initiative is supported by an $8 million William Penn Foundation award to the Fund for a four-year effort and includes capacity-building services.
Open Grants
2 open opportunities from The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc
Ready to take the next step with The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc?
Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
The Fund says it serves Philadelphia County and provides operating support to Philadelphia-based arts and culture organizations. Its eligibility guidance requires applicants’ official place of business to be in the City of Philadelphia. In its 2025 grant data, 99% of grant dollars went to recipients in Pennsylvania and 1% to recipients in New York.
Grant Distribution by State
Share of 2025 grant dollars across all 234 itemized grants.
States
Cities
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2020 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $1.1M (2021) to $7.8M (2025). In 2025 it made 234 grants totaling $7.8M.
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2025
The largest 2025 recipient was The Carpenters' Company of City & C ($502K). Together the top 10 received $3.7M.
Grant Size Distribution
1,262 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 1,245 grants of 1,262 (99%).
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| The Carpenters' Company of City & C Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $501,944 |
| Greater Philadelphia Health Action Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $500,000 |
| Kimmel Center for the Performing AR Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $500,000 |
| Please Touch Museum Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $500,000 |
| St Christopher's Foundation for Chi Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $500,000 |
| Fiesta Schoolyards Jenkintown, PA | Operations | $300,000 |
| Attic Youth Center Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $250,000 |
| Global Philadelphia Association Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $250,000 |
| Culturetrust Greater Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $209,000 |
| Liberty Bell Pops Philadelphia, PA | Operations | $150,000 |
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
| Filing year | Assets | Revenue | Expenses | Grants reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $7,338,351 | $14,811,283 | $8,553,854 | $7,786,459; 234 grants |
| 2024 | $1,071,172 | $4,017,116 | $5,275,262 | 0 grants |
| 2023 | $2,332,805 | $5,506,717 | $3,428,078 | 0 grants |
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $7,338,351 | $1,071,172 | $2,332,805 |
| Revenue | $14,811,283 | $4,017,116 | $5,506,717 |
| Expenses | $8,553,854 | $5,275,262 | $3,428,078 |
| Net Investment Income | $63,036 | $292 | $431 |
Data update history
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2020 (received by the IRS February 3, 2021)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2021 (received by the IRS March 16, 2022)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2022 (received by the IRS May 12, 2023)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2023 (received by the IRS May 11, 2024)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2024 (received by the IRS May 13, 2025)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS March 5, 2026)
- IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2020–2025
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
The 2025 filing lists Gabriela Sanchez as Executive Director; Laneshe Miller-White as President; Sarah Christy as Treasurer; Kelli Paul as Secretary; and Michelle Currica-Hernandez as Vice President. It also lists Michael O’Bryan, John Orr, Wilfredo Hernandez, Rachael Choplick, and Gabrielle Sellei as directors.
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc is led by Laneshe Miller-White, President since 2025 (on filings since 2022); 1 of 18 officers listed in 2025 is compensated.
Officers on the 2025 filing
Laneshe Miller-White
President
Director → Vice President, 2024
Vice President → President, 2025
On filings since 2022
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Michael O'Bryan
Director
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
John Orr
Director
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Caralyn Spector
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Gabrielle Sellei
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Isaiah Thomas
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Kendra Brooks
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Rachael Choplick
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Wilfredo Hernandez
Director
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Anthony Phillips
Director
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Chau Nguyen
Director
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Gilberto Vega
Director
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Monica Montgomergy
Director
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Quetcy Lozada
Director
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Gabriela Sanchez
Executive Di
On filings since 2023
40 hrs/week
$78K (2024) → $129K (2025)
Kelli Paul
Secretary
Director → Secretary, 2024
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Michelle Currica-Hernandez
Vice President
Director → Vice President, 2025
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Sarah Christy
Treasurer
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Former officers (18)
- Former: Dawn Frisby Byers (2020–2024) — President
- Former: Neville K. Vakharia (2020–2024) — Director
- Former: Valerie Gay (2020–2024) — Treasurer
- Former: Cindy Bass (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: David Oh (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: Derek Green (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: James Claiborne (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: Ken Metzner (2020–2023) — Secretary
- Former: Magda Martinez (2020–2023) — President
- Former: Mark Squilla (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: Nicole Allen White (2020–2023) — Director
- Former: Michelle Currica (2022–2023) — Director
- Former: Adrienne Mackey (2020–2021) — Director
- Former: Barbara Silzle (2020–2021) — Executive Director
- Former: Denise Kinney (2020–2021) — Director
- Former: Donna Frisby-Greenwood (2020–2021) — Director
- Former: Hazami Sayed (2020–2021) — Vice President
- Former: Stuart Adair (2020) — Director
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2020–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Compensation Overview
From 2025 IRS filing
The highest reported compensation on the 2025 filing was $129K, to Gabriela Sanchez (Executive Di).
Contact
Mailing address: 30 South 15Th Street 15Th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Phone: (267) 419-7641
Website: https://philaculturalfund.org
Frequently asked questions about The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc
How much does The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc give each year?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc gave $7.8M across 234 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990. In 2024 it gave $4.7M across 289 grants.
What is The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's typical grant size?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's median grant in 2025 was $17,892, and its average grant was $33,275, across 234 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990. Organizations receiving their first grant from The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc that year got $78K on average.
Where does The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc give grants?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc gives mostly in Pennsylvania: 99% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990 went to recipients there. The most frequent recipient cities were Philadelphia, PA (232 grants).
Does The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc give general operating support?
Not in 2025: none of the 234 grants with a stated purpose on The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's 2025 IRS Form 990 were described as general or operating support. Recurring purposes include "Operations" (234 grants).
Who are The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's largest grantees?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's largest 2025 grantees include The Carpenters' Company of City & C ($501,944), Greater Philadelphia Health Action ($500,000) and Kimmel Center for the Performing AR ($500,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990. Together they received 19% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.
How large is The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc reported $7.3M in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990. Its revenue that year was $14.8M.
What does The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc fund?
The Fund’s stated mission is to champion equitable grantmaking for Philadelphia’s arts and culture community by providing sustainable, unrestricted funding to community-based organizations. See mission & focus areas ↑
How do I apply for a grant from The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc has no public application process in the sources Grantable reviewed. Check philaculturalfund.org for current guidelines, or contact the foundation directly before submitting a request.
What is The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's EIN?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 23-2683335. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2020–2025.
Data last updated September 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990 filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.
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