About Erie Community Foundation
Erie Community Foundation’s recent grantmaking shows a strong pattern of large, repeated support for Erie-based institutions such as United Way of Erie County and Erie City Mission, alongside smaller program grants for scholarships, capacity building, and community sponsorships. The foundation is a public charity and mixed community foundation with annual grants of $62,281,993 and total assets of $385,719,844, giving a sense of both scale and reach in the region. Its work is tied to Erie County through a local giving scope and multiple active programs that include scholarships, Hovis Grants, Helping Today Grants, Acorn Grants, and women- and family-focused grantmaking. Recent awards also show sustained support for organizations working in health, housing, education, neighborhood development, and regional vitality. Across the grant list, several recipients appear more than once across different years, including Erie Philharmonic, Erie Zoological Society, and The Nonprofit Partnership, which suggests ongoing relationships rather than isolated awards. The foundation also administers named and legacy programs, including the Erie Women’s Fund and the Furchak Ferko Grants, indicating a structure that combines broad community philanthropy with targeted giving.
What Erie Community Foundation Funds
Health, education, and community stability appear throughout the foundation’s program work. In health-related grantmaking, Erie City Mission received $2,298,713 in 2025 for various projects, while Hamot Health Foundation received $1,285,678 in 2025 for various projects. Education support shows up in multiple forms, including post-secondary scholarships and a $337,123 grant to Mercyhurst Preparatory School for various projects. The foundation also backs workforce and economic opportunity: Foundation for Free Enterprise Education received $354,554 in 2025 for various projects, and the Emerging Erie Fund is built around living-wage pathways and neighborhood investment in Erie County. Women and families are another clear focus. Through the Erie Women’s Fund, Furchak Ferko Grants support transportation, healthcare, workforce training, education, housing, childcare, and food insecurity, reflecting a place-based approach to community gaps.
How Erie Community Foundation Gives
Typical grants cluster in the five-figure range, with p25 at $9,492, a median of $19,758, and p75 at $49,012. The distribution extends well above that for larger operating and institutional awards, but many of the foundation’s structured programs cap grants from $2,500 for sponsorships to $100,000 for some women’s fund and emerging-initiative awards. Recurring relationships are visible in the recent grant list: United Way of Erie County, Erie Philharmonic, Erie Zoological Society, and The Nonprofit Partnership each appear in more than one year. The foundation is a public charity and mixed community foundation, and it also makes program-related investments. Several active programs accept unsolicited applications, including scholarships, Hovis Grants, Helping Today Grants, Acorn Grants, and the Erie Women’s Fund programs.
