Supporting Organizations

Lillianne Taylor, rising 9th grader and Visual Arts major at CAPA, talks about the upcoming school year with Pittsburgh Promise recipient Joshua Devine, a Taylor Allderdice High School and Pennsylvania State University graduate now working for the Allegheny Conference on Economic Development.
Lillianne Taylor, rising 9th grader and Visual Arts major at CAPA, talks about the upcoming school year with Pittsburgh Promise recipient Joshua Devine, a Taylor Allderdice High School and Pennsylvania State University graduate now working for the Allegheny Conference on Economic Development.

Supporting Organizations (Type I) are an option for philanthropists making initial gifts of $2 million and higher. More and more, trustees of private foundations are realizing that The Pittsburgh Foundation offers an alternative with distinct advantages:

  • No onerous, expensive "back office" and administrative responsibilities
  • No requisite 5 percent annual payout
  • Increased charitable deductability relative to your adjusted gross income
  • Expert assistance in engaging and educating your children and grandchildren in philanthropy
  • Ability to retain your fund's name and its own 501(c)(3) designation
  • Significant tax advantages for gifts of closely held stock, real property and similar assets

Supporting Organizations of The Pittsburgh Foundation

The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation

The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation is a program of The Pittsburgh Foundation. Its mission is to support fundamental research in biology, chemistry and physics at Pennsylvania institutions of higher education. The Foundation distributes grants in two areas: New Investigator Research and New Initiative Research. 

The Jack G. Buncher Charitable Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation

In 2007, the Jack G. Buncher Foundation – with a mission of encouraging the pursuit of ideas and innovations that unlock the potential of individuals and communities and that enrich people's lives – established a the Jack G. Buncher Charitable Fund as a supporting organization at The Pittsburgh Foundation. The fund supports such innovative initiatives as Critical Needs Alerts online giving events, which fund the most pressing needs of our community in real time. Together with funds from The Pittsburgh Foundation and the community, these events have raised nearly $5 million for our community while equipping local nonprofits with resources for the digital age. It also supports The Buncher Nonprofit Leadership Program provides, which provides free professional and organizational development to select nonprofits with annual operating budgets of $1 million or less. Participants learn human-centered design and capacity-building skills to strengthen their organizations so they may better serve their communities.

In 2019 and 2020, The Jack G. Buncher Charitable Fund provided more than $1.4 million in grants that advanced a range of efforts that included improving the Foundations internal operations, engaging donors more deeply in community issues and expanding advocacy and community impact by supporting organizations and programs in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.