Pine Street Foundation Inc.

Pine Street Foundation Inc. is a tiny, closely held family foundation run entirely by two directors, Jonathan and Elizabeth Seltzer, with zero staff and zero officer compensation reported across all six years of available Form 990-PF filings (2019-2024). With $5.51 million in assets and annual revenue that has ranged from $254,540 to $882,308 — driven mainly by investment income rather than new contributions — the foundation functions as a directed personal giving vehicle, not an open grantmaking program. The data record itself confirms this: it is flagged "preselected_only," lists no application form, no deadline, and no published application instructions, which is the clearest structural signal available that this is a relationship-only funder rather than a proposal-review funder.

Across 94 recorded grants totaling $1,309,076, the giving pattern is unmistakable. The Seltzers fund organizations tied to their personal and community networks: Jewish- and Israel-affiliated causes (Friendship Circle, Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, Jewish Federation, Birthright Israel, Beit Halochem, Friends of Ethiopian Jews, Pef Israel Endowment Funds) alongside Philadelphia-area civic and social-service organizations (Maternity Care Coalition, Philadelphia Police Foundation, Free Library of Philadelphia, Philabundance, Elevate 215, Philadelphia School Partnership). Seventy of 94 tracked grants (74%) went to Pennsylvania organizations, with New York (13) and DC (6) a distant second and third, reflecting the foundation's Narberth, PA base plus national Jewish-cause partners headquartered in NY and DC.

Many top recipients recur with identical grant counts across five consecutive years (Maternity Care Coalition, Friendship Circle, USO, Jewish Federation, Free Library, Philabundance, JEVS Human Services, The Rosenbach, and Share Food Program each show 5 grants) — strong evidence the foundation renews existing relationships annually rather than running open competitions for new grantees. For a first-time, uninvited applicant, the realistic path in is indirect: a warm introduction through shared board members, Jewish-community networks, or Philadelphia/Main Line civic circles the Seltzers already fund into, not a cold LOI. Given the foundation has no staff, any inbound inquiry should go directly and briefly to the directors through a personal connection, since no grants department exists to receive it.

Total giving climbed steadily from $52,142 in 2019 to $254,670 (2020), $288,014 (2021), and a peak of $350,209 (2022), before easing slightly to $336,750 in 2023; the FY2024 return reports $254,540 in total revenue but does not break out a total-giving figure in this dataset. Grants paid tracked the same arc: $36,019 (2019) → $200,471 (2020) → $243,124 (2021) → $294,148 (2022) → $277,185 (2023). Net investment income has been volatile with the market — $906,605 in 2019 (boosted by a one-time $1,022,388 contribution that year), falling to $104,711 in 2020, then rebounding to $738,023 in the strong-market year of 2022 and $405,552 in 2023. Assets have held in a tight $4.79M-$5.58M band since 2020, currently $5,508,101.

The funder record's own "typical grant size" figures (drawn from a recent filing year, count of 17 grants) show a median of $10,000, an average of $14,301, and a range of $300 to $45,000 — a genuinely small-dollar, high-frequency giving style. Looking at the fuller five-year grantee history (94 grants, $1,309,076 total, $13,926 average), the same pattern holds: the largest cumulative relationship, Maternity Care Coalition, still averages under $45,000 per year despite five consecutive grants totaling $223,845, while the smallest recorded gifts are token amounts ($100 to Georgetown University, $205 to the School Mindfulness Project) — showing the foundation mixes core relationship gifts with small symbolic ones.

By cause area, Jewish- and Israel-affiliated organizations account for roughly $464,000 (35% of tracked dollars) — Friendship Circle ($181,150), Friends of the Israeli Defense Force ($85,465), Jewish Federation ($66,016), Friends of Ethiopian Jews ($52,000), Pef Israel Endowment Funds ($36,000), Birthright Israel ($17,578), Beit Halochem ($17,000), and smaller Jewish family-service gifts. Philadelphia civic and social-service organizations account for roughly $585,000 (45%) — Maternity Care Coalition ($223,845), Philadelphia Police Foundation ($145,000), Free Library of Philadelphia ($51,100), Philadelphia School Partnership ($50,000), Philabundance ($44,000), JEVS Human Services ($37,500), and others. Military/veterans-support giving (USO, $125,000) makes up most of the remainder. Geographically, 70 of 94 grants (74%) went to Pennsylvania, 13 (14%) to New York, 6 (6%) to DC, and 5 (5%) to New Jersey — a tight four-state footprint centered on the Philadelphia suburbs where the foundation is domiciled.

All five peers sit within roughly $2,000 of Pine Street's $5.51M in reported assets — this is an asset-matched comparison set, not a mission-matched one, which is why the Primary Focus column ranges from anthropology research to a single-university scholarship trust. What Pine Street shares with four of its five peers (Wade, Philip Cohen, Flynn, and Anderson) is a closed, staff-less operating model with no discoverable public application channel; small family foundations and estate trusts at this asset tier overwhelmingly give by pre-existing relationship rather than open competition. The Robert Lemelson Foundation is the outlier in this cohort, maintaining actual grant infrastructure — grant seekers who don't have a Seltzer-family connection may find that peer a more accessible use of outreach effort at a comparable asset scale.

No news coverage, press releases, or public announcements specific to this foundation (EIN 83-2352028, Narberth, PA) were found for 2025 or 2026. Web searches for "Pine Street Foundation" instead surface at least two unrelated organizations of the same name: Pine Street Inn (a large Boston homelessness services nonprofit) and a Pine Street Foundation cancer-research charity in San Anselmo, CA (EIN 68-0230946) whose website, pinestreetfoundation.org, is the URL recorded in this funder's data profile. That domain does not belong to the Narberth foundation — an important correction for any grant seeker relying on the on-file website.

The most current verified activity is the foundation's own Form 990-PF trend line. Its FY2024 return (filed and indexed by ProPublica as of November 2025) reports $254,540 in total revenue, $327,182 in expenses, $275,768 in charitable disbursements (84.3% of expenses), and total net assets of $5,508,101 — roughly flat compared with FY2023's $336,750 in total giving and $277,185 in grants paid. No leadership changes appear anywhere in the filing history: Jonathan and Elizabeth Seltzer have been the sole, uncompensated directors in every return from 2019 through 2024. Given the foundation has no staff, no independent website, and no media presence, its "recent activity" is best read from this steady, incremental filing trend rather than from news coverage: giving grew from $52,142 (2019) to a peak of $350,209 (2022), then eased to $336,750 (2023) — a mature, stable family giving program showing no signs of significant expansion, contraction, or strategic pivot.

Treat this foundation as functionally closed to unsolicited applications. The funder record shows preselected_only status, no application form URL, no published instructions, and no deadline — and no dedicated grants staff exists to review inbound requests in the first place. Practical, funder-specific guidance:

Do not cold-submit a full proposal. The absence of any public "how to apply" page specific to this EIN, combined with six straight years of grants going to the same recurring recipients, indicates the Seltzers select recipients directly rather than reviewing applications.

A warm introduction is the only realistic path in. Since 74% of grants go to Pennsylvania organizations concentrated in the Philadelphia/Main Line area (Narberth is the foundation's registered address), groups with board or staff connections to Philadelphia Jewish-community institutions (Jewish Federation, JEVS, Jewish Family & Children's Service) or Main Line civic and philanthropic circles have the best chance at a genuine referral.

Match the funder's demonstrated identity, not a generic mission pitch. Every recorded grant purpose in the filings uses identical boilerplate language ("to promote and support the educational exempt purpose... of the recipient"), suggesting the Seltzers fund an organization's general mission and track record rather than reviewing project-specific budgets — lead with organizational credibility and community ties, not a narrowly scoped project ask.

Target the two clearest thematic lanes evident in six years of giving: Jewish-community and Israel-support causes (over a third of tracked dollars, including Friendship Circle, FIDF, Jewish Federation, and Birthright Israel), and Philadelphia-region human services, food security, and youth/education nonprofits (Maternity Care Coalition, Philabundance, Share Food Program, Mighty Writers, Elevate 215). A pitch outside these two lanes has essentially no precedent in the available filing history.

Size expectations accordingly: the median tracked grant is $10,000, and even the largest single relationship (Maternity Care Coalition) averages under $45,000 per year — expect a modest, renewable gift rather than a transformative one, typically sustained over a multi-year relationship rather than awarded as a one-time grant.

Common mistake to avoid: assuming pinestreetfoundation.org is this funder's website. It is not — that domain belongs to an unrelated San Anselmo, CA cancer-research charity. No verified public contact channel exists for the Narberth foundation, which is precisely why relationship-building, not web-based outreach, is the only lever available here.