Largest Charities in Pennsylvania: Top 10 Organizations to Donate & Volunteer (2026)

Philabundance was founded in 1984 — the same year Feeding America was established — by Pam Lawler, who believed no one should go hungry while healthy food goes to waste. Today it's the largest hunger-relief organization in the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley region, distributing food to 90,000 people each week through a network of 350 partner agencies across nine counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Of those served, 30% are children and 15% are seniors.

Philadelphia's creative food collection ecosystem sets it apart: SEPTA collects food at more than 40 transit stations through the Stop Hunger at Your Station program — commuters drop food items in bins on their way to work. The Phillies' Phans Feeding Families program fundraises at Citizens Bank Park each year. Each December, about 50 Toyota Tundras caravan from Philabundance's North Philadelphia warehouse to Citizens Bank Park's parking lot in the Toyota Hauls Away Hunger drive. Philabundance Community Kitchen offers job training for the unemployed in culinary and food service careers. In 2025, Philabundance publicly warned that proposed federal SNAP cuts could reduce food assistance by 6–9 billion meals nationally — directly threatening the clients it serves who depend on SNAP for the bulk of their food budget. Volunteers work at the North Philadelphia warehouse.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is the primary food bank for southwestern Pennsylvania, covering 11 counties including Allegheny (Pittsburgh), Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, and Greene — a region that includes rust belt post-industrial communities alongside suburban Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's economic transformation from steel to healthcare and technology has been significant, but poverty in the city's neighborhoods and surrounding Appalachian counties remains persistent. Fayette County, for example, has food insecurity rates above 20%, and Mon Valley communities face both poverty and the health consequences of decades of industrial pollution.

The Pittsburgh Food Bank works with partner agencies across all 11 counties and runs mobile pantries reaching rural communities where fixed pantry locations are sparse. Pittsburgh's corporate recovery — anchored by UPMC, Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, and Highmark — provides significant philanthropic support for food bank programs. Volunteers sort and pack food at the Pittsburgh facility. Their annual reports show food distribution volume in the tens of millions of pounds annually.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank covers 27 counties from its Harrisburg headquarters — by geography, the largest single food bank service area in Pennsylvania. Central PA spans everything from the suburbs of Harrisburg and York to rural agricultural communities in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, small industrial cities like Scranton and Allentown (though some of those are served by other food banks), and the vast rural counties of north-central Pennsylvania where towns are small and food pantry infrastructure is thin.

CPFB publishes some of the most detailed food insecurity research among Pennsylvania's food banks — their May 2025 policy blog analyzing the Feeding America Map the Meal Gap data county by county is a model for how regional food banks can communicate the specifics of hunger to policymakers and donors. Their data showed that Centre County (State College/Penn State) has a 4.4% gap between child and adult food insecurity — while Philadelphia County has a 117.4% gap (children more than twice as likely to be food insecure as adults). Volunteers work at the Harrisburg facility.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1867 — making it one of the oldest continuously operating animal welfare organizations in the United States, predating most of the organizations on this list. The PSPCA runs adoption centers in Philadelphia and multiple eastern Pennsylvania locations, operates a humane law enforcement unit with statewide authority to investigate cruelty cases, and provides low-cost veterinary services, spay/neuter programs, and community education.

Philadelphia's dense older housing and significant poverty create persistent animal welfare challenges. The PSPCA's community programs — low-cost veterinary care, a pet food pantry, and owner support programs — recognize that many surrenders happen not because owners don't want their pets but because they can't afford to care for them. Pennsylvania also has the Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) as Philadelphia's municipal shelter. Volunteer roles at PSPCA include animal care, dog walking, cat socialization, foster care, and cruelty investigation support across their multiple locations.

Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia builds affordable homes and provides critical home repair in Philadelphia's neighborhoods — particularly in North, West, and Southwest Philadelphia where older housing stock has deteriorated and homeownership rates have declined. Philadelphia's housing market presents a distinctive Habitat challenge: the city has significant numbers of vacant and abandoned properties alongside housing insecurity, and Habitat's work involves navigating complex land bank, title, and regulatory processes to bring properties back into productive use.

Pennsylvania has strong Habitat affiliates in Pittsburgh, Lancaster, York, Harrisburg, Reading, Allentown-Bethlehem, and other communities. Philadelphia's affiliate is among the most active given the city's size and housing needs. ReStore accepts building materials, furniture, and appliances. Build days run year-round, open to first-timers. Philadelphia's large hospital systems — Penn Medicine, Jefferson, Temple — provide corporate volunteer groups. Critical home repair programs serve elderly homeowners in aging North Philadelphia rowhouse stock.

United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (branded as United for Impact) covers the five-county Philadelphia metro and southern New Jersey with grant programs, workplace giving campaigns, and 2-1-1 service connecting residents to food, housing, and emergency resources. Philadelphia's corporate sector — Comcast, Jefferson Health, Aramark, Lincoln Financial, Cigna — provides significant workplace campaign revenue. United Way's cross-sector role is particularly important in a region where the income disparities between the Philadelphia suburbs and the city itself are extreme.

Pennsylvania has multiple United Way chapters — United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), United Way of the Capital Region (Harrisburg), United Way of Lancaster County, and others statewide. The Philadelphia chapter is the largest by campaign volume. After the 2025 SNAP disruption, 2-1-1 call volumes rose sharply as Philadelphia residents sought emergency food resources.

The Red Cross Pennsylvania Region responds to home fires, flooding, winter storms, and other disasters statewide. Pennsylvania has significant flooding risk — the Susquehanna River and its tributaries have flooded communities in central and northeastern Pennsylvania repeatedly, most devastatingly in Wilkes-Barre during Tropical Storm Agnes (1972) and again in 2011. Philadelphia's dense rowhouse neighborhoods also have consistent home fire risk. Blood collection runs at donor centers statewide; Penn Medicine, Jefferson, UPMC, and other Pennsylvania hospital systems depend on this supply.

Blood donation appointments are available within days at most Pennsylvania chapters. Disaster response volunteers complete several weeks of training. If you were displaced by a flood, fire, or other disaster in Pennsylvania and need immediate help, call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia covers the five-county Philadelphia metro with one of the most comprehensive human services operations in the region — refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, foster care and adoption, senior services, emergency food and housing, and counseling. Philadelphia is a major refugee resettlement destination, and CSS handles the legal and social integration work for newly arrived families from dozens of countries. Their foster care and adoption programs are among the largest private child welfare operations in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has Catholic Charities operations through multiple dioceses — Pittsburgh, Scranton, Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, and Harrisburg. Together they form the most comprehensive statewide human services Catholic network in the Mid-Atlantic region. Services are available to people of all faiths. Volunteers assist with food assistance, resettlement support, and tutoring.

The Salvation Army operates across Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, Scranton, and many other communities. Programs include emergency food, rent and utility assistance, overnight shelter, after-school programs, and disaster canteens. Philadelphia's homeless population is significant and visible — the Salvation Army's Kensington Avenue area operations in particular address addiction and housing instability in one of the most challenged neighborhoods in the country. In Pittsburgh's Allegheny County, the Salvation Army is one of the key emergency assistance providers for Mon Valley and steel-town communities.

Red Kettle campaign runs November through Christmas at Pennsylvania malls, transit stations, and commercial corridors. Thrift stores accept goods year-round. Emergency assistance is available at local corps statewide — call before visiting to confirm current program availability.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania matches children facing adversity with adult mentors across the Philadelphia metro. With 30.5% of Philadelphia children food insecure and educational gaps between city schools and suburban districts among the widest in Pennsylvania, mentoring provides one consistent adult relationship that research links to better school completion, lower justice involvement, and improved employment outcomes. BBBS serves the same communities where Philabundance, Habitat, and CSS work — addressing different dimensions of the same set of challenges.

Community-based mentoring requires meeting 2–4 times per month for at least a year. School-based mentoring runs weekly. Pennsylvania has BBBS affiliates in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg, and other cities. Philadelphia's large university community, healthcare sector, and corporate base provide significant volunteer mentor supply — though demand still consistently exceeds it.