About
What this is
Find Your Jawn is a free directory of community groups in Philadelphia. It lists volunteer groups, civic associations, clubs, sports teams, student groups, cultural groups, faith communities and more. Many of them are small and never show up in a web search.
You can browse everything, or take the match quiz and get a short list of groups that fit you. Every group page tells you what a first visit is like, as far as we know.
Our rules
- No paid placement. Nobody can pay to be listed, or to be listed higher. How ranking works explains the order.
- Facts, not copied text. We write every summary in our own words. We record facts such as a name, schedule, cost and address, and where we saw them. We never copy another site's descriptions.
- No partisan politics. Ward committees, party clubs, campaigns and PACs are left out. Nonpartisan civic and advocacy groups are in.
- Faith communities are included and clearly labeled. You can include or hide them when you browse.
- Support and recovery groups have their own page. Support groups shows crisis lines first. These groups never show up in general results.
- We say what we do not know. If we could not check something, we say it is not known yet.
- No judgment. Court ordered service and background checks are handled plainly and without judgment.
- Contacts are shown as published. We copy contact details as the group or a public source published them, and each one shows where it came from.
How corrections and removals work
Every group page links to three forms on GitHub: correct this listing, I run this group, and remove my details. We remove details promptly and keep them from coming back.
The forms need a free GitHub account. If you do not have one, anyone who does can file the form for you.
Who is checking
Our research team checks that each group is still active and open to join. A group page says how closely we checked it and when. Groups can also confirm their own listing through the "I run this group" form.
A related directory
Join Philly is a curated directory of social clubs in the city, with in person activities fairs. It is a great place to find social clubs, and we are glad it exists. If we find a group through its list, we check the group on its own pages and write our own words. We never copy their text.
It is open source
The plan, the data rules and the code are all public on GitHub. You can read how we decide things, or help.
Where our information comes from
We find groups through public lists, then check each one. Here is every source and the credit it asks for.
Credits
- Data: City of Philadelphia
- Registered Community Organizations, Zoning_RCO layer (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Department of Planning and Development)
- Registered Community Organizations, older RCO_Points layer (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Department of Planning and Development)
- PPR Friends Groups (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Parks & Recreation)
- Neighborhood Advisory Committees (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia)
- Registered Community Gardens (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Parks & Recreation)
- Free Library of Philadelphia branch locations (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia)
- Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Centers (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Parks & Recreation)
- Planning Districts (City of Philadelphia) (From City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia City Planning Commission)
- Data: City of Philadelphia / Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
- Senior centers (City of Philadelphia, PCA_SeniorCenters plus Senior_Sites_PUBLIC_VIEW) (From City of Philadelphia / Philadelphia Corporation for Aging)
- Data: City of Philadelphia Volunteer Portal
- City of Philadelphia Volunteer Portal (Galaxy Digital, Community Schools program) (From City of Philadelphia, Community Schools program, run on the Galaxy Digital platform) Visit
- Data: Community College of Philadelphia Engage
- Engage, Community College of Philadelphia student organizations (Campus Labs Engage) (From Community College of Philadelphia, student organizations on the Campus Labs Engage platform)
- Data: Drexel DragonLink
- DragonLink, Drexel University student organizations (Campus Labs Engage) (From Drexel University, student organizations on the Campus Labs Engage platform)
- Data: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File
- IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Pennsylvania extract (From Internal Revenue Service, SOI Division)
- Data: IRS Form 990-N e-Postcard, via NCCS
- IRS Form 990-N e-Postcard bulk file (NCCS mirror) (From Internal Revenue Service, mirrored by the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics)
- Data: National Speleological Society
- National Speleological Society, Pennsylvania grotto directory (From National Speleological Society) Visit
- Data: Penn Clubs (pennclubs.com)
- Penn Clubs (Penn Labs student directory, University of Pennsylvania) (From Penn Labs (student organization), data about University of Pennsylvania student clubs)
- Data: Philadelphia Cultural Fund grantee directory
- Philadelphia Cultural Fund grantee directory (From Philadelphia Cultural Fund) Visit
- Data: Philadelphia Mummers Parade official lineup
- Official Mummers Parade lineup (From Philadelphia Mummers Parade (philadelphiamummersparade.com)) Visit
- Data: phila.gov
- City of Philadelphia volunteer programs on phila.gov department pages (From City of Philadelphia, various departments) Visit
- Compiled by our team from public pages
- Hand maintained seed list (Schuylkill Navy clubs and long tail scouting finds) (From Find Your Jawn project (compiled by hand from boathouserow.org and scouting research))
- Hand researched inventory of City of Philadelphia volunteer programs (From Find Your Jawn project (compiled by hand from phila.gov and a few City subdomains))