United Way of Whatcom County
Bellingham, WA · EIN 91-0570788. Reported 97 grants totalling $3,109,374 to 30 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For United Way of Whatcom County, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
- How spread out its giving is. 30 distinct organizations, with 7% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 96% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $27,000. Half of what it reported fell between $22,500 and $40,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $96,564. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opportunity Council | Bellingham, WA | $223,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Whatcom Family Young Mens Christian Association | Bellingham, WA | $190,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County | Bellingham, WA | $185,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Northwest Youth Service | Bellingham, WA | $176,271 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Whatcom Center for Early Learning | Bellingham, WA | $173,195 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Dollywood Foundation | Sevierville, TN | $173,007 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Bellingham Childcare & Learning Center | Bellingham, WA | $162,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Alternatives to Hunger | Bellingham, WA | $152,268 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Whatcom Council on Aging | Bellingham, WA | $138,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Sun Community Service | Bellingham, WA | $122,900 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Other Organizations and Grant Initiatives | $110,966 | 2 | 2 | 2022 | |
| Brigid Collins House | Bellingham, WA | $110,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Whatcom Literacy Council | Bellingham, WA | $105,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lydia Place a Nonprofit Corporation | Bellingham, WA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Max Higbee Community Recreation Center | Bellingham, WA | $97,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington | Seattle, WA | $95,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Mercy Housing Northwest | Denver, CO | $95,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Bellingham Public School Foundation | Bellingham, WA | $89,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Work Opportunities Inc | Lynnwood, WA | $85,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Brigid Collins Family Support Center | Bellingham, WA | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Interfaith Coalition of Whatcom County | Bellingham, WA | $69,600 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Lydia Place | Bellingham, WA | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Arc of Whatcom County | Bellingham, WA | $56,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Compass Health | Everett, WA | $50,367 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Futuresnw | Bellingham, WA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Communities in Schools | Bellingham, WA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Communities in Schools of Whatcom County | Bellingham, WA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ferndale School District Foundation | Ferndale, WA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| ROAD2HOME | Bellingham, WA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center | Bellingham, WA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
30 of 30 (100%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
EARLY LEARNING AND LITERACY - Dolly Parton Imagination Library
NEW PROGRAM SERVICE DESCRIBED IN SHEDULE O
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 16 of 30 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | $1,003,360 | $38,000 |
| 2022 | 23 | $740,166 | $27,000 |
| 2023 | 25 | $697,446 | $24,300 |
| 2024 | 25 | $668,402 | $22,500 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
91% of its giving went to organizations in Washington. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
5 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 16 grants totalling $87,536 to United Way of Whatcom County. That is 28% of the 18 funders we can see giving to it. Those 5 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a federated giving programme.
5 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puget Sound Energy Foundation | Delaware | $69,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Timken Co Charitable & Educational Fund | Ohio | $14,792 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Shell USA Company Foundation | Texas | $2,780 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Baird Foundation Inc | Wisconsin | $550 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Amazonsmile Foundation | Washington | $414 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $27,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Washington.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from United Way of Whatcom County's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 24 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1500 Cornwall Avenue 203, Bellingham, WA, 98225.
EIN 91-0570788 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.