GrantmakersWashington

Washington State Community Action

Olympia, WA · EIN 91-1947862. Reported 43 grants totalling $1,842,173 to 28 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

28organizations funded
$24,909median reported grant
$1,842,173granted, 2020-2023
86%of grantees funded again the next year
19%of dollars to its largest recipient

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:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Washington State Community Action, the IRS classifies it under community improvement rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE S21) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 28 distinct organizations, with 19% 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.
  3. How much its list changes. 86% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $24,909. Half of what it reported fell between $12,911 and $54,461; the smallest was $6,385 and the largest $184,427. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
8 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
14 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
11 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
4 grants

1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $14,141 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Community Action Partnership Association of IdahoBoise, ID$345,313442023
Community Action Partnership of OregonSalem, OR$307,033442023
Rural Alaska Community Action Program IncAnchorage, AK$238,619442023
Westside BabySeattle, WA$207,432222023
Lower Columbia Community Action Council IncorporatedLongview, WA$184,427112022
National Community Action Foundation IncWashington, DC$83,585442023
Olympic Community Action ProgramsPort Townsend, WA$54,461112023
Community Action CenterPullman, WA$51,948112020
Carlton Complex Long Term RecoveryPateros, WA$48,052112020
Kitsap Community ResourcesBremerton, WA$41,501112023
Washington NonprofitsSeattle, WA$30,975222023
Neighborhood House IncWilmington, DE$28,969112023
Blue Mountain Action Council IncWalla Walla, WA$25,139112023
Metropolitan Development CouncilTacoma, WA$24,909112023
Opportunity CouncilBellingham, WA$21,277222023
Benton-Franklin Community Action Committee IncPasco, WA$20,428112023
Rural Resources Community ActionColville, WA$18,306112023
Opportunities Industrialization Center of WashingtonYakima, WA$16,699112023
Okanogan County Community Action Council IncOkanogan, WA$16,000112023
Chelan-Douglas County Community Action Council IncWenatchee, WA$12,911112023
Byrd Barr PlaceSeattle, WA$10,932112023
Washington Gorge Action ProgramsBingen, WA$10,100112023
El Centro De La RazaSeattle, WA$9,345112023
Northwest Community Action PartnershipChadron, NE$7,994112023
Multi-Service CenterFederal Way, WA$6,500112023
Community Action Council of Lewis Mason and Thurston CountiesLacey, WA$6,488112023
Solid Ground WashingtonSeattle, WA$6,445112023
Community Action of Skagit CountyMount Vernon, WA$6,385112023

7 of 28 (25%) 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 24 of 28 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Human Services
17 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Social Science
1 org
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
1 org
Food & Nutrition
1 org
Housing & Shelter
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20207$424,540$51,948
20214$218,629$55,564
20227$522,715$76,937
202325$676,289$16,699

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

45% 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.

Washington
$831K
Idaho
$345K
Oregon
$307K
Alaska
$239K
District of Columbia
$84K
Delaware
$29K
Nebraska
$8K

Down to the city

Boise, ID
$345K
Salem, OR
$307K
Seattle, WA
$265K
Anchorage, AK
$239K
Longview, WA
$184K
Washington, DC
$84K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsNorthwest Harvest Emm14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program13 shared recipientsInatai Foundation13 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. 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.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $24,909 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Washington.
  4. 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 Washington State Community Action's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 7130, Olympia, WA, 98507.

EIN 91-1947862 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.