Funders › Washington

B & M Wright Foundation

Bellevue, WA · EIN 38-3662628. Reported 49 grants totalling $2,271,299 to 24 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$11,000median grant
$2,271,299granted, 2021-2025
24recipients, as named on its returns
57%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,409,237assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. B & M Wright Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $11,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,750 and $35,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $510,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
13 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
13 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
8 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
6 grants
$100,000 and Up
5 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
ART21New York, NY$791,050552025
Catskill Art SocietyLivingston Manor, NY$621,000552025
Seattle Art MuseumSeattle, WA$249,999332025
Archives of American ArtNew York, NY$222,000442024
Western Washington University FoundationBellingham, WA$75,000112021
Catskill Mountain KeeperWoodstock, NY$66,750552025
Friends of Waterfront SeattleSeattle, WA$62,500112021
International Council of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY$43,000332025
Smithsonian InstitutionWashington, DC$32,500112025
Allied Arts FoundationSeattle, WA$20,000112024
The Brooklyn RailBrooklyn, NY$20,000222025
Community Foundation of Orange and SullivanMontgomery, NY$12,500222025
The Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY$12,000222025
International Council of the Museum of Modern ArtNew York, NY$11,000112022
Corporation of YaddoSaratoga Springs, NY$10,000112021
The Little Opera Theatre of NyNew York, NY$6,000222024
Whatcom MuseumBellingham, WA$5,000112025
Coyote CentralSeattle, WA$2,500112021
Independent Curators InternationalNew York, NY$2,500222023
SUNY Sullivan FoundationLoch Sheldrake, NY$2,000222025
Beaverkill Valley Land TrustNew York, NY$1,000112021
MountaintrueAsheville, NC$1,000112024
Pat Controy Literary CenterBeaufort, SC$1,000112022
Visiting Nurse Service of New YorkNew York, NY$1,000112021

12 of 24 (50%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 57%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

Plus 1 grants to individuals totalling $19,351 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 27 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
18 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Environment
2 grants
Education
2 grants
Health Care
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202111$810,550$10,000
20228$374,000$10,000
20238$538,833$30,000
202411$300,083$13,500
202511$247,833$18,500

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

80% of its giving went to organizations in New York. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

New York
$1.8M
Washington
$415K
District of Columbia
$32K
North Carolina
$1K
South Carolina
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. 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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust10 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $11,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding environment in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in New YorkEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from B & M Wright Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 10900 Ne 8TH St 1620, Bellevue, WA, 98004. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 38-3662628 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.