The Dean Witter Foundation
San Rafael, CA · EIN 94-6065150. Reported 72 grants totalling $1,589,500 to 42 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. The Dean Witter 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $15,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $2,000 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellevue Schools Foundation | Bellevue, WA | $138,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Naturebridge | San Francisco, CA | $125,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Thacher School | Ojai, CA | $110,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Wildlands Conservancy | Whitewater, CA | $90,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Sealife Response Rehabilitation & Research | Des Moines, WA | $85,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Northcoast Regional Land Trust | Bayside, CA | $80,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| San Juan Preservation Trust | Friday Harbor, WA | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Friends of Kexp | Seattle, WA | $65,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Cal Wood | Jamestown, CO | $60,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Eat Happy Now | Yarrow Point, WA | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Pie Ranch | Pescadero, CA | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Peninsula College Fund | Milpitas, CA | $48,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Pelican Media | San Francisco, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Islandwood | Bainbridge Island, WA | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Northwest Film Forum | Seattle, WA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Washingtoncollege of the Environment | Friday Harbor, WA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Foundation Boulder | Boulder, CO | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Fred Hutch Cancer Center | Seattle, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | Seattle, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hive | Boulder, CO | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| In Harmony Farm | Earlham, IA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pacific Science Center | Seattle, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Practical Farmers of Iowa | Ames, IA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Resource Central | Boulder, CO | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Washington Clean Energy Institute | Seattle, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Washington College of the Environment | Friday Harbor, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs | Friday Harbor, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Well Beyond Academics | San Francisco, CA | $23,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Pathfinder Ranch | Mountain Center, CA | $20,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Friends of Casterlin Elementary | Blocksburg, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Northwest Association for Biomedical Research | Seattle, WA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| MIT Press | Cambridge, MA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Institute for Systems Biology | Seattle, WA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Swell Schools | San Francisco, CA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hive (grant Payable to Fiscal Agent Open Collective Foundation) | Boulder, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lewa Wildlife Conservancy USA | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pitzer College | Claremont, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Sempervirens Fund | Los Altos, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Fifth Avenue Theatre | Seattle, WA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The One Eighty Foundation | Seattle, WA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bellevue College Foundation | Bellevue, WA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rocky Mountain Institute | Boulder, CO | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
16 of 42 (38%) 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 40%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
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.
- Naturebridge
FOR SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STUDENTS AT NATUREBRIDGE'S WEST COAST CAMPUSES (MATCHING) - Pelican Media
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF COLD REFUGE - Bellevue Schools Foundation
FOR THE INSPIRATION AND INCUBATION GRANTS PROGRAM - Northcoast Regional Land Trust
TO OPERATE, EVALUATE AND EXPAND THE COWS AND CATTAILS PROGRAM - Sealife Response Rehabilitation & Research
TO RESCUE AND PROTECT MARINE MAMMALS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST - The Thacher School
TO ENCHANCE THE SCHOOLS WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (MATCHING)
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 53 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 14 | $224,500 | $17,500 |
| 2021 | 13 | $339,000 | $25,000 |
| 2022 | 14 | $298,000 | $25,000 |
| 2023 | 13 | $300,500 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | 18 | $427,500 | $25,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Dean Witter Foundation has 8 of them, worth $141,500. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Naturebridge | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 |
| Peninsula College Fund | Milpitas, CA | $24,000 |
| Friends of Kexp | Seattle, WA | $20,000 |
| Friends of Kexp | Seattle, WA | $20,000 |
| Hive (grant Payable to Fiscal Agent Open Collective Foundation) | Boulder, CO | $15,000 |
| Bellevue Schools Foundation | Bellevue, WA | $15,000 |
| Institute for Systems Biology | Seattle, WA | $12,500 |
| Hive | Boulder, CO | $10,000 |
Where its money goes
45% of its giving went to organizations in Washington. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $25,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Washington.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Dean Witter Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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: Po Box 6106, San Rafael, CA, 94903. 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 94-6065150 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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