Funders › Washington

Tomberg Family Foundation

Bainbridge Island, WA · EIN 87-1551899. Reported 17 grants totalling $312,000 to 15 recipients across tax years 2022-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$20,000median grant
$312,000granted, 2022-2025
15recipients, as named on its returns
$2,638,888assets, 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. Tomberg Family 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 $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $13,334 and $25,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $25,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$5,000 - $10,000
1 grant
$10,000 - $25,000
11 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
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
Pacific Forest Trust IncSan Francisco, CA$45,000222025
Guns Down AmericaYoungstown, OH$40,000222024
Cairn Health IncWichita, KS$25,000112025
One Heart WorldwideHoover, AL$25,000112025
Project 360 Youth ServicesLebanon, MO$25,000112025
Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence IncJackson, MO$25,000112025
Congo Education Partners IncHillsborough, NC$22,000112025
Nooksack Salmon Enhancement AssociationBellingham, WA$20,000112023
American Career College Education FoundationIrvine, CA$15,000112025
Rain for the Sahel and Sahara IncPortsmouth, NH$15,000112022
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation IncNew York, NY$13,334112025
Advocates for YouthWashington, DC$13,333112025
National Council of NonprofitsWashington, DC$13,333112025
EmtomorrowEssex, MA$10,000112022
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (ahf)Los Angeles, CA$5,000112025

2 of 15 (13%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

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 12 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.

Civil Rights
3 grants
Human Services
3 grants
Animal Welfare
1 grant
International Affairs
1 grant
Youth Development
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20222$25,000$12,500
20232$40,000$20,000
20242$40,000$20,000
202511$207,000$22,000

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. Tomberg Family Foundation has 2 of them, worth $40,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Guns Down AmericaYoungstown, OH$20,000
Pacific Forest TrustSan Francisco, CA$20,000

Where its money goes

21% of its giving went to organizations in California. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

California
$65K
Missouri
$50K
Ohio
$40K
District of Columbia
$27K
Alabama
$25K
Kansas
$25K
North Carolina
$22K
Washington
$20K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund6 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program5 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc5 shared recipientsThe William & Flora Hewlett Foundation4 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust4 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. 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 California.
  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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding animal welfare in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Tomberg Family 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: 589 Pierce Court Nw, Bainbridge Island, WA, 98110. 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 87-1551899 · 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.