Grantmakers › Washington

United Way of Spokane County

Spokane, WA · EIN 91-0606058. Reported 176 grants totalling $4,702,824 to 66 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

66organizations funded
$15,204median reported grant
$4,702,824granted, 2020-2024
69%of grantees funded again the next year
12%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 United Way of Spokane County, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 66 distinct organizations, with 12% 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. 69% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 56% median for grantmaking charities -- lower than 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 $15,204. Half of what it reported fell between $10,466 and $30,000; the smallest was $5,001 and the largest $167,446. 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
37 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
83 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
29 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
21 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
6 grants

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
Frontier Behavioral Health Spokane Mental HealthSpokane, WA$584,393552024
Young Womens Christian AssociationSpokane, WA$497,687552024
Lutheran Community Services NorthwestTacoma, WA$291,916552024
The Salvation ArmyRch Palos Vrd, CA$232,956332022
Spokane Neighborhood Action PartnersSpokane, WA$225,236442023
Young Mens Christian Association of the Inland NorthwestSpokane, WA$225,181552024
Martin Luther King JR Family Outreach CenterSpokane, WA$208,667332022
Communities in Schools of Northeast WashingtonSpokane, WA$158,832552024
TransitionsSpokane, WA$139,714552024
Spokane Area Workforce Development CouncilSpokane, WA$135,445652024
Salish School of SpokaneSpokane, WA$132,123552024
Boys & Girls Club of Spokane CountySpokane Vly, WA$112,679332022
Spokane Eastside Reunion AssociationSpokane, WA$82,463552024
TreehouseSeattle, WA$80,594552024
Childrens Home Society of WashingtonSeattle, WA$78,683332022
American Indian Community Center AssociationSpokane, WA$77,108442023
Spokane Guilds School and Neuromuscular CenterSpokane, WA$76,938652024
Feast CollectiveSpokane, WA$66,576222024
Catholic Charities of SpokaneSpokane, WA$66,469442024
Odyssey Youth CenterSpokane, WA$65,872442023
The Arc of SpokaneSpokane, WA$65,699332022
Refugee and Immigrant Connections Spokane (rics)Spokane, WA$61,208332024
Hip of Spokane CountySpokane, WA$58,800332022
Second Harvest Inland NorthwestSpokane, WA$56,527542024
Fuse Innovation FundSeattle, WA$56,373332022
Take Up the CauseSpokane, WA$53,580222024
Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North IdahoYakima, WA$48,118442023
Refugee Connections SpokaneSpokane, WA$45,071222021
Associated General Contractors Open-Shop Apprenticeship andSpokane Vly, WA$45,000332022
Innovia FoundationSpokane, WA$43,721442024
Habitat for Humanity International IncSpokane, WA$42,345552024
Union Gospel Mission Association of SpokaneSpokane, WA$41,276442023
Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington & Northern IdahoSpokane, WA$41,147442023
Corporation of Gonzaga UniversitySpokane, WA$37,117222022
American National Red CrossWashington, DC$36,749332022
Tenants Union of WashingtonSeattle, WA$36,037222024
TeamchildSeattle, WA$33,000332022
Camp FireSpokane Vly, WA$29,640222021
North East Community Center AssociationSpokane, WA$27,250222023
Global NeighborhoodSpokane, WA$23,214222024
United Way of King CountySeattle, WA$22,374222023
YWCA Pierce CountyTacoma, WA$21,103222023
Liberty Park Child Development CenterSpokane, WA$17,593112023
Nuestras Raices Centro ComunitarioSpokane, WA$17,417112023
Spokane Fatherhood InitiativeSpokane, WA$17,417112023
Daybreak Youth ServicesSpokane, WA$17,013112020
Catholic Charities FoundationSpokane, WA$16,777112021
Excelsior WellnessSpokane, WA$16,270112020
Free Rein Therapeutic RidingSpokane, WA$15,583112023
The Big TableSpokane, WA$12,000112020
Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery AuxiliarySpokane, WA$10,955112021
Spokane Rotary FoundationSpokane, WA$9,000112021
Vanessa BehanSpokane, WA$8,019112022
Spokane Public SchoolsSpokane, WA$7,985112020
Ronald Mcdonald HouseSpokane, WA$7,964112020
United Way of Benton & Franklin CountiesKennewick, WA$7,023112023
Embrace WashingtonSpokane, WA$6,774112021
United Way of Treasure Valley IncBoise, ID$6,661112023
Isaac FoundationSpokane, WA$6,290112020
International Association of Lions ClubsNordman, ID$6,000112020
Joshua 1 Nine MinistriesE Wenatchee, WA$5,560112020
United Way of North Idaho IncCoeur D Alene, ID$5,192112022
United Way of the Columbia- WillamettePortland, OR$5,185112023
Family Promise of SpokaneSpokane, WA$5,160112023
United Way of Central OregonBend, OR$5,104112023
Mobius SpokaneSpokane, WA$5,001112020

42 of 66 (64%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 53 of 66 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.

Human Services
17 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
7 orgs
Education
4 orgs
Youth Development
4 orgs
Mental Health
3 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Religion
2 orgs
Employment
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202044$1,297,407$15,370
202138$1,182,406$18,138
202236$1,151,590$17,303
202338$863,250$17,476
202420$208,171$9,350

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

94% 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
$4.4M
California
$233K
District of Columbia
$37K
Idaho
$18K
Oregon
$10K

Down to the city

Spokane, WA
$3.5M
Tacoma, WA
$313K
Seattle, WA
$307K
Rch Palos Vrd, CA
$233K
Spokane Vly, WA
$187K
Yakima, WA
$48K

Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one

7 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 22 grants totalling $47,160 to United Way of Spokane County. That is 23% of the 31 funders we can see giving to it. Those 7 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.

FoundationStateReportedGrantsYearsLast
Shell USA Company FoundationTexas$40,419322022
Baird Foundation IncWisconsin$2,609552025
Woodrow FoundationWisconsin$2,236442024
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNew York$1,160552025
Amazonsmile FoundationWashington$486332023
Edward Jones FoundationMissouri$200112023
Lamb Weston Charitable FoundationIdaho$50112022

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.

Every foundation in the table above files Form 990-PF, which reports every grant it made and asks outright whether it funds only organizations it picks. That answer is what puts it on this list; no other form asks the question. The grants this organization reports making are on Form 990 Schedule I, which only requires listing recipients paid more than $5,000. Two different populations, so the money in and the money out on this page are not two halves of one figure and must not be added or compared.

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.

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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 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.

Innovia Foundation45 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc38 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc36 shared recipientsThe Avista Foundation28 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund27 shared recipientsBetter Health Together23 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 $15,204 -- 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 United Way of Spokane County's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 20 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: Po Box 1006, Spokane, WA, 99210.

EIN 91-0606058 · 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.

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