Grantmakers › Washington

Washington State Community Action

Olympia, WA · EIN 91-1947862. Reported 51 grants totalling $2,324,678 to 29 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

29organizations funded
$28,969median reported grant
$2,324,678granted, 2020-2024
71%of grantees funded again the next year
17%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. 29 distinct organizations, with 17% 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. 71% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above 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 $28,969. Half of what it reported fell between $16,000 and $58,296; 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
15 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
16 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
5 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$395,313552024
Westside BabySeattle, WA$374,999332024
Community Action Partnership of OregonSalem, OR$357,033552024
Rural Alaska Community Action Program IncAnchorage, AK$288,619552024
Lower Columbia Community Action Council IncorporatedLongview, WA$242,723222024
National Community Action Foundation IncWashington, DC$104,670552024
Benton-Franklin Community Action Committee IncPasco, WA$80,985222024
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
KidvantageIssaquah, WA$25,000112024
Metropolitan Development CouncilTacoma, WA$24,909112023
Opportunity CouncilBellingham, WA$21,277222023
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

9 of 29 (31%) 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 25 of 29 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
18 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
20248$482,505$50,000

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

49% 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
$1.1M
Idaho
$395K
Oregon
$357K
Alaska
$289K
District of Columbia
$105K
Delaware
$29K
Nebraska
$8K

Down to the city

Seattle, WA
$433K
Boise, ID
$395K
Salem, OR
$357K
Anchorage, AK
$289K
Longview, WA
$243K
Washington, DC
$105K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund16 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc15 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program14 shared recipientsNorthwest Harvest Emm14 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 $28,969 -- 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 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 7 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 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 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.

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