Search Through Private Grants for Nonprofits in Washington in the U.S.

Overview

Founded in 2007 by Kat Taylor and Tom Steyer, Beneficial State Bank is a B Corp Certified community development bank with branches in California, Oregon, and Washington. One hundred percent of the economic rights of Beneficial State Bank are owned not by private shareholders, but by nonprofit organizations, including Beneficial State Foundation. As nonprofit shareholders, we reinvest all distributed bank profit back into communities to promote thriving people, a healthy economy and a prosperous planet. This ownership structure allows us to learn and develop new metrics and standards as Beneficial State Bank tests and implements equitable banking products and practices.

As of 2023, Beneficial State Bank is a $1.7 billion asset state-chartered, federally insured bank with branches in California, Oregon, and Washington. Learn more about the origins of Beneficial State Bank.

Supporting Our Communities With Sponsorships

From day one, Beneficial State Bank has been committed to supporting our community above and beyond our lending by providing sponsorships to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations each year. We provide sponsorships to 501(c)(3) organizations in California, Oregon, and Washington that are engaged in transformative social justice and environmental work in our target sectors:

Social:

• Affordable and Multi-family Housing
• Arts, Culture and Community Building
• Education and Youth Development
• Beneficial Financial Services
• Economic, Business and Job Development
• Making, Manufacturing and Production
• Social Justice

Environmental:

• Environmental Sustainability
• Health and Well-being (non-food)
• Healthy Food
• Other Mission Categories (Business Ownership, Structures and Practices)

Beneficial State Bank has a unique business model compared to other banks. As a mission-driven bank majority-owned by the nonprofit Beneficial State Foundation, we work to maximize prosperity for our communities and our customers instead of working to maximize shareholder profits. We structure our business practices to benefit our stakeholders, not just our shareholders, so our total sponsorship budget is smaller than what you’ll find at a large, national bank. Therefore, we are limited in the number of sponsorships we can approve each year.

Who We Are

The Creag Foundation is a private grant making foundation established in 2009 in Woodinville, Washington.

The founders of the Creag Foundation believe that meaningful change can only be achieved through hard work, creativity and passion. They also understand the practical mechanisms that allow charitable organizations to succeed and grow. As a group, Creag Foundation principals are dedicated to helping today’s most innovative programs improve the human condition in a wide variety of ways.

Our Focus

The broad purpose of the Foundation is to support the efforts of nonprofit organizations who are innovators in the field of human services. Our particular focus is on smaller organizations that are starting out or established organizations that are looking for funding to take their organization in a new direction.

What We Fund

/ What We Fund

The Creag Foundation is focused on innovation in the industry. We will consider proposals from 501(c)(3) organizations that are finding new ways to address societal issues facing the nonprofit community. Applicants must have held 501(c)(3) status for one year before submitting. If your organization has held 501(c)(3) status for over a year, and your believe that your organization has a new approach to an existing social problem or is addressing a previously unaddressed social issue, you are welcome to contact us and request that we consider your organization for a funding opportunity.

The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation funds direct service non-profit organizations that help improve the quality of people’s lives by providing them with the tools they need to succeed. Since its inception in 1988, it has funded programs for those with special needs, summer camps for cancer-stricken or troubled children and ensured access to theater, arts and music programs by economically disadvantaged youth and their families. It has granted wishes for terminally ill children, awards for science and math fair winners, and funded programs to purchase clothing, school supplies and toys for needy children. The Foundation also has supported rescue missions, food banks, shelters for victims of domestic violence, free mammogram exams for low-income women, and dental screenings and preventive care for underprivileged youth.

When making a grant decision, we examine each organization’s financial stability, staffing and facility capacity, and relevant partnerships. Additionally, we assess the capability of an organization to sustain a program into the future and their ability to show measurable impact on the population they serve. Finally, funding is guided toward organizations that support low income, rural, and underserved populations through one of our four main focus areas:

Our Four Main Focus:

The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation funds organizations that have accurately identified needs consistent with our mission and scope and who have successfully worked to provide programs and services that give youth and economically and socially disadvantaged individuals, families and those with special needs the tools they need to succeed in life.

Education

Education taps the immeasurable potential of the mind. Reaching children through early childhood education, after-school learning programs, post-secondary and graduate scholarships help our young people get the start they deserve. Providing higher education scholarships and funding educational programs helps build a strong educational foundation for future leaders.

Health and Human Services

Health and Human Services ensures the vitality of the human body and spirit. We target programs that ensure access to basic health care services to the most vulnerable members of our communities, as well as programs that educate our youth about wellness, nutrition, exercise and healthy lifestyles. We also support experiential programs that offer disabled or disadvantaged people opportunities they may not have otherwise.

Arts and Culture

Arts and Culture represents the innovation and creativity of a society. Through cultural endeavors we help bring people together to share their creative talents, intellects, passions, customs and bold initiatives to explore new ways of doing things. In the areas of theatre, art, and music the Foundation grants have helped organizations reach a broader audience, infused new life into programs and created long-lasting cultural traditions within our communities.

Community Service

Community Service touches the lives of everyone where they work, play and live. Despite our individual differences, we are linked by common interests to do more for the places we call home. The Foundation invests in organizations that fortify this connection. When everyone is involved one way or another in the improvement of their community, the community progresses in a positive direction.

The Norcliffe Foundation is a private family foundation established to improve the ​quality of life for all people in our community.

What we fund

Areas of support include human services, healthcare, civic and community projects, education, and arts and culture. 

Funding Areas

The foundation makes grants in the following areas: 

• Arts & Culture
• Civic & Community
• Education
• Healthcare & Research
• Human & Social Services

Grant Amounts

The Norcliffe Foundation provides support to a wide variety of organizations and projects. Grant size depends on the scope of the project and the capacity of the organization.

Nearly 60% of the grants we make are $15,000 or less.

Things to consider when determining the appropriate amount to request:

• What is the gift range already committed or pending from other funders and foundations? The Norcliffe Foundation is most interested in joining a community of funders and is rarely the largest donor to a project.
• Is there a history of funding from The Norcliffe Foundation and what is the range for those grants?

Funding Types

Funding types include:

• Capacity Building
• Capital and Infrastructure 
• Challenge or Matching
• General Operating
• Program Support ​

Since its inception, the Foundation, which is still led by Lester T. Sunderland's descendants, has focused on supporting construction projects, awarding grants to nonprofits in the Kansas City region and other markets traditionally served by the Ash Grove Cement Company. 

 The Foundation prefers to make grants for construction and special interest projects rather than for annual operating expenses. 

Grants for planning, design, construction, renovation, repairs and restoration of facilities are considered. Areas of interest include higher education, youth serving agencies, health facilities, community buildings, museums, civic projects and energy efficient affordable housing projects sponsored by qualified tax-exempt organizations. 

Funding Areas

In recent grant cycles, the Board of Trustees has awarded the majority of grants in four broadly defined areas:

Higher Education

In 2022, the Foundation awarded $49 million to more than 35 educational organizations. Grantees included community colleges, private colleges, and public universities.

Human Services

The Foundation awarded $30 million to human service nonprofits in 2022, and many grants in this area went to groups that provide essential services to youth and families. Grantees included a range of youth-focused groups, including Reconciliation Services, the Nebraska Youth Justice Initiative in Omaha, Nebraska and the Sno-Valley Senior Center in Carnation, Washington. 

Arts and Culture

Arts and culture projects received $23 million in 2022, including grants to the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Missouri, the Omaha Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium in Seattle, Washington. Health Care and Hospitals.

Health Care and Hospitals

This is a growing area of need in many communities the Foundation serves. In 2022, $65 million was awarded to hospitals and health-care groups to build and improve their facilities.

The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms who seek to confront economic, environmental, racial, and social injustice. Since our founding in 1992, the Impact Fund has made more than 800 recoverable grants totaling more than $10 million for impact litigation. We award grants four times per year, most within the range of US$10,000 to US$50,000.

Social Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants and legal support to assist in human and civil rights cases. We have helped to change dozens of laws and win cases to improve the rights of thousands. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Texas and North Carolina, incarcerated people with mental health disabilities are forced to remain in jail despite being found not guilty and unable to proceed with a criminal trial.
• In Orange County, California there are currently 13 gang injunctions under effect, which disproportionately affect young men of color.
• In Chicago, Illinois, the city’s homeless shelter program is inaccessible to people with disabilities.
• In Springfield, Oregon, the city and its police department used excessive force against Black Lives Matter protesters.
• In West Virginia, the state fails to protect children in foster care from abuse and neglect. 
• In Montana, voter suppression laws disadvantage young adults and give priority to gun owners.
• In Gary, Indiana, a gun manufacturer negligently marketed and distributed its guns, leading to an epidemic of gun violence in the city. 
• In Vancouver, British Columbia, the police perpetuate systemic discrimination against Indigenous people through bureaucratic measures.

Environmental Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants to support local litigation for environmental justice. These grants are for cases aiming to help people or communities who are affected by environmental harm or who lack access to basic environmental needs, such as clean water, clean air, adequate waste treatment, and green spaces. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Centreville, Illinois, the city’s failure to maintain its sewer system has caused raw sewage to flood peoples’ homes, endangering the property and health of a predominantly Black community.
• In Fresno County, California, the California Department of Transportation approved a highway expansion project that would increase air pollution and traffic in one of the state’s most environmentally burdened communities.
• In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the proposed expansion of a highway would divide the region's Black, Asian, and Latine neighborhoods and cause pollution and ill health.
• In North Dakota, the five-month closure of a highway in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests disproportionately affected the livelihoods and health of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members.
• In Ontario, Canada, mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon river system causes catastrophic environmental and health impacts for the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
• In Sacramento, California, the county government and Sacramento Area Sewer District violated the Clean Water Act by discharging raw sewage into nearby rivers.
• In the Eastern Coachella Valley in California, 1,900 residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park suffer from arsenic-laced drinking water, wastewater contamination, and overcharging for utilities.

Economic Justice

The Impact Fund provides financial and other forms of support to cases fighting for economic justice. From workers' rights to consumer protection for vulnerable populations, impact litigation is a powerful tool to hold corporationss and the government accountable. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Brooklyn, New York, a prominent mortgage lender engaged in predatory practices, leaving homeowners of color at risk of losing their homes. 
• In Washington, live-in caregivers are unconstitutionally excluded from the state’s wage-and-hour protections.
• In Ravalli County, Montana, the county has created a “modern-day debtors’ prison” by incarcerating people unable to afford pre-trial fees. 
• In San Diego, California, vehicle ordinances target unhoused vehicle owners even when no adequate housing alternative exists.
• In New York, a federal immigration detention facility is violating minimum wage and forced labor laws by forcing detainees to work for just a dollar a day. 
• In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city and county destroy the property of unhoused individuals and conduct forced evictions from public spaces. 
• In Miami, Florida, insurance companies discriminate against a nonprofit community development corporation renting to tenants with Section 8 rental subsidies.

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities.

Apply for a Grant

The foundation manages its grants in four cycles. This helps the foundation carefully review similar requests to ensure maximum benefit.

• The information on this page is for Health, safety and wellness organizations including:
  • addiction, disability resources, disaster relief, domestic violence, first responders, food insecurity, healthcare accessibility, homeless support, mental health, public safety initiatives, veteran organizations, wellness and preventative care.

Grant Opportunities

Communities need nonprofits to thrive

We believe in transformational ideas that help individuals, families and communities flourish—and since 1975, the Murdock Trust has invested more than $1.4 billion into nonprofit organizations that share our commitment to thinking bigger, challenging problems and making a true difference.

Strategic Project Grants

Capacity-building awards for mission-focused projects and infrastructure investment

Equipment & Technology Grants

Best practices suggest that a healthy equipment and supporting technology infrastructure is essential. Please note that with these grants, recipient organizations are responsible for 50% or greater of the purchase cost.

About

We are a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the citizens of Edmonds, Washington, and South Snohomish County, Washington.

Our mission is to support programs and projects that serve the public's benefit, especially in the areas of education and youth services, poverty alleviation and hunger, civic and community services and amenities, the environment, and culture and the arts. Our grants are designed to serve non-profit organizations operating in Edmonds and South Snohomish County. 

Focus Areas

• Education and Youth
• Poverty alleviation and hunger
• Civic and Community services and amenities
• Environment
• Culture and the Arts
• Diversity

Mission

The Forest Foundation is committed to strengthening and enriching the quality of life in Southwest Washington, with a particular emphasis on Tacoma and Pierce County.

The Foundation pursues its mission by supporting well-managed nonprofit organizations and citizen initiatives that achieve measurable, high-quality results.

Values

The Foundation strives to honor the following while carrying out its mission:

• We value honesty, integrity and respect in all our relationships.
• We value the power of community-based leadership.
• We value community-strengthening brought about by individuals who have a strong connection and commitment to where they live.
• We value investing Foundation resources in organizations that:
  • Demonstrate programmatic and fiscal accountability, transparency and strength.
  • Develop and implement innovative solutions.
  • Regularly engage in planning and evaluation.
  • Develop and maintain strategic alliances that support the mission.
  • Are governed by diverse leaders whose expertise is skillfully managed and employed.

Forest Foundation Grant

Program Areas

• Children and Youth Development: 
  • The Foundation supports efforts that promote the safety, security and physical and emotional health of children and youth. Attention is given to efforts which decrease social isolation and promote a sense of hope among those dealing with hardships or trauma.
• Community and Environment:
  • The Foundation supports strategies that engage people as the fundamental stewards of the natural environment. We favor restoration and conservation efforts with a particular emphasis on organizations and projects that engage diverse stakeholders and promote volunteerism.
• Community Building and Development:
  • The Foundation envisions communities that are vibrant, diverse and benefit from active and engaged citizens. We support civic engagement that strengthens neighborhoods and communities by promoting community-based self determination, volunteerism and service.
• Culture and the Arts:
  • The Foundation believes in the power of culture and the arts to promote community and economic development. We support well-managed organizations and efforts that are responsive to the communities they serve and offer high-quality, relevant and accessible cultural and artistic experiences.
• Self-Sufficiency:
  • The Foundation recognizes that the path toward greater levels of self-sufficiency is influenced by many factors and supported by a range of assistance: from ensuring the availability of basic needs, such as food and shelter, to skill-building that leads to wage progression, personal savings and financial stabilization. Support is offered for efforts that improve and/or increase access to such assistance, and especially for efforts that empower families to recognize their own power to influence and improve their condition.

Guidelines

Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by supporting on-going preservation work and by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for preservation projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector.

A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Grants generally start at $2,500 and range up to $5,000. The selection process is very competitive.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning: Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach: Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grants

Grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund advance ongoing preservation activities for historic sites, museums, and landscape projects representing African American cultural heritage. The fund supports work in four primary areas: Capital Projects, Organizational Capacity Building, Project Planning, and Programming and Interpretation. Grants made from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund will range from $50,000 to $150,000. In 2022, the National Trust awarded $3 million to 33 projects. Since establishing the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund’s National Grant Program in 2017, the National Trust has supported more than 200 preservation projects nationally.

Sherwood Trust

Sherwood Trust’s Vision

Everyone in the Walla Walla Valley has a sense of belonging and contributes to a thriving region. Sherwood Trust serves as a catalyst for building capacity, creating a cohesive, vibrant community.

Sherwood Trust’s Core Values

Collaboration. Empathy. Equity. Excellence. Integrity. Sustainability.

Sherwood Trust Giving Principles

• Private philanthropy is a strategic activity, not a charity. It demands the seriousness of a long-term investment and requires stringent underwriting to ensure grants support achievable, measurable results.
• An organization’s operational model and its execution is critical to achieving its mission. Sherwood Trust grants favor effective organizations that demonstrate strong leadership, competent management, strategic innovation and a record of achieving tangible results.
• Sherwood Trust grant programs are for organizations whose work directly supports our vision that everyone here has a sense of belonging and can contribute to our thriving region.
• We seek transformative investments that support local people working together toward stronger, more equitable communities.
• Sherwood Trust favors applicants with evidence of multiple donor commitments so Sherwood Trust is not funding the majority of the request. Sherwood Trust prefers to fund final grant dollars.

Core Values

• Collaboration – support for collaboration between organizations on a common project that address a community need 
• Empathy – support for initiatives that promote mutual understanding, learning and respectful community engagement
• Equity – support for initiatives that promote and strengthen inclusive, representative engagement in our region, particularly those that address inequities for underserved populations
• Excellence – support for nonprofits with a track record of sound operational management and development of internal capacities that enhance an organization’s resiliency
• Integrity – support for operations that demonstrate transparency and unity in the fulfillment of their mission
• Sustainability – support for strong, resilient organizations with a track record of good governance and accomplishment

Core Grants

Sherwood Trust seeks to invest initiatives that support our mission and values and are an organization’s most important priority. These generally fall within three major categories:

• Capacity grants for nonprofit organizations can include expanding service or operations, or funding for specific innovations or projects that support resiliency and strengthen an organization’s ability to fulfill its ongoing mission
• Community grants for qualifying neighborhood and community-based projects that generally include a public agency
• Capital grants for improvements to facilities or physical property

Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative Grant

Across the country, descendant communities and families are engaged in exciting and groundbreaking efforts to reclaim, rescue, and share overlooked stories and places of resilience, achievement, and perseverance. The impact of these efforts deserves admiration, resources, and partnership. Grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative will empower and equip descendant-led and family-led organizations and projects to preserve, activate, and manage historic places. This initiative is a testament to our belief in the capacity of descendant communities and families to be full partners and leaders in the physical preservation, interpretative programming, management, and governance of historic places.

The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is not just another grant funding opportunity. It's a unique, multi-year partnership and investment opportunity with one grant funding category – Stewardship Project. Powered by the Mellon Foundation's Humanities in Place, the Action Fund will award five grants and invest $200,000 per grantee, providing specialized consultation and best practices support for a period of two years.

Descendant and Family Stewardship Grants support project management, capacity-building, grantmaking, and convenings for place-based organizations. In collaboration and consultation with the Action Fund, the selected grantees will engage in the following activities during the two-year grant period as we work together to preserve American history and model new approaches in historic preservation:

• Completing a Stewardship Project needs assessment to inform the scope of work, the use of the grant funds, and define project milestones and deliverables.
• Receiving $200,000 in grant funds to develop a Stewardship Plan and launch the implementation of its recommendations.
• Promoting the partnership, process, and lessons learned for other stewarding organizations to replicate.
• Participating in convenings with initiative stakeholders to share best practices, build community, and advance the field.

The Stewardship Project's scope of work, for example, can include architectural and design services, strategic and fundraising planning, interpretation and program development, community engagement and audience development, staff support, limited capital and restoration, and other priorities established through the assessment process.

The Action Fund provides consultation to meet our grantees’ organizational needs and priorities. Our role as the grantor is to work hand in hand with our grantee partners through a collaborative process focused on asset management of heritage resources and holistic stewardship visioning and planning. Project partners will work as a team to achieve the grantee's short-term and long-term stewardship goals.

Help Define Descendant in Historic Preservation

Today, the preservation field has varying views on defining "descendant," though it is often used in connection to heritage sites associated with slavery, such as a plantation, burial ground, or jail. The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is a collaborative effort that values the input of all stakeholders. Our work with grantees includes strategic collaboration across the historic preservation field to define “descendant” and establish more broadly-adopted language. For example, descendant communities can include a direct blood lineage or historical affiliation to a site of enslavement, like Virginia's Sharswood Plantation, or social movements in education and civil rights, such as Washington-Rosenwald Schools, Birmingham Foot Soldiers, and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is committed to understanding the different perspectives of descendant-led organizations and projects and seeks your help. Therefore, applicants for this grant can define “descendant” for themselves and make the case that their organization and project are descendant-led and family-led on the Letter of Intent (LOI) form. We deeply respect and value the unique perspectives and experiences that each organization brings to the table.

In addition to descendant-led, family-led describes organizations where family members with direct ties to a historic place help steward the site, such as a granddaughter advocating for Virginia's Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, siblings volunteering at Philadelphia's John Coltrane Home, or a family saving a legacy farm. It may also include property owners of a historic residence or venue associated with Black history, actively supporting its preservation, public access, and interpretation.

Awareness. Education. Prevention.  These are three key tenets of Bayer Fund’s investments in health and wellness.  With a focus on cancer and cardiovascular disease, we provide resources to organizations dedicated to educating and/or providing services to patients, caregivers and at-risk populations.

Health & Wellness Grants

Programs that Bayer Fund will support include those that focus on patients and their families needing assistance with issues to managing cardiovascular disease and cancer. This includes education, disease awareness, and supportive services for these diseases. In areas related to cardiovascular disease, priority (though not exclusivity) will be given to charitable organizations that focus on programs and support for the African American community due to the high incidence rate of disease in this population.

Giving in this category will focus on support services such as education, disease awareness, and general access to care (e.g., housing for families traveling for cancer or heart care).

All funding requests and budgets must be for program activities and expenses that start after funding decisions are made. All programs must be completed within one year of the start date, except in limited situations where longer term programs have been agreed upon. Grant award amounts vary, depending on the size of the community, the type of programming, and the reach of the organization.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

About First Fed Foundation:

First Fed Foundation (formerly First Federal Community Foundation) is a private 501(c)(3) charitable corporation launched in 2015 with a generous gift of stock and cash valued at nearly $12 million from the parent company of First Fed, when the bank was converted to a publicly traded company. This gift underscored First Fed’s commitment to continue its 100-year tradition of supporting the communities it serves.

In that same spirit, First Fed Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities in which First Fed maintains full-service branches.

Committed to creating broad impact, the Foundation has contributed more than $7.3 million since 2015 to qualified nonprofit, tribal, and government organizations that provide community support, address homelessness and the availability of and access to affordable housing, and deliver economic and community development projects in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties and Bellevue, Washington.

What are the Foundation’s four funding priorities?

Community Support: We contribute to eligible community and human service organizations that improve the quality of life within the communities we serve. We give priority to programs and projects that build capacity to better serve the broader community, and that benefit low- to moderate-income, disadvantaged and/or marginalized persons or families.

Affordable Housing: We support programs and projects that build upon First Federal’s legacy of improving the availability of affordable workforce housing, and access to decent, safe, and affordable housing for low- and moderate-income, disadvantaged and/or marginalized persons and/or families in the communities we serve.

Economic Development: We fund initiatives that encourage and expand economic development and living-wage job opportunities in the communities we serve, with emphasis on collaborative and public/private initiatives sponsored by local organizations dedicated to economic development.

Community Development: We support capital projects that offer valuable benefits to broad segments of the communities we serve, with emphasis on collaborative and public/private initiatives featuring multiple funding sources. The Foundation appreciates naming rights on capital projects it supports.

AARP Community Challenge

The AARP Community Challenge grant program is part of the nationwide AARP Livable Communities initiative that helps communities become great places to live for residents of all ages. The program is intended to help communities make immediate improvements and jump-start long-term progress.

Since the program's debut in 2017, AARP has awarded $20.1 million through over 1,700 grants. Projects have been completed across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Flagship Grant

Flagship AARP Community Challenge grants have ranged from several hundred dollars for smaller, short-term activities to tens of thousands of dollars for larger projects. Since 2017, AARP has funded projects with an average grant amount of $10,000 to $12,000. Nine out of 10 grants (or 92 percent) are for $20,000 or less.

This year, grants will not exceed $25,000. AARP also reserves the right to award compelling projects of any dollar amount.

We are accepting applications for projects that benefit residents — especially those age 50 and older — in the following categories:

• Creating vibrant public places that improve open spaces, parks and access to other amenities.
• Delivering a range of transportation and mobility options that increase connectivity, walkability, bikeability and access to public and private transit
• Supporting a range of housing options that increases the availability of accessible and affordable choices
• Increasing digital connections and enhancing digital literacy skills of residents
• Supporting community resilience through investments that improve disaster management, preparedness and mitigation for residents

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities. In 2021, the Pacific Power Foundation awarded more than $1 million to local nonprofit organizations.

Apply for a Grant

The foundation manages its grants in four cycles. This helps the foundation carefully review similar requests to ensure maximum benefit.

Education/STEM Grants

Electrical safety, energy efficiency education, higher education institutions, K-12, literacy and reading programs, STEM education initiatives, teacher/professional educator development, workforce development/careers and employability, and youth development.

Mission

The Forest Foundation is committed to strengthening and enriching the quality of life in Southwest Washington, with a particular emphasis on Tacoma and Pierce County.

The Foundation pursues its mission by supporting well-managed nonprofit organizations and citizen initiatives that achieve measurable, high-quality results.

Values

The Foundation strives to honor the following while carrying out its mission:

• We value honesty, integrity and respect in all our relationships.
• We value the power of community-based leadership.
• We value community-strengthening brought about by individuals who have a strong connection and commitment to where they live.
• We value investing Foundation resources in organizations that:
  • Demonstrate programmatic and fiscal accountability, transparency and strength.
  • Develop and implement innovative solutions.
  • Regularly engage in planning and evaluation.
  • Develop and maintain strategic alliances that support the mission.
  • Are governed by diverse leaders whose expertise is skillfully managed and employed.

Forest Foundation Grant

Program Areas

• Children and Youth Development: 
  • The Foundation supports efforts that promote the safety, security and physical and emotional health of children and youth. Attention is given to efforts which decrease social isolation and promote a sense of hope among those dealing with hardships or trauma.
• Community and Environment:
  • The Foundation supports strategies that engage people as the fundamental stewards of the natural environment. We favor restoration and conservation efforts with a particular emphasis on organizations and projects that engage diverse stakeholders and promote volunteerism.
• Community Building and Development:
  • The Foundation envisions communities that are vibrant, diverse and benefit from active and engaged citizens. We support civic engagement that strengthens neighborhoods and communities by promoting community-based self determination, volunteerism and service.
• Culture and the Arts:
  • The Foundation believes in the power of culture and the arts to promote community and economic development. We support well-managed organizations and efforts that are responsive to the communities they serve and offer high-quality, relevant and accessible cultural and artistic experiences.
• Self-Sufficiency:
  • The Foundation recognizes that the path toward greater levels of self-sufficiency is influenced by many factors and supported by a range of assistance: from ensuring the availability of basic needs, such as food and shelter, to skill-building that leads to wage progression, personal savings and financial stabilization. Support is offered for efforts that improve and/or increase access to such assistance, and especially for efforts that empower families to recognize their own power to influence and improve their condition.

Who We Are

The Legal Foundation of Washington is a nonprofit organization created in 1984 at the direction of the Washington Supreme Court to distribute IOLTA funds to legal aid organizations across the state. LFW has more than 35 years of experience raising, managing, and distributing funds to achieve equal civil justice for low-income people.

We envision a society where poverty and race are not impediments, and seek to ensure access to civil legal aid for all people in Washington and to improve equity in the civil justice system. Our work contributes to breaking cycles of poverty and ensuring equal opportunity.

We serve tens of thousands of low-income people each year by investing in civil legal aid organizations across Washington. We bring expertise about our state civil legal aid system to ensure thoughtful grantmaking. We receive support from public and private partners who are committed to equal justice and system reform. We responsibly steward and strategically distribute these funds throughout the state.

Race Equity Grants

LFW believes that creating fair access to civil justice requires undoing systemic racial oppression.

Our Race Equity Grants provide multiyear funding to advance racial justice in civil legal aid and build power in communities most impacted by structural racism and oppression. We use a participatory grantmaking model designed to center the voices of communities most impacted by grantmaking decisions. An advisory panel of community leaders who have lived experience with the legal aid system, poverty, and racism review grant applications and prioritize the projects that will be most impactful.

The goals of the Race Equity Grant Fund are to:

• invest in communities most impacted by structural racism and oppression;
• support community- and client-centered approaches to civil legal aid;
• increase civil justice for communities of color;
• build and support anti-racist organizations and leadership;
• center those most impacted in the decision making process.

Since the Race Equity Grant program’s inception, two-thirds of awards went to BIPOC-led organizations and half were first-time grantees with LFW. The program also reflects LFW’s statewide reach: 41% percent of grantees work statewide; 33% focus on Central and Eastern WA; 19% percent serve the Puget Sound region, and 7% cover other areas in WA.

Our Current Priorities

For those requesting support for youth programs, the Foundation will continue to focus on rural BIPOC organizations and allowing organizations to use awarded funds for general operating support.

Recognizing the critical role of BIPOC organizations, the Charlotte Martin Foundation continues to make it a priority to partner with organizations doing progressive work specifically in the areas of youth education and climate change, with a special emphasis on serving communities of color. Three years ago, we created a fellowship designed around researching BIPOC led organizations within our 5-state region that align with our priorities. We recognize that private funding is inequitably given to white-led organizations and we want to show our commitment to redistributing resources to non-dominant, BIPOC organizations.

Increasing Opportunities for BIPOC:

Increasing racial equity and diversity for youth ages 6-18.

BIPOC led nonprofit organizations with diverse leadership and staff are the focus of our grant-making. Organizations based in rural communities are also a priority for our foundation.

Programs that create opportunities in areas of education, cultural expression and athletics. Including but not limited to:

• Increase access to and the creation of diverse cultural experiences.
• Improve school-based and out-of-school learning opportunities in areas such as science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) and other areas.
• Increase early college awareness and access to post-secondary education.
• Increase access to sports and diversify sports programs.

Guidelines for Youth Programs

Our program funding for youth ages 6-18 falls into three areas: Athletics, Culture and Education. Grants for youth programs must fall within one of these three program areas.

Youth Athletics

Athletics include a wide range of individual and team sports, with an emphasis on the value of sports for lifelong participation. School-sponsored intramural and after school sports programs have been greatly reduced, and middle-school aged youth have been most affected. After school athletics can be the incentive that gets kids involved in programs that also have educational and cultural components. Demand is increasing for athletics programs and facilities in rural areas and inner cities. More girls are getting involved in sports, requiring additional programs and space. Coaches are key to a positive experience for young people, and good coaching requires training.

Youth Culture

Culture includes art, music, dance, literature, theater, ethnic and regional heritage. Positive experiences in culture are essential in educating the whole person and should be an integral part of the lives of youth. Young people can use cultural experiences as creative resources to build self-esteem, promote personal growth, and preserve traditions. Arts and culture programs in the schools are being reduced or eliminated, and many communities, both urban and rural, have limited access to cultural resources.

Youth Education

All young people should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Education, in and out of school, happens best when youth direct their learning and engage in compelling problem-solving and critical thinking. Educators need support to play a vital role in assisting youth to investigate their passions and explore new interests. Rural schools often have less access to resources and curricula than urban schools. Both public and private schools need support.

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Its mission, through charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of local communities.

Together with our foundation and employees, we've given $13 million to local communities since 2019 to lend a helping hand and spur economic development.

Grant Focus

The foundation manages its grants in four cycles. This helps the foundation carefully review similar requests to ensure maximum benefit.

Community Enhancement

Affordable housing, community resilience, community and recreation centers, economic development, libraries, monuments, memorials and science centers.

Environmental Respect

Animal and wildlife biodiversity; carbon and methane emissions; conservation of natural resources; environmental management systems; parks, trails and gardens; resource stewardship; waste management reduction, and water usage management.

Cultural Equipment

Museum shelving, stage lights, ceramic kilns—on their own they may not seem like much, but in the hands of King County’s incredible cultural organizations, they add up to a lot. Our Cultural Equipment grants support those critical needs.

What Cultural Equipment Funds

Cultural Equipment grants fund the purchase and installation of equipment that can be considered as fixed assets, including computer hardware. We award these grants in amounts ranging from a minimum of $1,000 to $10,000, and projects often receive partial funding.

Criteria

We fund all of our grants through a competitive process, carefully evaluating each application.

For this particular grant, we’ll look to see how well your project shows the following:

• Quality and qualifications: The reasoning behind your proposed equipment purchase, how carefully it has been planned, how it relates to your organization’s mission, and how central it is to the services your organization provides to King County residents and visitors.
• Equipment Priorities: Projects that provide opportunities for youth, historically marginalized communities or audiences outside of Seattle will be prioritized if all above criteria are met.
• Feasibility: Your ability to complete this project and take care of the equipment, demonstrated by the financial stability of your organization shown in your operating financial statements and the expertise of those who will select and maintain the equipment.
• Project impact: The impact of this specific equipment on your organization and its community, and how the community supports the project and will benefit from its use. We consider your audience in terms of geographic, cultural, ethnic, artistic, and/or heritage definitions. Frequency of use is a factor, and shared use by multiple groups is a plus, but only if it makes sense for all groups.

Applications from historically marginalized geographic areas and communities, and ADA projects will be prioritized if above criteria are met.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit with equipment:

• Using the equipment we fund to create free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings, or to take care of collections that reflect all of King County’s residents.
• Use of the equipment in areas of suburban or rural King County, or by low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Purchasing equipment that broadens your ability to reach individuals with disabilities or makes your programs or facility more accessible to them.
• Sharing the equipment you purchase with other cultural groups at no cost or low cost.

Arts Sustained Support

Sustained Support assists with the day-to-day needs of arts organizations over two-year cycles—this reliable, consistent support lets creativity flourish in the places that make King County a cultural hub.

 What Sustained Support Funds

Arts organizations and Local Arts Agencies all over King County use Sustained Support funding as a modest but dependable building block in their annual budgets. Sustained Support provides operational funding that organizations and agencies receive for the robustness, creativity, and quality of the overall artistic services they provide to King County residents and visitors.

For arts organizations:

• Clarity and achievement of your organization’s mission and goals.
• Community impact and support, achieved through a consistent level of programming and accessibility for audiences.
• Active role of artists in your organization’s mission and activities, and the continuity of artistic, management, and board personnel.
• Financial accountability as demonstrated through board oversight, audience revenue, and contributed income.

For local arts agencies (LAAs):

• Quality, scope, diversity, and impact of your annual programming.
• Commitment of local government through dedicated staff, commission structure, and annual financial investment in cultural programming.
• Responsiveness to community needs—including diverse populations—through strategic planning, programming, funding, collaboration, technical assistance, convening, and communications.
• Growth and development of resources, scope, impact, and community participation.

Geographic Equity Enhancement

4Culture recognizes that where an organization is based or provides its services can affect access to funding and other resources. Many cultural organizations in greater King County have less access to public and private support than those located in Seattle. To take a step towards balancing these disparities, 4Culture will give a modest award increase to the 2021 Sustained Support awards for organizations located outside the City of Seattle, and for organizations located in Seattle in a 2010 US Census tract area with a Communities of Opportunity index percentile of 60% or greater.

Communities of Opportunity (COO) is a partnership and initiative of the Seattle Foundation and King County, whose purpose is to direct resources where they can have the greatest impact while overcome ongoing patterns of underfunding. Annual measures of life and health indicators by census tract are averaged over multiple years and combined to create a single index. 4Culture will use this index for the 2021 Sustained Support cycle to guide award increases toward applicants located in Communities of Opportunity.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit:

• Free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings.
• Events in the often under-served areas of suburban or rural King County, to low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Free, electronically accessible materials, including literary publications, audio, or video recordings.

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities. In 2021, the Pacific Power Foundation awarded more than $1 million to local nonprofit organizations.

Apply for a Grant

Arts/Culture

Arts festivals, cultural heritage, museums, music, theater/drama and visual arts.

Rocky Mountain Power Foundation

The Rocky Mountain Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Rocky Mountain Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities.

Apply for a Grant

The foundation manages its grants in four cycles. This helps the foundation carefully review similar requests to ensure maximum benefit.

• Educational and research organizations both public and private, from early childhood through university level (proposals due March 15)
• Environment, civic and community enhancement and other organizations not covered in other categories (due June 15)
• Arts and culture organizations dedicated to performing arts, visual arts, historic preservation, cross-cultural education and related (due September 15)
• Health, safety and wellness organizations including youth organizations, senior citizen centers, dependency and prevention programs and related (due December 15)

The foundation allocates grants that best serve community interests. Grants generally are less than $10,000 with most between $2,000 and $5,000.

The Ruth Danley and William Enoch Moore Charitable Fund is a private grantmaking foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established in 1992. It focuses primarily on philanthropy and voluntarism, with an emphasis on charitable and educational purposes.

The fund specifically supports K-12 education for Native American children living on reservations, aiming to improve educational opportunities in these communities.

The foundation administers grants primarily to select regions based on donor preferences, including Pittsburgh and various counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Washington DC, and West Virginia.