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· Private foundation

Bernier McCaw Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$4.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$667k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2025.

Human Services$6.0MCommunity Improvement$3.1MEducation$2.6MHealth$2.5MPhilanthropy$1.8MArts & Culture$1.5MCivil Rights$844kCrime & Legal$775kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $25k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $145k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.1M
  • $250k+7 grants · $3.2M
$50,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$4.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TUBMAN CENTER FOR HEALTH & FREEDOM$666,666
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM$503,500
INDEPENDENT SECTOR$500,000
350 SEATTLE$400,000
THE WHO WE ARE PROJECT$400,000
Individual grant recipient$400,000
YWCA OF SEATTLEKINGSNOHOMISH COUNTY$333,333
DAVIDSON COLLEGE ANNUAL FUND$200,000
BYRD BARR PLACE$200,000
RENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$200,000
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER$175,000
AFRICATOWN COMMUNITY LAND TRUST$100,000
WASHINGTON COMMUNITY ALLIANCE$100,000
CIERRA SISTERS$50,000
THE SEATTLE TIMES COMMUNITY IMPACT FUND$50,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $4.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 22% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%COMMONWEAL: $200k → 8%YWCA OF THE USA: $300k → 14%REALIZE IMPACT: $256k → 10%YWCA OF THE USA: $200k → 14%BYRD BARR PLACE: $500k → 9%REALIZE IMPACT: $100k → 10%YWCA USA INC: $100k → 14%BYRD BARR PLACE: $440k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $420k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $269k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $200k → 9%YWCA OF SEATTLE-KING-SNOHOMISH COUNTY: $333k → 9%YWCA OF SEATTLE-KING-SNOHOMISH COUNTY: $333k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $50k → 9%YWCA OF SEATTLEKINGSNOHOMISH COUNTY: $333k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $25k → 9%YWCA OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH COUNTY: $25k → 9%BYRD BARR PLACE: $20k → 9%BELLEVUE LIFESPRING: $50k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND: $107k → 9%UTOPIA WASHINGTON: $50k → 9%TUKWILA CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $25k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

WA
MI
NY
MA
CA
MD
DE
AZ
NC
DC

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 8% of Bernier McCaw Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 69% of the giving stays in WA; read by stated purpose it is 64% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Bernier McCaw Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.8% directed abroad (not shown)

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

70%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$13M · 20 repeat orgs$5.6M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +11% since the first grant, against +7% for the ones you funded once.

20 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
37

Total granted

$13M
$4.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+7%

Still filing today

80%
84%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CulturePhilanthropyEducationHealthCommunity ImprovementOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BB
    BYRD BARR PLACE
    5× · 2020–2025 · $1.9M · revenue +51%
  • FH
    FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
    4× · 2020–2024 · $985k · revenue +11%
  • NF
    NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
    3× · 2022–2025 · $813k · revenue +7% · 25% of their budget

Funded once

  • YO
    YMCA OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH COUNTY
    one grant, 2020 · $800k
  • SI
    SOUTHWEST INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S COALTION
    one grant, 2024 · $600k · revenue 0% · 90% of their budget
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $300k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Washington Ethnic Studies Now

Washington Ethnic Studies Now WAESN is a multigenerational majority POC-led nonprofit advancing Ethnic Studies and racial justice in Washington. We center people of color build youth-centered leadership and learning and organize…

Education
2
Working Washington

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

—
3
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
4
Association of Washington Cities

The association of washington cities builds connections between our state's diverse cities and towns, while providing our members with the support needed to thrive through delivery of data-driven education, nationally recognized pooling…

—
5
Siff

Siff is a seattle-based 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation of vibrant experiences and spaces that champion film discovery and arts education.

Youth Development
6
Washington Area Community Investment Fund Inc

The washington area community investment fund (wacif) is a nonprofit community loan fund focused on increasing equity and economic opportunity in the washington, dc area's underserved communities. wacif's mission is driven is driven by…

—
7
Invest in Washington Now Campaign

Advocate for tax policy in Washington State

—
8
Seattle Architectural Foundation

The Seattle Architecture Foundation connects people to the architecture, design, and history of Seattle. We believe the more you engage with design, the more you feel connected to your changing city. As a volunteer driven organization, we…

Arts & Culture
9
Pathwaves Washington

Pathwaves Washington builds the collective power of leaders of color to transform early childhood systems so that every child and their community thrives.

Education
10
Washington Community Action Network

To achieve economic fairness in order to establish a more democratic society characterized by racial, social & gender justice, with respect for diversity, & a decent quality of life for those who reside in WA. We are building a movement of…

—
11
Washington Filmworks

To build and enhance the competitiveness of Washington State's film and associated creative industry. We accomplish this by marketing and managing the state's production incentive program, representing the state in national and…

Community Improvement
12
Earthcorps

To cultivate leaders and community partnerships to advance environmental justice.

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Yakima Valley Community Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Liberation Ventures Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyPolicy Research and AdvocacyUnited Way AffiliatesCommunity Arts CentersFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Domestic Violence ServicesWomen & Girls Leadership De…Community FoundationsFood Banks and PantriesIndependent K-12 SchoolsHealth Access Advocacy and …Community Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 26 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%7%<5yr15%8%5–10yr19%23%10–20yr18%29%20–35yr13%16%35–55yr13%18%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%5%<5yr15%11%5–10yr19%17%10–20yr18%17%20–35yr13%19%35–55yr13%32%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 7% of your grantees by number, and just 5% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/70
the rest of the field
13%
5,079/39,817

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

69 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 69 of the 77 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
67/69
Grantees still filing
36/69
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $1,475,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientFRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER — $985,000 · OtherFRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTERYMCA OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH COUNTY — $800,000 · OtherYMCA OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH CO…LIFEWIRE — $545,000 · OtherLIFEWIREGATHERING ROOTS WELLNESS RETREAT CENTER — $450,000 · OtherGATHERING ROOTS WELLNESS RETREAT CENTERIndividual grant recipient — $300,000 · OtherSOUTHWEST INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S COALTION — $600,000 · OtherSOUTHWEST INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S COALTION350 Seattle — $400,000 · Other350 Seattle+25 more — $1,712,000 · Other+25 moreBYRD BARR PLACE — $1,924,000 · Human ServicesBYRD BARR PLACEYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH COUNTY — $1,025,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN A…YWCA USA INC — $600,000 · Human ServicesYWCA USA INCRealize Impact — $356,250 · Human ServicesRealize ImpactCOMMONWEAL — $200,000 · Human Services+4 more — $272,000 · Human Services+4 morePresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $1,000,000 · EducationPresident and…Davidson College — $780,000 · EducationDavidson Coll…SEATTLE GIRLS' SCHOOL — $550,000 · EducationSEATTLE GIRLS…+3 more — $125,000 · EducationINDEPENDENT SECTOR — $1,500,000 · PhilanthropyINDEPENDENT S…RENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FNDN — $450,000 · PhilanthropyRENTON REGION…TIDES FOUNDATION — $109,000 · Philanthropy+9 more — $311,000 · Philanthropy+9 moreNORTHWEST FILM FORUM — $812,750 · Arts & CultureNORTHWEST…ARTE NOIR — $250,000 · Arts & CultureARTE NOIRNATIVE ACTION NETWORK — $230,000 · Arts & CultureNATIVE AC…NATIONAL URBAN INDIAN FAMILY COALITION — $150,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL …THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC — $150,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTE…SEATTLE ARTS AND LECTURES — $60,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more — $35,000 · Arts & CultureTUBMAN CENTER FOR HEALTH & FREEDOM — $1,083,332 · HealthFred Hutchinson Cancer Center — $175,000 · HealthOVERLAKE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $75,000 · HealthCierra Sisters — $50,000 · HealthTHE WHO WE ARE PROJECT — $400,000 · Civil RightsThe Washington Bus Education Fund — $215,000 · Civil RightsWashington Community Alliance — $100,000 · Civil RightsLIBERATION VENTURES INC — $50,000 · Civil Rights
Other$7,267,000Human Services$4,377,250Education$2,455,000Philanthropy$2,370,000Arts & Culture$1,687,750Health$1,383,332Civil Rights$765,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBYRD BARR PLACE — $1,924,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetINDEPENDENT SECTOR — $1,500,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetTUBMAN CENTER FOR HEALTH & FREEDOM — $1,083,332 over 2y, 6.4% of budgetYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY-SNOHOMISH COUNTY — $1,025,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $1,000,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER — $985,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHWEST FILM FORUM — $812,750 over 3y, 25% of budgetDavidson College — $780,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetYWCA USA INC — $600,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetSOUTHWEST INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S COALTION — $600,000 over 1y, 90% of budgetSEATTLE GIRLS' SCHOOL — $550,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetRENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FNDN — $450,000 over 6y, 4.8% of budgetRealize Impact — $356,250 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetARTE NOIR — $250,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetNATIVE ACTION NETWORK — $230,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetThe Washington Bus Education Fund — $215,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetNa'ah Illahee Fund — $210,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetCOMMONWEAL — $200,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetFred Hutchinson Cancer Center — $175,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJustice Funders — $150,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetNATIONAL URBAN INDIAN FAMILY COALITION — $150,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC — $150,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCHILDHAVEN — $150,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetKing County Sexual Assault Resource Center — $125,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION — $109,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc — $109,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLatino Community Fund of Washington State — $107,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSeattle Children's Foundation — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRVC SEATTLE — $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetOVERLAKE SERVICE LEAGUE — $90,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetOVERLAKE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $75,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFair Work Center — $62,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetSEATTLE ARTS AND LECTURES — $60,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetWashington Progress Fund — $60,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION — $60,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp — $53,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPOLICYLINK — $52,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT — $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetLIBERATION VENTURES INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNeighborhood Funders Group — $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSalish School of Spokane — $50,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetUNITED TERRITORIES OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS WASHINGTON-UTOPIA WA — $50,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetONEAMERICA — $50,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWASHINGTON WOMEN'S FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCHILDREN AND YOUTH JUSTICE CENTER — $50,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetSEATTLE FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SEATTLE TIMES COMMUNITY IMPACT FUND — $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTukwila Childrens Foundation — $25,000 over 1y, 14% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Seattle FoundationThe Satterberg Founda…United Way of King Co…Inatai FoundationRaikes FoundationGates FoundationThe Norcliffe Foundat…Philanthropy NorthwestPuget Sound Energy Fo…Stolte Family Foundat…Moccasin Lake Foundat…Credit Unions in the …
Seattle FoundationWA64.4× affinity38 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · United Way of King County · Inatai Foundation · Raikes Foundation · Gates Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Philanthropy Northwest · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Stolte Family Foundation · Moccasin Lake Foundation · Credit Unions in the State of Washington

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Bernier McCaw Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College — 7% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc — 6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
21report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Bernier McCaw Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bernier McCaw Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 77 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines