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Echo Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Echo 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.

$3.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$865k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Philanthropy$3.3MEducation$3.2MHousing & Shelter$3.0MReligion$1.1MPublic Safety & Disaster$800kFood & Nutrition$595kArts & Culture$505kEmployment$290kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $120k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $750k
  • $250k+4 grants · $2.1M
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$89M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$865,000
BELLINGHAM TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION$507,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$500,000
WHATCOM FOODBANK NETWORK$250,000
GRACE CONNECTION$100,000
JANSEN ARTS CENTER$100,000
CASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA$100,000
WHATCOM LAND TRUST$100,000
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY$100,000
ALASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$100,000
PARTNERS FOR SCHOOLS DBA BE THE ONE$50,000
TECHNIC TRAINING CENTER$50,000
MT BAKER ROTARY FOUNDATION$50,000
SEATTLE CHILDREN'S THEATRE$25,000
FOOTHILLS FOOD BANK$25,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%TRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION: $1.0M → 11%TRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION: $40k → 11%TRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION: $10k → 11%GROWING VETERANS: $5k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

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

About 36% of Echo Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 93% of the giving stays in WA; by stated purpose, 58%.

Echo Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.2% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
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 funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.7M · 20 repeat orgs$378k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
8

Total granted

$6.7M
$118k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
0%

Still filing today

60%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $260k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthInternationalEducationEmploymentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • TC
    TRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +68%
  • CP
    CASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA
    2× · 2024–2025 · $200k · revenue +28%
  • GC
    Grace Collective
    3× · 2022–2024 · $190k · revenue +151%

Funded once

  • CH
    CHUCKANUT HEALTH FOUNDATION - MCCLURE HEALTHY YOUTH INITIATIVE
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • KC
    KCTS CASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA
    one grant, 2023 · $20k
  • MM
    MOBILE MEDICS INTERNATIONAL
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -61%
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Feeding Washington

Create a strong and effective statewide infrastructure that efficiently leverages resources to expand capacity in Washington State's Feeding America network.

Food & Nutrition
2
Washington Food Coalition

To strengthen hunger relief providers in WA State.

—
3
Recovery Cafe Skagit

Provide a safe, healing, and restorative community that empowers long-term transformation through human connection for those recovering from the trauma of homelessness, addictions, and mental health challenges.

Education
4
Tenino Community Service Center

Tenino Community Service Center/Tenino Food Bank Plus is a deep-rooted community-based service center dedicated to feeding those within the Tenino school district (Tenino and Bucoda) that may be disadvantaged. In addition, it is our…

Food & Nutrition
5
Artist Trust

Artist Trust supports the livelihoods of artists working in all disciplines to create a more vibrant and equitable Washington State.

Arts & Culture
6
Port Angeles Food Bank

Nourishing our community. the port angeles food bank is the main food bank in clallam county, providing food to 13 other area pantries and meal programs as well as providing food to over 5,000 individuals per month.

Food & Nutrition
7
Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center

Provide and promote constructive and collaborative approaches to conflict resolution through mediation, training, facilitation, supervised visits and community education.

Unclassified
8
Re Sources

RE Sources mobilizes people of Northwest Washington to build just and thriving communities and to protect the land, water, and climate on which we all depend.

Environment
9
The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound

To grow a lasting culture of generosity and well-being in the South Puget Sound through connection, leadership, and investment.

Philanthropy
10
Futurewise

Futurewise works throughout Washington state to encourage healthy, equitable and opportunity-rich communities, and to protect our most valuable farmlands, forests and water resources through wise land use policies and practices.

Environment
11
Methow Valley Trails Collaborative

Enhancing sustainable trail experiences in the Methow Valley.

Environment
12
Community Foundation of Snohomish County

The Community Foundation of Snohomish County (the Foundation) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Washington. The Foundation serves as a community foundation, supporting a broad spectrum of…

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Whatcom Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Hospital De La Familia Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

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

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 38 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
13/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LIGHTHOUSE MISSION: $3,020,000 · OtherLIGHTHOUSE MISSIONWHATCOM FOODBANK NETWORK: $500,000 · OtherWHATCOM FOODBANK NETWORKWESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $150,000 · Other+19 more: $620,000 · Other+19 moreWHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,190,000 · PhilanthropyWHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONMT BAKER ROTARY FOUNDATION: $121,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $100,000 · PhilanthropyBellingham Technical College Foundation: $2,880,720 · EducationBellingham Technical Coll…+2 more: $125,000 · EducationTRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION: $1,050,000 · Human ServicesTRI CITY …+2 more: $35,000 · Human ServicesWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $800,000 · International+1 more: $10,000 · InternationalJANSEN ART CENTER: $200,000 · Arts & CultureCASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA: $200,000 · Arts & CultureHISTORIC WHIDBEY: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureGrace Collective: $190,000 · Employment
Other$4,290,000Philanthropy$3,411,000Education$3,005,720Human Services$1,085,000International$810,000Arts & Culture$465,000Employment$190,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,190,000 over 5y, 9.4% of budgetBellingham Technical College Foundation: $2,880,720 over 5y, 32% of budgetTRI CITY UNION GOSPEL MISSION: $1,050,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $800,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJANSEN ART CENTER: $200,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetCASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGrace Collective: $190,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetMT BAKER ROTARY FOUNDATION: $121,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetWHATCOM LAND TRUST: $100,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetHISTORIC WHIDBEY: $60,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetAlternatives to Hunger Bellingham Food Bank: $55,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFOOTHILLS FOOD BANK: $35,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetKINDRED MATTERS: $30,000 over 2y, 8.4% of budgetSEATTLE CHILDREN'S THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetONLY 7 SECONDS: $17,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetMOBILE MEDICS INTERNATIONAL: $10,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetLYDIA PLACE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAlaska Special Olympics DBA Special Olympics Alaska Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Whatcom Community Fou…The Norcliffe Foundat…Puget Sound Energy Fo…M J Murdock Charitabl…Eleanor and Henry Jan…Chuckanut Health Foun…The Albertsons Compan…Dick Bedlington Famil…Mt Baker Rotary Found…First Fed FoundationNorth Sound Accountab…Shell USA Company Fou…
Whatcom Community FoundationWA19.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Whatcom Community Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · Eleanor and Henry Jansen Foundation · Chuckanut Health Foundation · The Albertsons Companies Foundation · Dick Bedlington Family Foundation · Mt Baker Rotary Foundation · First Fed Foundation · North Sound Accountable Community of Health · Shell USA Company Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Echo Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Echo Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 100%
  • Kindred Matters: 100% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Echo Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Echo 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 38 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

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

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Echo’s filings →

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 endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home