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Plinth

· Public charity

Foundation for Tacoma Students

To increase by 50% both the graduation rate of tacoma public schools students and those who complete a college degree or technical certificate.

$1.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
34
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$351k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Education$1.9MYouth Development$1.1MArts & Culture$582kHuman Services$453kHousing & Shelter$312kRecreation & Sports$219kCommunity Improvement$98kCrime & Legal$83kOther$0
02FY2024 · 34 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 34 grants below total $1,006,464 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,155,842 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $149,378 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $62k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $518k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
  • $250k+1 grant · $351k
$17,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$846k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIRST 5 FUNDAMENTALS$351,453
BRIGHTSPARK EARLY LEARNING SERVICES$75,000
PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY (V)$49,060
FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DIST NO 402$43,500
PENINSULA SCHOOL DISTRICT$33,700
THE GAME TIME WAY$30,000
IMAGINE JUSTICE$28,000
RISE CENTER$24,500
NORTHWEST EDUCATION ACCESS$23,500
CLOVER PARK TECHNICAL COLLEGE (V)$22,831
ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER (V)$22,500
ENHANCED PREP$22,500
KBTC PUBLIC TELEVISION$20,000
MI CHIANTLA$19,000
PRICELESS INSPIRATION FOUNDATION$19,000
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 (FY17–24, $495k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%THE ZONE PROJECT: $8k → 12%THE MULTICULTURAL CENTER: $44k → 9%CHILD CARE RESOURCES: $20k → 9%MULTICULTURAL CHILD AND FAMILY HOPE CNTR: $40k → 9%MULTICULTURAL CHILD AND FAMILY HOPE CNTR: $25k → 9%BRIGHTSPARK EARLY LEARNING SERVICES: $75k → 9%TACOMA URBAN LEAGUE: $25k → 9%YMCA: $25k → 9%RISE CENTER: $25k → 9%YMCA: $20k → 9%CENTRO LATINO: $20k → 9%YMCA: $15k → 9%TACOMA URBAN LEAGUE: $12k → 9%TACOMA URBAN LEAGUE: $5k → 9%CENTRO LATINO: $5k → 9%THE MULTICULTURAL CENTER: $5k → 9%YMCA OF PIERCE AND KITSAP COUNTY: $4k → 9%THE MULITCULTURAL CENTER: $3k → 9%YMCA OF PIERCE AND KITSAP COUNTY: $3k → 9%HOPES AND DREAMS FOUNDATION: $20k → 9%HOPES AND DREAMS FOUNDATION: $5k → 9%THE GAME TIME WAY: $30k → 9%THE GAME TIME WAY: $30k → 9%HOPESPARKS: $25k → 9%OUR SISTERS' HOUSE: $5k → 9%THE REACH CENTER: $3k → 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.

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.

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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.7M · 46 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +37% since the first grant, against +24% for the ones you funded once.

46 repeat relationships — 24 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

46
61

Total granted

$3.7M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+24%

Still filing today

80%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $142k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyCommunity 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

  • FF
    FIRST FIVE FUNDAMENTALS
    2× · 2019–2024 · $386k · revenue +235%
  • G
    GREENTRIKE
    5× · 2018–2024 · $276k · revenue +49%
  • TH
    TACOMA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT GROUP
    3× · 2019–2021 · $231k · revenue +233% · 67% of their budget

Funded once

  • TC
    TACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $60k · revenue +14%
  • GM
    Greater Metro Parks Foundation dba Tacoma Parks Foundation
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -20%
  • CO
    CITY OF FIFE
    one grant, 2023 · $48k

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
Puget Sound Community School

Founded in 1994, PSCS is a small, independent middle and high school located in the Chinatown/International District of downtown Seattle. PSCS is committed to co-creating a brave space for community-centered education, critical curriculum,…

—
2
Rainier Beach Cummunity Empowerment Coalition

Rainier Beach Action Coalition is a grassroot, Black-led organization devoted to locally driven development. It promotes quality education, living wage jobs, affordable transportation and housing, and building community capacity in…

Community Improvement
3
Rainier Scholars

Cultivates the academic potential and leadership skills of underrepresented students. by creating access to opportunities and holistic support, we increase college graduation rates and empower new generations of leaders.

Education
4
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
5
Communities in Schools of Puyallup

The mission of communities in schools of puyallup (cisp) is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

Education
6
The Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences

Seattle academy is a dynamic community that challenges students to question, imagine, and create in order to contribute to a changing world.

Education
7
Rainier Prep

Rainier prep provides public education to students in grades 5-8 in the highline area near seattle/tacoma. rainier prep seeks to prepare students for college, career readiness, and to become leaders in their communities.

Education
8
Seattle JazzED

Through Jazz education that liberates and inspires, Seattle JazzED increase access in the music room, celebrates student expression, and builds lasting connection rooted in community.

Arts & Culture
9
Impact Public Schools

The mission of Impact Public Schools is to prepare a diverse student population to succeed in college and impact communities as the next generation of equity-driven, innovative leaders. (Continued on Schedule O)Impact Public Schools makes…

Education
10
Foundation for International Understanding Through

FIUTS connects university students with local and global communities through cross-cultural experiences, student leadership, and community connections.

International
11
Spruce Street School

Spruce Street School is a nurturing educational community that instills in a broad range of children the social, emotional, and intellectual skills for lifelong participation in a diverse society. We offer kindergarten through fifth grade…

Education
12
The Tacoma Education Dream Fund

We support the whole child by providing access to extraordinary opportunities in partnership with Tacoma Public Schools and the community.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tacoma Arts Live and the most unlike its peers is Mi Chiantla. 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 backsteadyFamily Philanthropic Founda…History and Transportation …Education Access & Attainme…Youth & Family Behavioral H…Community Food BanksHealthcare & Hospice SystemsInternational Development &…School Parent-Teacher Organ…Washington State Advocacy O…
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 28 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number23%6%<5yr15%10%5–10yr19%19%10–20yr19%35%20–35yr13%13%35–55yr12%18%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value23%2%<5yr15%10%5–10yr19%24%10–20yr19%37%20–35yr13%19%35–55yr12%9%55yr+

The field is 23% startups (under 5 years old) — 6% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%3/118
the rest of the field
14%
2,243/16,445

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.

04the grantee network

85 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. 85 of the 118 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
79/85
Grantees still filing
46/85
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TACOMA PUBLIC SCHOOLS — $155,640 · OtherTACOMA PUBLIC SCHOOLSFranklin Pierce School District No 402 — $125,750 · OtherFranklin Pierce School District No 402ENHANCED PREP — $70,000 · OtherCLOVER PARK TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $65,331 · OtherPEACE COMMUNITY CENTER — $68,825 · OtherSAFE STREETS CAMPAIGN — $58,000 · Other+54 more — $1,141,716 · Other+54 moreDEGREES OF CHANGE — $375,000 · EducationDEGREES OF CHANGECollege Success Foundation — $121,700 · EducationCollege Success Foundati…R MERLE PALMER MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP — $85,350 · EducationR MERLE PALMER MINORITY …Pacific Lutheran University — $81,185 · EducationPacific Lutheran Univers…HILLTOP ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE — $67,200 · EducationHILLTOP ARTISTS IN RESID…TACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $60,000 · EducationTACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE…NORTHWEST EDUCATION ACCESS — $56,000 · EducationCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF TACOMA — $52,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION — $49,000 · Education+10 more — $136,671 · Education+10 moreGREENTRIKE — $275,860 · Arts & CultureGREENTRIKEAsia Pacific Cultural Center — $104,800 · Arts & CultureAsia Pacific C…TACOMA ARTS LIVE — $56,000 · Arts & CultureTACOMA ARTS LI…SHUNPIKE — $41,481 · Arts & CultureSHUNPIKETacoma Urban Performing Arts Center — $40,000 · Arts & CultureTacoma Urban P…KBTC ASSOCIATION — $40,000 · Arts & CultureKBTC ASSOCIATI…TACOMA YOUTH SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $24,950 · Arts & CultureTacoma Art Museum — $24,000 · Arts & Culture+4 more — $50,000 · Arts & Culture+4 moreFIRST FIVE FUNDAMENTALS — $386,453 · Youth DevelopmentFIRST FIVE FU…BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTH PUGET SOUND — $72,750 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRL…SCHOOL'S OUT WASHINGTON — $57,382 · Youth DevelopmentSCHOOL'S OUT …BUILD 2 LEAD — $46,500 · Youth DevelopmentBUILD 2 LEADCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF PENINSULA — $22,033 · Youth Development+1 more — $18,853 · Youth DevelopmentMULTICULTURAL CHILD AND FAMILY HOPE CENTER — $116,900 · Human ServicesMULTICULTUR…Brightspark Early Learning Services — $95,000 · Human ServicesBrightspark…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF PIERCE AND KITSAP COUNTIES — $66,250 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S…THE GAME TIME WAY — $60,000 · Human ServicesTHE GAME TI…Tacoma Urban League — $41,750 · Human ServicesTacoma Urba…HOPES AND DREAMS FOUNDATION — $25,000 · Human ServicesMI CENTRO — $25,000 · Human ServicesHopeSparks — $25,000 · Human ServicesBrotherhood Rise Center — $24,500 · Human Services+3 more — $15,750 · Human ServicesTACOMA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT GROUP — $230,500 · Housing & ShelterTHE RESCUE MISSION — $35,000 · Housing & ShelterELEMENTS OF EDUCATION PARTNERS — $65,000 · PhilanthropyWRITE253 — $54,000 · PhilanthropyTACOMA COMMUNITY BOAT BUILDERS INC — $35,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF PIERCE COUNTY — $25,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS — $8,000 · PhilanthropyKITSAP COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $8,000 · PhilanthropyInnovative Change Makers — $6,852 · Philanthropy
Other$1,685,262Education$1,084,106Arts & Culture$657,091Youth Development$603,971Human Services$495,150Housing & Shelter$265,500Philanthropy$201,852

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetFIRST FIVE FUNDAMENTALS — $386,453 over 2y, 11% of budgetDEGREES OF CHANGE — $375,000 over 3y, 6.3% of budgetGREENTRIKE — $275,860 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetTACOMA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT GROUP — $230,500 over 3y, 67% of budgetCollege Success Foundation — $121,700 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMULTICULTURAL CHILD AND FAMILY HOPE CENTER — $116,900 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetAsia Pacific Cultural Center — $104,800 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetBrightspark Early Learning Services — $95,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetR MERLE PALMER MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP — $85,350 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetPacific Lutheran University — $81,185 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTH PUGET SOUND — $72,750 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPEACE COMMUNITY CENTER — $68,825 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetHILLTOP ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE — $67,200 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF PIERCE AND KITSAP COUNTIES — $66,250 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCLOVER PARK TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $65,331 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetELEMENTS OF EDUCATION PARTNERS — $65,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetTHE GAME TIME WAY — $60,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetTACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $60,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetSAFE STREETS CAMPAIGN — $58,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetSCHOOL'S OUT WASHINGTON — $57,382 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHWEST EDUCATION ACCESS — $56,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTACOMA ARTS LIVE — $56,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPierce County Aids Foundation — $55,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetWRITE253 — $54,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF TACOMA — $52,000 over 5y, 7.0% of budgetGreater Metro Parks Foundation dba Tacoma Parks Foundation — $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetLEADERSHIP FOUNDATIONS — $50,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION — $49,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD 2 LEAD — $46,500 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetTacoma Urban League — $41,750 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetSHUNPIKE — $41,481 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTacoma Urban Performing Arts Center — $40,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetKBTC ASSOCIATION — $40,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetTACOMA MINISTERIAL ALLIANCE — $37,500 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetTACOMA COMMUNITY BOAT BUILDERS INC — $35,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetSCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR RAINIER SCHOLARS — $35,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF PUGET SOUND — $35,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE RESCUE MISSION — $35,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKROWNLESS KINGS — $30,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetCAMP FIRE — $30,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetUNITED WAY OF PIERCE COUNTY — $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMETROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOPES AND DREAMS FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetShared Housing Services — $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMI CENTRO — $25,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetARK INSTITUTE OF LEARNING — $25,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetHopeSparks — $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTACOMA YOUTH SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $24,950 over 2y, 1.4% 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.

Greater Tacoma Commun…The Bamford FoundationFuchsg & M Fdn TaiSchool's Out Washingt…Kilworth Florence Cha…Woodworth Family Foun…Puget Sound Energy Fo…The Norcliffe Foundat…Gary E Milgard Family…Heidner Marco J Char …Seattle FoundationMedina Foundation
Greater Tacoma Community FoundationWA106.6× affinity53 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Tacoma Community Foundation · The Bamford Foundation · Fuchsg & M Fdn Tai · School's Out Washington · Kilworth Florence Char Tr Fndn · Woodworth Family Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Gary E Milgard Family Foundation- Sunshine · Heidner Marco J Char Trust · Seattle Foundation · Medina Foundation

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 Foundation for Tacoma Students 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 · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Portland State University Foundation — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
41report 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.

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 118 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. 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