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Plinth

· Public charity

Humanities Washington

HUMANITIES WASHINGTON (hw) opens minds and bridges divides by creating spaces to explore different perspectives.

$1.0M
Granted FY2021
101
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01FY2021 · 101 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 101 grants below total $927,929 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,027,139 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $99,210 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 · FY2021

  • Under $10k47 grants · $338k
  • $10k–50k54 grants · $590k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DENSHO JAPANESE AMERICAN LEGACY PROJECT$15,000
NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM$15,000
NORDIC MUSEUM$15,000
FOSS WATERWAY SEAPORT$15,000
WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY$15,000
WING LUKE MUSEUM OF THE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN EXPERIENCE$15,000
NORTHWEST RAILWAY MUSEUM$15,000
NORTHWEST MUSEUM OF ARTS AND CULTURE$15,000
CENTRO CULTURAL MEXICANO$15,000
SPOKANE PUBLIC RADIO$15,000
SEATTLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL$10,000
FORT WALLA WALLA MUSEUM$10,000
POLSON PARK & MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY$10,000
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SEATTLE & KING COUNTY$10,000
LOOK LISTEN AND LEARN$10,000
02The need
02

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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY21–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 98% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%HEDGEBROOK: $10k → 7%GRIEF DIALOGUES: $10k → 9%IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $10k → 9%CLARK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM: $10k → 9%WINDOW SEAT MEDIA: $10k → 9%WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER: $10k → 9%ORCAS CENTER: $10k → 10%PORT GAMBLE S'KLALLAM FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%SKAGIT RIVER POETRY PROJECT: $10k → 11%GONZAGA UNIVERSITY: $10k → 12%QUILLISASCUT EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10k → 13%FORT WALLA WALLA MUSEUM: $10k → 13%TIETON ARTS AND HUMANITIES: $10k → 17%METHOW ARTS ALLIANCE: $10k → 17%POLSON PARK & MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 18%WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 20%SEATTLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL: $10k → 9%CONFLUENCE: $10k → 9%VOICES OF THE CHILDREN: $10k → 11%NORTHWEST MUSEUM OF ARTS AND CULTURE: $15k → 12%HERITAGE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 17%WASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND: $10k → 9%THE HISTORIC TRUST: $10k → 9%YAKIMA VALLEY MUSEUM: $10k → 17%HOLOCAUST CENTER FOR HUMANITY: $10k → 9%SOUTH SOUND READING FOUNDATION: $10k → 9%CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $10k → 11%SPOKANE ARTS: $10k → 12%206 ZULU: $10k → 9%HARBOR HISTORY MUSEUM: $10k → 9%THE FAMILY GUIDE: $10k → 12%NORDIC MUSEUM: $15k → 9%WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $15k → 9%FOSS WATERWAY SEAPORT: $15k → 9%SPOKANE PUBLIC RADIO: $15k → 12%KIDSQUEST CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $10k → 9%BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM: $10k → 9%DENSHO JAPANESE AMERICAN LEGACY PROJECT: $15k → 9%NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: $15k → 9%TASVEER: $10k → 9%ORQUESTA NORTHWEST: $10k → 9%CENTRO CULTURAL MEXICANO: $15k → 9%NORTHWEST RAILWAY MUSEUM: $15k → 9%KUOW: $10k → 9%SOUND THEATRE COMPANY: $10k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $10k → 9%MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE (MOPOP): $10k → 9%WING LUKE MUSEUM OF THE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: $15k → 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 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
Southwest Washington Center for the Arts
Philanthropy
2
Chelan County Historical Society

Developed by, for, and in conjunction with the community, the cashmere museum and pioneer village seeks to engage, educate, and entertain visitors both local and international. hundreds of volunteers have worked thousands of hours to make…

Arts & Culture
3
Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art C/O Denver Art Museu
Arts & Culture
4
Highline Heritage Museum

To collect, preserve and tell the stories of the Highline region and its people.

Unclassified
5
Bainbridge Island Historical Society

Preserve and share the stories of Bainbridge Island to promote a greater understanding of our community and the world in which we live; And, to operate a Historic Museum and Library

—
6
Southwest Seattle Historical Society

The mission of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society is to promote inclusive local history through education, preservation, and advocacy. The Southwest Seattle area includes all of the West Seattle Peninsula form Puget Sound on the west…

Arts & Culture
7
Seaside Museum & Historical Society

Preserve and interpret the History & culture of Seaside Oregon by operating a Museum and outreach programs.

—
8
Pacific County Historical Society & Museum Foundation

The Pacific County Historical Society & Museum Foundation was formed to create a museum displaying antiques and memorabilia which presents the heritage of Pacific County. The organization promotes tourism in the County and provides…

—
9
Forks Timber Museum

Educate public about heritage of the olympic peninsula emphasizing timber industry and forestry

Arts & Culture
10
Willapa Bay AiR
Arts & Culture
11
Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry

Collect and preserve the diverse history of Seattle, the Puget Sound region and beyond. Highlighting innovation and education, MOHAI enriches lives by sharing the individual and collective stories of our communities.

Arts & Culture
12
Museum of Northwest Art

The museum of northwest art collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits art created in the pacific northwest, supports artists, and strives to integrate art into the lives of all people. the museum is free and open to the public seven…

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northwest Railway Museum and the most unlike its peers is Quillisascut Education Fund. 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 backsteadyLocal Business ChambersCommunity Theatre Organizat…Asian Pacific Cultural Orga…Faith-Based Healthcare Syst…Early Childhood & Independe…Community Food Banks
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 29 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%2%<5yr14%8%5–10yr20%22%10–20yr18%27%20–35yr13%24%35–55yr14%17%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%2%<5yr14%8%5–10yr20%21%10–20yr18%27%20–35yr13%22%35–55yr14%20%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/99
the rest of the field
13%
3,786/29,820

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.

03the grantee network

84 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 84 of the 99 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
26
Early backer (in before they grew)
81/84
Grantees still filing
60/84
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

+50 more — $493,269 · Arts & Culture+50 moreWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $15,000 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $15,000 · OtherCENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY — $14,000 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY — $10,000 · OtherCLARK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $10,000 · OtherMethow Arts Alliance — $10,000 · OtherFort Walla Walla Museum Walla Walla Valley Historical Society — $10,000 · OtherGIG HARBOR PENINSULA HISTORICAL SOC — $10,000 · OtherSPOKANE ARTS FUND — $10,000 · OtherCASCADIA COLLEGE — $10,000 · OtherMOHAI Foundation — $10,000 · OtherIssaquah History Museums — $10,000 · OtherHolocaust Center For Humanity — $10,000 · OtherSKAGIT RIVER POETRY PROJECT — $10,000 · OtherPOLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $10,000 · OtherCITY OF MOSES LAKE — $9,983 · Other+17 more — $120,927 · Other+17 moreHERITAGE UNIVERSITY — $10,000 · EducationHERITAGE UN…CORPORATION OF GONZAGA UNIVERSITY — $10,000 · EducationCORPORATION…FORT VANCOUVER REGIONAL LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $10,000 · EducationFORT VANCOU…206 UNIVERSAL DBA 206 ZULU — $10,000 · Education206 UNIVERS…QUILLISASCUT EDUCATION FUND — $10,000 · EducationQUILLISASCU…SOUTH SOUND READING FOUNDATION — $10,000 · EducationSOUTH SOUND…WOW CHINA INC — $7,500 · EducationWOW CHINA I…COASTAL INTERPRETIVE CENTER — $7,000 · EducationCOASTAL INT…ASOTIN COUNTY LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $7,000 · EducationASOTIN COUN…Steilacoom Tribal Museum Association — $7,000 · EducationSteilacoom …ARBUTUS FOLK SCHOOL — $7,000 · EducationARBUTUS FOL…FAMILY GUIDE — $10,000 · Public BenefitWASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND — $10,000 · Recreation & SportsTasveer — $10,000 · Civil RightsRACHEL CORRIE FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE — $7,250 · InternationalMethow Field Institute — $7,000 · Environment
Arts & Culture$493,269Other$294,910Education$95,500Public Benefit$10,000Recreation & Sports$10,000Civil Rights$10,000International$7,250Environment$7,000

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 budgetNORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNational Nordic Museum — $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHWEST RAILWAY MUSEUM — $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetEASTERN WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDENSHO — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFOSS WATERWAY SEAPORT — $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSpokane Public Radio — $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCENTRO CULTURAL MEXICANO — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKitsap County Historical Society — $14,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetFAMILY GUIDE — $10,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetHEDGEBROOK — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetORCAS CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetVOICES OF THE CHILDREN — $10,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetKUOW PUGET SOUND PUBLIC RADIO — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetVANCOUVER NATIONAL HISTORIC RESERVE TRUST — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWindow Seat Media — $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetHERITAGE UNIVERSITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLARK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $10,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetMethow Arts Alliance — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCORPORATION OF GONZAGA UNIVERSITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIDSQUEST CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFORT VANCOUVER REGIONAL LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFort Walla Walla Museum Walla Walla Valley Historical Society — $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBELLEVUE ART MUSEUM — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGIG HARBOR PENINSULA HISTORICAL SOC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSPOKANE ARTS FUND — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetIMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSEATTLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL — $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetYAKIMA VALLEY MUSEUM & HISTORICAL ASSOC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF SKAGIT COUNTY — $10,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetWASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEVERETT MUSEUM OF HISTORY — $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budget206 UNIVERSAL DBA 206 ZULU — $10,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetTasveer — $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetMOHAI Foundation — $10,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetCONFLUENCES INC CONFLUENCE PROJECT — $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTIETON ARTS AND HUMANITIES — $10,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetIssaquah History Museums — $10,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetSOUND THEATRE COMPANY — $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetHolocaust Center For Humanity — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetORQUESTA NORTHWEST — $10,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetPORT GAMBLE S'KLALLAM FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetVILLAGE THEATRE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH SOUND READING FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetPOLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% 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.

ArtsfundSeattle FoundationThe Norcliffe Foundat…M J Murdock Charitabl…School's Out Washingt…Inatai FoundationThe Hugh and Jane Fer…Puget Sound Energy Fo…Raynier Institute & F…Moccasin Lake Foundat…Philanthropy NorthwestDv & Ida McEachern Ch…
ArtsfundWA128.9× affinity71 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Artsfund · Seattle Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · School's Out Washington · Inatai Foundation · The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Raynier Institute & Foundation · Moccasin Lake Foundation · Philanthropy Northwest · Dv & Ida McEachern Charitable Tr

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 Humanities Washington 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%2%6%14%25%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    39report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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 99 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $25k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2021, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    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 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