· Private foundation
James M Lea Foundation
Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2023.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- Under $10k4 grants · $12k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $85k
- $50k–250k7 grants · $858k
- $250k+1 grant · $300k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| WASHINGTON NATIONAL PARK FUND | $300,000 |
| WASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATION | $200,000 |
| CONSERVATION NW | $168,000 |
| YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE | $150,000 |
| UNIV OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION | $140,000 |
| WOODLAND PARK ZOO | $85,000 |
| FOSS WATERWAY SEAPORT | $65,000 |
| BELLEVUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $50,000 |
| WSU FOUNDATION | $35,000 |
| THE ZOO SOCIETY | $30,000 |
| SCHOOL STEM AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS | $10,488 |
| RAISBECK AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL | $10,000 |
| TACOMA YOUTH MARINE FDN | $3,000 |
| INVEST IN YOUTH | $3,000 |
| ST JAMES CATHEDRAL | $3,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–23, $555k) 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 its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 26% of James M Lea Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 99% of the giving stays in WA; by stated purpose, 74%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.
20 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $63k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- UOUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION5× · 2019–2023 · $990k · revenue +28%
- WNWASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND5× · 2019–2023 · $775k · revenue +142%
- WTWASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATION5× · 2019–2023 · $649k · revenue +124%
Funded once
- TSTHE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETYgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $150k · revenue +156%
- WCWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUNDone grant, 2020 · $35k · revenue +14%
- BRBRAIDED RIVERgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $35k · revenue +112%
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.
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.
Washington wild protects and restores wild lands and waters in washington state through advocacy, education and civic engagement.
Creating a greener, healthier, more equitable, and better Washington for all through community outreach, network building, and advocacy for conservation and outdoor recreation funding.
To bring people, communities, and resources together to ensure waterfront park thrives as a vibrant gathering space - uplifting locals, fostering connections and honoring seattle's natural beauty and stories.
Fsc i&p promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. this mission aligns with the forest stewardship council (fsc), its network of offices, and other organizations.…
Advocate for tax policy in Washington State
The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leads and inspires action to conserve and enhance the landscape of the Mountains to Sound Greenway, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature.
Preserve in perpetuity the natural habitats, rural landscapes, and open spaces of the great peninsula of washington's puget sound.
The council of western state foresters (cwsf) promotes the conservation, protection, and sustainable management of forests for today and generations to come by leading collective action, fostering learning, facilitating resource sharing,…
We collaborate with diverse partners to drive sustainable outdoor recreation initiatives in north central washington. tread is committed to protecting and sustaining north central washington's outdoor spaces so future generations can…
Discover Your Northwest promotes the discovery of northwest public lands, enriches the experience of visitors and builds community stewardship of these special places today and for generations to come.
To restore habitat, water quality and native species in the puget sound
Wildearth guardians works to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the american west.
How this is measured
19 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. 19 of the 36 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND ↗
- Who funds WASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds CONSERVATION NW ↗
- Who funds THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER SEATTLE (6871) ↗
- Who funds WOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds WESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds FOSS WATERWAY SEAPORT ↗
- Who funds THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds POINT DEFIANCE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Techbridge Girls ↗
- Who funds WASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND ↗
- Who funds BRAIDED RIVER ↗
- Who funds INVEST IN YOUTH ↗
- Who funds NISQUALLY RIVER FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FOOD LIFELINE ↗
- Who funds WOLF HOLLOW WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRE ↗
- Who funds SEATTLE MILK FUND INC ↗
- Who funds NORTHWEST HARVEST EMM ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Moccasin Lake Foundation · The GreerSolien Fund · The Russell Family Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization James M Lea Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from James M Lea Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Western Rivers Conservancy: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to James M Lea Foundation?
Find your warmest path to James M Lea 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.
Play a game based on James M Lea’s filings →