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Lady Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lady 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.

$303k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$150k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.6MEnvironment$748kCivil Rights$500kRecreation & Sports$250kHuman Services$32kEducation$25kHousing & Shelter$25kSocial Science$10k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $70k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $233k
$83,333
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BLOEDEL RESERVE$150,000
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM$83,333
ARTIST TRUST$40,000
ON THE BOARDS$30,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%SEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $83k → 9%SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST: $3k → 10%THE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $200k → 10%WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 12%SEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $83k → 9%LOPEZ ROOTED AND RISING: $500k → 10%THE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $165k → 10%SEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $83k → 9%LOPEZ ISLAND ISLAND FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $32k → 10%THE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $150k → 10%FRIENDS OF WATERFRONT SEATTLE: $63k → 9%HOUSING LOPEZ: $25k → 10%THE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $130k → 10%FRIENDS OF WATERFRONT SEATTLE: $63k → 9%THE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $100k → 10%FRIENDS OF WATERFRONT SEATTLE: $63k → 9%ARTIST TRUST: $40k → 9%FRIENDS OF WATERFRONT SEATTLE: $63k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $1.0M → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $90k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $50k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $35k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $30k → 9%HENRY ART GALLERY: $20k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $30k → 9%HENRY ART GALLERY: $5k → 9%ON THE BOARDS: $30k → 9%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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 5 repeat orgs$625k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
5

Total granted

$2.5M
$585k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+22%

Still filing today

80%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $40k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementEducationEnvironmentHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • ON THE BOARDS
    7× · 2017–2025 · $1.3M · revenue -36%
  • THE BLOEDEL RESERVE
    5× · 2018–2025 · $745k · revenue -26%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF SEATTLE WATERFRONT
    4× · 2018–2021 · $250k · revenue +108%

Funded once

  • LR
    LOPEZ ROOTED AND RISING
    one grant, 2024 · $500k
  • LI
    LOPEZ ISLAND ISLAND FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER
    one grant, 2021 · $32k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AND ALUMNI
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +22%
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
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
2
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
3
Great Peninsula Conservancy

Preserve in perpetuity the natural habitats, rural landscapes, and open spaces of the great peninsula of washington's puget sound.

Environment
4
Northwest Film Forum

Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events,…

Arts & Culture
5
North Olympic Land Trust

To conserve lands that sustain the communities of the olympic peninsula through grants and donations for fee simple ownership and purchased and donated conservation easements.

Environment
6
Artsfund

Artsfund strengthens the community by supporting the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant making.

Arts & Culture
7
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
8
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
9
Lummi Island Heritage Trust

To create a legacy of abundant open space, native habitat, and natural resources on Lummi Island by inspiring people to protect and care for the island's farms, forests, wetlands, and shorelines forever.

Environment
10
Friends of the Seattle Public Library

The Friends of the Seattle Public Library's mission is to elevate the Library and inspire the love of reading in our communities.

Education
11
Puget Sound Restoration Fund

To restore habitat, water quality and native species in the puget sound

Environment
12
Whatcom Land Trust

The mission of the Whatcom Land Trust is to preserve and protect wildlife habitat, scenic, agricultural and open space lands in Whatcom County for future generations by securing interests in land and promoting land stewardship.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Seattle Art Museum; the most unlike its peers is Housing Lopez. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

9 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. 9 of the 12 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ON THE BOARDS: $1,265,070 · OtherON THE BOARDSTHE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $745,000 · OtherTHE BLOEDEL RESERVELOPEZ ROOTED AND RISING: $500,000 · OtherLOPEZ ROOTED AND RISING+2 more: $57,000 · OtherSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $249,999 · Arts & CultureSEATTLE AR…Artist Trust: $40,000 · Arts & CultureArtist Tru…FRIENDS OF SEATTLE WATERFRONT: $250,000 · Community ImprovementFOUNDATION FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AND ALUMNI: $25,000 · EducationHousing Lopez: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterRSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC: $10,000 · Social ScienceTHE SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST: $2,500 · Environment
Other$2,567,070Arts & Culture$289,999Community Improvement$250,000Education$25,000Housing & Shelter$25,000Social Science$10,000Environment$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetON THE BOARDS: $1,265,070 over 7y, 6.5% of budgetTHE BLOEDEL RESERVE: $745,000 over 5y, 5.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF SEATTLE WATERFRONT: $250,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $249,999 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetArtist Trust: $40,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AND ALUMNI: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHousing Lopez: $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetRSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Seattle FoundationBagley and Virginia W…The Norcliffe Foundat…Gs Donor Advised Phil…ImpactassetsincBaird Foundation IncMorgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Seattle FoundationWA17× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · Bagley and Virginia Wright Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Impactassetsinc · Baird Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Lady Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lady 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%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Lady Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Lady 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 12 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 Lady’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