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Plinth

· Public charity

Believe in Me

To help every kid develop the self-confidence they need to succeed by funding children's charities that provide disadvantaged kids with a safe place to call home, a family that loves them, a feeling of community, and opportunities to learn, build self-esteem and have fun.

$212k
Granted FY2023
5
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$14k
Largest
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 FY20172023.

Youth Development$4.5MEducation$195kHuman Services$117kReligion$64kHealth$40kEnvironment$32kCommunity Improvement$21kArts & Culture$20kOther$0
02FY2023 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 5 grants below total $52,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $211,566 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $159,566 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 · FY2023

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $44k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$6.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FREE REIN THERAPEUTIC RIDING$13,500
MELODIC CARING PROJECT$10,000
FOSTER HEARTS$10,000
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY TOGETHER$10,000
EMBRACE WASHINGTON$8,500
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 (FY19–23, $214k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%FOSTER HEARTS: $10k → 12%FAMILY AND COMMUNITY TOGETHER: $10k → 12%FREE REIN THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $14k → 12%EMBRACE WASHINGTON: $45k → 12%EMBRACE WASHINGTON: $30k → 12%EMBRACE WASHINGTON: $28k → 12%YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $25k → 12%YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $14k → 12%EMBRACE WASHINGTON: $9k → 12%TRANSITIONS: $11k → 12%TRANSITIONS: $10k → 12%TRANSITIONS: $9k → 12%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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.7M · 10 repeat orgs$309k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +15% since the first grant, against +11% for the ones you funded once.

10 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2023, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
19

Total granted

$4.7M
$276k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+11%

Still filing today

100%
84%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 36% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $34k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Youth DevelopmentHuman ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureEnvironmentOther

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

  • EW
    EMBRACE WASHINGTON
    4× · 2019–2023 · $111k · revenue +95%
  • MC
    Melodic Caring Project
    2× · 2022–2023 · $40k · revenue +54%
  • YW
    YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $39k · revenue +65%

Funded once

  • TJ
    THE JONAH PROJECT
    one grant, 2022 · $64k
  • SA
    SPOKANE ANGEL ALLIANCE
    one grant, 2022 · $21k · revenue -12%
  • FP
    Family Promise of Spokanegraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $18k · revenue +27%

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
Innovation Spokane Schools

To prepare a diverse range of students for a life of learning in post-secondary education, citizenship, and leadership.

Education
2
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
3
Spokane Parks Foundation

The Spokane Parks Foundation cultivates the health, growth, and continued enjoyment of our communities by inspiring giving and passion for our parks.

4
Cascades Academy of Central Oregon

Cascades academy is an engaged, vibrant community that weaves challenging academics with experiential learning to inspire socially responsible individuals ready for a diverse and changing world.

Education
5
Southwest Youth and Family Services

SWYFS partners with youth and families to transform their futures.

Human Services
6
Spark Northwest

Founded in 2001, Spark Northwest accelerates the just transition to clean energy in the Pacific Northwest. Spark Northwest uses two primary strategies: (1) on-the-ground project consulting, focusing on communities with limited financial…

Environment
7
Skagit Preschool and Resource Center

Programs for children with special needs from birth to six. sparc offers opportunities for family education, participation and support so that familiies may become more knowledgeable about their childs needs and goals are are better able…

Education
8
Spokane Guilds' School & Neuromuscular Center

Joya is dedicated to igniting hope, empowering children and families, and establishing lifelong skills. We provide exceptional pediatric therapy and support services, engage families, and remove financial barriers. Our community is built…

9
Seattle School for Boys

Seattle School for Boys encourages and inspires boys to become collaborative learners, creative thinkers, and compassionate leaders who genuinely care about our diverse global community.

10
Spokane Youth Sports Association

Promote & facilitate supervised sporting activities to youth through various programs organized by the organization.

Recreation & Sports
11
Skookum Kids

Skookum Kids exists to mobilize communities in support of kids and families impacted by foster care.

Human Services
12
Bike Works Seattle

Bike Works promotes the bicycle as a vehicle for change to empower youth and build resilient communities.

Recreation & Sports

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Communities in Schools of Spokane County and the most unlike its peers is Slingshot. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 22 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number23%3%<5yr15%10%5–10yr19%35%10–20yr19%31%20–35yr12%7%35–55yr13%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value23%0%<5yr15%1%5–10yr19%93%10–20yr19%3%20–35yr12%0%35–55yr13%2%55yr+

The field is 23% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% of your grantees by number, and just 0% 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%0/32
the rest of the field
13%
2,651/20,448

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

29 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 29 of the 32 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/29
Grantees still filing
20/29
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Morning Star Boys Ranch — $4,323,608 · Youth DevelopmentMorning Star Boys Ranch+5 more — $79,053 · Youth DevelopmentEMBRACE WASHINGTON — $111,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION — $39,000 · Human ServicesTransitions — $30,430 · Human ServicesFree Rein Therapeutic Riding — $13,500 · Human ServicesFAMILY AND COMMUNITY TOGETHER — $10,000 · Human ServicesFoster Hearts — $10,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF SPOKANE COUNTY — $47,000 · EducationCollege Success Foundation — $34,000 · EducationLumen Public School — $10,000 · EducationCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF BENTON-FRANKLI — $10,000 · EducationTHE JONAH PROJECT — $64,253 · OtherSPOKANE YOUTH SYMPHONY INC — $10,000 · OtherSPOKANE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT #81 — $10,000 · OtherCAMP FIRE INLAND NORTHWEST — $8,000 · OtherSPOKANE ANGEL ALLIANCE — $21,000 · OtherFamily Promise of Spokane — $18,000 · OtherSPOKANE HOOPFEST ASSOCIATION — $10,000 · OtherTHE BRIDGE MUSIC PROJECT — $8,000 · OtherVANESSA BEHAN — $10,000 · OtherJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WASHINGTON — $10,000 · OtherFIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT CASA PROGRAM INC — $10,000 · Other+1 more — $5,700 · OtherMelodic Caring Project — $40,000 · HealthThe ISAAC Foundation — $12,500 · HealthDISHMAN HILLS CONSERVANCY — $32,000 · EnvironmentODYSSEY YOUTH CENTER — $25,500 · Recreation & Sports
Youth Development$4,402,661Human Services$213,930Education$101,000Other$184,953Health$52,500Environment$32,000Recreation & Sports$25,500

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$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMorning Star Boys Ranch — $4,323,608 over 5y, 41% of budgetEMBRACE WASHINGTON — $111,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF SPOKANE COUNTY — $47,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetMelodic Caring Project — $40,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION — $39,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCollege Success Foundation — $34,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDISHMAN HILLS CONSERVANCY — $32,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetTransitions — $30,430 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetODYSSEY YOUTH CENTER — $25,500 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetSPOKANE ANGEL ALLIANCE — $21,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED — $21,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFamily Promise of Spokane — $18,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSlingshot — $18,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetBoys & Girls Club of Spokane County — $15,053 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRAINIER ATHLETES — $15,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFree Rein Therapeutic Riding — $13,500 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetThe ISAAC Foundation — $12,500 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetSPOKANE YOUTH SYMPHONY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetVANESSA BEHAN — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFAMILY AND COMMUNITY TOGETHER — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSPOKANE HOOPFEST ASSOCIATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WASHINGTON — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLumen Public School — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF BENTON-FRANKLI — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT CASA PROGRAM INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetFoster Hearts — $10,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetCAMP FIRE INLAND NORTHWEST — $8,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE BRIDGE MUSIC PROJECT — $8,000 over 1y, 5.0% 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.

The Avista FoundationWA41.8× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Avista Foundation · Innovia Foundation · United Way of Spokane County · School's Out Washington · Women Helping Women Fund · Numerica Credit Union · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation · Multicare Health System · Providence Health & Services - Washington · Bnsf Railway Foundation · Johnston-Fix 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 Believe in Me 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 70%
  • Family and Community Together70% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
12report 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, FY2025

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 32 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 2023, released 2023. 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 $102k 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 FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

Source object · view filing

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