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Purple Crayon Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Purple Crayon Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$783k
Granted FY2021
20
Grants FY2021
7
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2021.

Education$600kInternational$71kPublic Benefit$70kArts & Culture$43kEnvironment$40kPhilanthropy$20k
02FY2021 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k3 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $116k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $405k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$20,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN$250,000
MINORITY VETERANS OF AMERICA$55,000
BELLEVUE COLLEGE FDN FBO KBCS$50,000
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN$50,000
TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FDN$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN$50,000
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS$20,000
RENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FDN$20,000
NAT'L OLDTIME FIDDLERS$15,750
PINK BERETS$15,000
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND$14,000
IBMA FOUNDATION$10,750
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 (FY19–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%NAT'L OLDTIME FIDDLERS: $16k → 14%CAURA FUTURES INC: $10k → 10%PINK BERETS: $15k → 7%AMERICAN BANJO MUSEUM: $2k → 16%IBMA FOUNDATION: $11k → 13%PEACETREES VIETNAM: $22k → 9%ACOUSTIC SOUND DBA WINTERGRASS: $11k → 9%GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $20k → 9%PEACETREES VIETNAM: $11k → 9%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10k → 9%TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FDN: $50k → 9%GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $5k → 9%WASHINGTON WILD: $6k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN: $250k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN: $50k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN: $50k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN: $50k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FDN: $50k → 9%RENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FDN: $20k → 9%BELLEVUE COLLEGE FDN FBO KBCS: $50k → 9%NORTHWEST FOLKLIFE: $4k → 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.

9%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$71k · 3 repeat orgs$743k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2021, 2 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
1

Total granted

$71k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+5%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 3% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $733k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentInternationalPublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • PV
    PEACETREES VIETNAM
    2× · 2019–2020 · $33k · revenue +91%
  • GP
    GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
    2× · 2019–2021 · $25k · revenue +23%
  • UI
    UPLIFT INTERNATIONAL INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $13k

Funded once

  • CF
    CAURA FUTURES INC
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +5%
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
Fsc I&P

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.…

Philanthropy
2
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
3
Puget Sound Restoration Fund

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

Environment
4
Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition

Creating a greener, healthier, more equitable, and better Washington for all through community outreach, network building, and advocacy for conservation and outdoor recreation funding.

—
5
Alaska Whale Foundation

Alaska Whale Foundation is dedicated to marine mammal conservation through research monitoring and education.

Environment
6
Blue Forest Finance Inc

Blue forest is a non-profit conservation finance organization. we bring people, finance and science together to restore and protect our forests, watersheds, ecosystems and communities.

Environment
7
Int'l Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources - Us

Iucn-us fund builds bridges between us donors and iucn by catalyzing, accelerating, funding and promoting iucn's work - conserving nature and natural resources in the united states and throughout the world.

Environment
8
Amazon Conservation Association

Amazon conservation unites science, people, and innovation to protect the amazon - the greatest wild forest on earth. as guardians of the most iconic forest on the planet, we bring together the power of the latest science and technology…

Environment
9
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

To sustain, restore, and enhance the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats.

Animals
10
Great Peninsula Conservancy

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

Environment
11
The Land Trust for Tennessee Inc

To conserve the unique character of tennessee's natural and historic landscapes and sites for future generations.

Environment
12
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trust for Public Land; the most unlike its peers is Uplift International Inc. 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

16 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. 16 of the 19 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)
16/16
Grantees still filing
13/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $450,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATIONWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EducationWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONBELLEVUE COLLEGE FDN FBO KBCS: $50,000 · OtherBELLEVUE COLLEGE F…PINK BERETS: $15,000 · OtherPINK BERETSACOUSTIC SOUND DBA WINTERGRASS: $10,750 · OtherACOUSTIC SOUND DBA…THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERV…THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $14,000 · OtherTHE TRUST FOR PUBL…CAURA FUTURES INC: $10,000 · OtherCAURA FUTURES INCRENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FNDN: $20,000 · OtherRENTON REGIONAL CO…WASHINGTON WILD: $5,750 · OtherMINORITY VETERANS OF AMERICA: $55,000 · Public BenefitTECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Community ImprovementPEACETREES VIETNAM: $32,602 · InternationalUPLIFT INTERNATIONAL INC: $13,000 · InternationalNATIONAL OLDTIME FIDDLERS INC: $15,750 · Arts & CultureTHE IBMA FOUNDATION INC: $10,750 · Arts & CultureNORTHWEST FOLKLIFE: $3,998 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN BANJO MUSEUM INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureGLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $25,000 · Health
Education$500,000Other$135,500Public Benefit$55,000Community Improvement$50,000International$45,602Arts & Culture$32,498Health$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $450,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMINORITY VETERANS OF AMERICA: $55,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPEACETREES VIETNAM: $32,602 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $25,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRENTON REGIONAL COMMUNITY FNDN: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNATIONAL OLDTIME FIDDLERS INC: $15,750 over 1y, 11% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $14,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE IBMA FOUNDATION INC: $10,750 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAURA FUTURES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetWASHINGTON WILD: $5,750 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNORTHWEST FOLKLIFE: $3,998 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN BANJO MUSEUM INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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 FoundationImpactassetsincNetwork for GoodNational Philanthropi…American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Seattle FoundationWA18.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Purple Crayon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Purple Crayon Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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
    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.

    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 19 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Purple Crayon’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