Skip to content
Sos Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sos 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.

$333k
Granted FY2025still arriving
56
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$111k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$261kYouth Development$88kInternational$45kHealth$29kHuman Services$27kPhilanthropy$23kHousing & Shelter$20kArts & Culture$17kOther$0
02FY2025 · 56 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k48 grants · $72k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $151k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $111k
$1,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY$110,800
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON$47,000
TEENS IN PUBLIC SERVICE$38,000
SEATTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL$25,000
FRED HUTCH CANCER RESEARCH$10,500
WE HEART SEATTLE$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON MEDICINE ADVANCEMENT$10,000
COMMON THREADS PROJECT$10,000
TRUST A GIRL AFRICA$9,028
SWEDISH FOUNDATION$5,000
RAINIER SCHOLARS$5,000
CPA FOUNDATION$5,000
WASHINGTON POLICY CENTER$5,000
ORCAS CENTER$3,450
ST JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL$3,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY23–25, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 16% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WOMEN4WOMEN: $2k → 20%MOTHER MENTORS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND: $2k → 7%MOTHER MENTORS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND: $535 → 7%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $2k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $500 → 9%UNIVERSITY DISTRICT FOOD BANK: $2k → 9%AMARA: $1k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
NY
OR
PA
CA
MD
DE
NC
HI
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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$635k · 29 repeat orgs$219k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 29 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
72

Total granted

$635k
$175k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
0%

Still filing today

69%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’23’24’25
HealthEducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterInternationalOther
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

  • SU
    SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2023–2025 · $214k · revenue +49%
  • R
    RECLAIM
    2× · 2017–2024 · $15k · revenue +32%
  • WP
    WASHINGTON POLICY CENTER
    3× · 2023–2025 · $15k · revenue +168%

Funded once

  • UO
    UW online giving (Competitive Edge/Game Changer Fund)
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
  • UF
    UW Foundation - (Competitive Edge pledge)
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
  • A(
    AMARA (5k 2017 pledge from Joe & Maureen, 5k 2017 pledge from Bro. Kids, 5k 2018 pledge from Joe & Maureen and 5k 2018 pledge from Bro Kids)
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
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
Earthcorps

To cultivate leaders and community partnerships to advance environmental justice.

International
2
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
3
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
4
The Humane Society for Seattleking County

Seattle humane promotes the human-animal bond by saving and serving pets in need, regardless of age, ability, circumstance or geography.

Animals
5
University Cooperative School

We take a joyful, community-oriented approach to raising engaged citizens, deep learners, and brave adventurers with the skills, creativity, and heart needed to better the world.

—
6
Sustainable Path Foundation

Sustainable Path Foundation promotes sustainability and health in the Puget Sound region through collaborative approaches informed by scientific understanding and systems thinking.

Social Science
7
Alaska Whale Foundation

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

Environment
8
Association of Washington Cities

The association of washington cities builds connections between our state's diverse cities and towns, while providing our members with the support needed to thrive through delivery of data-driven education, nationally recognized pooling…

—
9
Aquarium of the Pacific Corporation

The aquarium of the pacific's mission is to instill a sense of wonder, respect, and stewardship for the pacific ocean, its inhabitants, and ecosystems.

Animals
10
Community Credit Lab

To support equitable access to economic opportunities for immigrants, refugees, low-income, marginalized, and underserved communities in king county and the united states.

Human Services
11
Cowiche Canyon Conservancy

Protecting our shrub-steppe and connecting people to this vanishing landscape.

—
12
United Way of Snohomish County

United way of snohomish county improves lives for families in snohomish county by bringing people, resources, and strategy together.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cascade Public Media; the most unlike its peers is Mother Mentors of Whidbey Island. 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

66 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. 66 of the 134 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)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
65/66
Grantees still filing
32/66
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $214,300 · OtherSEATTLE UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $74,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONSEATTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $52,500 · OtherSEATTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOLUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW: $27,500 · OtherTRUST A GIRL AFRICA: $22,028 · Other+103 more: $248,759 · Other+103 moreTEENS IN PUBLIC SERVICE: $111,525 · Youth DevelopmentTEENS IN PUBLI…+2 more: $3,300 · Youth DevelopmentRECLAIM: $15,000 · EducationRAINIER SCHOLARS: $12,500 · EducationSMILES FOREVER: $6,686 · EducationGlobal Outreach and Love of Soccer Inc: $5,000 · EducationSalmonberry Country Day School: $2,250 · Education+2 more: $1,500 · EducationCOMMON THREADS PROJECT: $24,318 · InternationalMalaria Partners International: $5,000 · InternationalAchon Uganda Childrens Fund: $3,000 · International+3 more: $2,009 · InternationalWELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10,033 · Human ServicesMOTHER MENTORS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND: $2,535 · Human ServicesUNIVERSITY DISTRICT SERVICE LEAGUE: $2,000 · Human ServicesWOMEN4WOMEN INC: $2,000 · Human ServicesAMARA: $1,000 · Human ServicesWe Heart Seattle: $15,000 · Community ImprovementSEATTLE ROTARY SERVICE FOUNDATION: $1,500 · Community ImprovementUniversity Rotary Service Fund: $600 · Community ImprovementWASHINGTON POLICY CENTER: $15,000 · Civil RightsCAIR-FOUNDATION INC: $616 · Civil Rights
Other$639,587Youth Development$114,825Education$42,936International$34,327Human Services$17,568Community Improvement$17,100Civil Rights$15,616

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $214,300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTEENS IN PUBLIC SERVICE: $111,525 over 3y, 7.8% of budgetCOMMON THREADS PROJECT: $24,318 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetRECLAIM: $15,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetWASHINGTON POLICY CENTER: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetWe Heart Seattle: $15,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetRAINIER SCHOLARS: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10,033 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY HOMES INC: $8,533 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetFORTISSIMO: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSMILES FOREVER: $6,686 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetORCAS CENTER: $5,950 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMalaria Partners International: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGlobal Outreach and Love of Soccer Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetAchon Uganda Childrens Fund: $3,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOTHER MENTORS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND: $2,535 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,477 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSalmonberry Country Day School: $2,250 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTREEHOUSE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY DISTRICT SERVICE LEAGUE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN4WOMEN INC: $2,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetAtlantic Street Center: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLOOK2JUSTICE: $1,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSEATTLE ROTARY SERVICE FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT HAWAII INC: $1,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetORCAS ISLAND FOOD BANK: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $1,030 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSpectrum Dance Theater: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMARA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHERITAGE UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDESERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetORCAS OPEN ARTS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetOPAL COMMUNITY LAND TRUST: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSING CONNECTOR: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST FRANCIS HOUSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNortheast Seattle Little League: $757 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCAIR-FOUNDATION INC: $616 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity Rotary Service Fund: $600 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ROTARY FOUNDATION OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL: $509 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCASCADE PUBLIC MEDIA: $503 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIssaquah History Museums: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSEATTLE NATIVITY SCHOOL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Pima Animal Care Center: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPARROW CLUBS USA: $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.

  • Who funds SEATTLE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds TEENS IN PUBLIC SERVICE ↗
  • Who funds COMMON THREADS PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds RECLAIM ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON POLICY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds We Heart Seattle ↗
  • Who funds RAINIER SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY HOMES INC ↗
  • Who funds FORTISSIMO ↗
  • Who funds SMILES FOREVER ↗
  • Who funds ORCAS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Malaria Partners International ↗
  • Who funds Global Outreach and Love of Soccer Inc ↗
  • Who funds Achon Uganda Childrens Fund ↗
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds MOTHER MENTORS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND ↗

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 FoundationThe Norcliffe Foundat…Orcas Island Communit…Donald Family Foundat…The Satterberg Founda…United Way of King Co…Riley W and Nancy a P…Orcas Bay FoundationGorder Family Foundat…Daniel and Margaret C…Kemper Freeman Founda…Glasser Family Fund
Seattle FoundationWA41.2× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Orcas Island Community Foundation · Donald Family Foundation · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · United Way of King County · Riley W and Nancy a Pleas Family Foundation · Orcas Bay Foundation · Gorder Family Foundation · Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation · Kemper Freeman Foundation · Glasser Family 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 Sos Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sos Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    11report 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
    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 Sos Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sos 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 134 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 Sos’ 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