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Start It Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Start It 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.

$25k
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$5k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$179kScience & Tech$13kCommunity Improvement$9kMembership Benefit$8kEnvironment$7kHuman Services$6kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kYouth Development$4kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$552k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP$5,000
5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION$5,000
VILLAGE THEATRE$2,000
EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY$2,000
WEST SEATTLE FOOD BANK$1,500
PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION$1,500
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM$1,500
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC$1,000
MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION$1,000
THE ACTORS FUND OF AMERICA$1,000
BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE$1,000
SANTA CLARA FOSTER & ADOPTIVE PARENTS ASSOCIATION$1,000
BROADWAY CARES-EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS INC$500
A BROADER WAY FOUNDATION$500
THE SAFINA CENTER$388
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 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 97% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%THE CARL SAFINA CENTER INC: $4k → 7%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $3k → 17%CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $3k → 14%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $6k → 9%THE SAFINA CENTER: $2k → 7%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $3k → 17%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $6k → 9%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $2k → 17%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $2k → 17%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $2k → 17%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $5k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $5k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%THE ACTORS FUND OF AMERICA: $2k → 17%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $5k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $5k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $4k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $4k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $4k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $4k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $4k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $4k → 9%5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $4k → 9%SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $2k → 9%HISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $5k → 17%CHILDHAVEN: $2k → 9%HISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $2k → 17%MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $5k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $5k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $5k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $5k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $5k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $3k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $2k → 9%EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $2k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $5k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $4k → 9%VILLAGE THEATRE: $3k → 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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$223k · 15 repeat orgs$16k to everyone else

15 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
7

Total granted

$223k
$12k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+183%

Still filing today

93%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k 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 ImprovementPublic Safety & DisasterMembership BenefitEducationEnvironmentOther
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

  • ST
    SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP
    9× · 2017–2025 · $44k · revenue +95%
  • EL
    EXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $34k · revenue +20%
  • VT
    VILLAGE THEATRE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $32k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $3k · revenue +455%
  • MS
    MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC - DOCTORS WITHOUT
    one grant, 2019 · $3k
  • YG
    Y Goldsmith
    one grant, 2019 · $2k
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
On the Boards

On the Boards' mission is to invest in leading contemporary performing artists near and far and connect them to a diverse range of communities interested in forward-thinking art and ideas.

—
2
Seattle Opera

To thrill, inspire and educate through the shared experience of opera. seattle opera is vital to the dynamic cultural and civic life of our region and to the evolution of opera across the world.

Arts & Culture
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
Artist Trust

Artist Trust supports the livelihoods of artists working in all disciplines to create a more vibrant and equitable Washington State.

Arts & Culture
5
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company

Sfbatco unites artists and audiences through live theatre that is reflective of the authentic perspectives and history of the san francisco bay area.

Arts & Culture
6
Seattle Symphony Orchestra Inc

To present symphonic music of the highest quality in a distinctive way for the cultural enrichment, education, engagement and enjoyment of the people of our community.

Arts & Culture
7
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association Inc

The oregon shakespeare festival creates world-class theater, revealing our collective humanity through illuminating interpretations of new and classic plays, and inspiring a love of our art form for current and future generations.

Arts & Culture
8
Seattle Repertory Theatre

Seattle repertory theatre collaborates with extraordinary artists to create productions and programs that reflect and elevate the diverse culture, perspectives, and life experiences of our region with the vision of putting theater at the…

Arts & Culture
9
Seattle Artists

Musical and other cultural performances and music education for youth

—
10
Ten Thousand Things Theater

Ten Thousand Things awakens the creative spirit of audiences and artists by bringing essential and exceptional theater to people from all backgrounds and life experiences.

Arts & Culture
11
Stages

Stages makes plays and tells stories that invite everyone to live more deeply and love more boldly.

Arts & Culture
12
Secondstory Repertory

The theatres mission is to entertain, educate, and enlighten diverse communities. the second story provided performances to 4,627 mainstage, 76 improv, & 336 children, featuring local actors engaged in improving their craft through…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Seattle Theatre Group; the most unlike its peers is Santa Clara County Kinship Adoptive & Foster Parent Association. 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

23 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. 23 of the 25 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/23
Grantees still filing
15/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $44,000 · Arts & Culture5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATIONSEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $44,000 · Arts & CultureSEATTLE THEATRE GROUPEXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $34,000 · Arts & CultureEXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITYVILLAGE THEATRE: $31,500 · Arts & CultureVILLAGE THEATRETHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $14,500 · Arts & CultureTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INCPACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $9,500 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $10,437 · Arts & Culture+5 moreSANTA CLARA COUNTY KINSHIP ADOPTIVE & FOSTER PARENT ASSOCIATION: $4,000 · OtherSANTA CLA…BROADWAY CARESEQUITY FIGHTS AIDS INC: $3,400 · OtherBROADWAY …LIVING COMPUTER MUSEUM & LABS: $3,020 · OtherLIVING CO…MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC - DOCTORS WITHOUT: $3,000 · OtherMEDECINS …Y Goldsmith: $2,100 · OtherY Goldsmi…CHILDHAVEN: $2,000 · OtherCHILDHAVE…Book-It Repertory Theatre: $1,000 · OtherWest Seattle Food Bank: $1,500 · OtherWest Seat…+1 more: $500 · OtherHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $9,000 · Community ImprovementTHE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA: $8,000 · Membership BenefitTHE CARL SAFINA CENTER INC THE SAFINA CENTER: $7,388 · EnvironmentA BROADER WAY FOUNDATION: $3,500 · Recreation & SportsCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $3,000 · Public Safety & Disaster
Arts & Culture$187,937Other$20,520Community Improvement$9,000Membership Benefit$8,000Environment$7,388Recreation & Sports$3,500Public Safety & Disaster$3,000

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 budget5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $44,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSEATTLE THEATRE GROUP: $44,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetEXPERIENCE LEARNING COMMUNITY: $34,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetVILLAGE THEATRE: $31,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $14,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $9,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $9,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA: $8,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CARL SAFINA CENTER INC THE SAFINA CENTER: $7,388 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA CLARA COUNTY KINSHIP ADOPTIVE & FOSTER PARENT ASSOCIATION: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetA BROADER WAY FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetBROADWAY CARESEQUITY FIGHTS AIDS INC: $3,400 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLIVING COMPUTER MUSEUM & LABS: $3,020 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDHAVEN: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBroadway Bound Childrens Theatre: $1,687 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWest Seattle Food Bank: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBook-It Repertory Theatre: $1,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetThe Vera Project: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTH SEATTLE EMERALD: $750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEQUITY IN EDUCATION COALITION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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 FoundationArtsfundMightycause Charitabl…United Way of King Co…Puget Sound Energy Fo…Grousemont FoundationMoccasin Lake Foundat…Raikes FoundationThe Norcliffe Foundat…Ash Family FoundationDv & Ida McEachern Ch…Apex Foundation
Seattle FoundationWA25.6× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · Artsfund · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · United Way of King County · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Grousemont Foundation · Moccasin Lake Foundation · Raikes Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Ash Family Foundation · Dv & Ida McEachern Charitable Tr · Apex 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 Start It Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Start It Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%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
    0get no government money at all
    12report 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 25 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 Start It’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