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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.

$122k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 FY2019–2024.

Environment$557kArts & Culture$45kFood & Nutrition$20kAnimals$10k
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$15,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$568k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Friends of the San Juans$15,000
Clean Energy Transition Institute$15,000
Northwest Natural Resources Group$15,000
Sustainable Connections$15,000
Center for Sustainable Infrastructure$15,000
Zero Waste Washington$15,000
Toxic Free Future$12,000
Climate Solutions$10,000
WA Conservation Action Education Fund$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 98% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%The Whidbey Island Institute: $10k → 7%WA Conservation Action Education Fund: $10k → 9%Puget Sound Bird Observatory: $10k → 9%Center for Sustainable Infrastructure: $15k → 9%Citizens for a Healthy Bay: $10k → 9%Friends of the San Juans: $15k → 10%Jefferson Land Trust: $10k → 11%Viva Farms: $10k → 11%ReSources: $15k → 12%WSU Bread Lab: $15k → 20%Long Live the Kings: $10k → 9%Center for Sustainable Infrastructure: $10k → 9%Remote Energy: $10k → 9%Port Townsend Marine Science Center: $10k → 11%Viva Farms: $10k → 11%Sustainable Connections: $15k → 12%Sightline Institute: $10k → 9%Center for Sustainable Infrastructure: $10k → 9%Kulshan Carbon Trust: $10k → 12%PCC Farmland Trust: $10k → 9%Center for Sustainable Infrastructure: $10k → 9%Kulshan Carbon Trust: $10k → 12%Washington Environmental Council: $10k → 9%Center for Sustainable Infrastructure: $10k → 9%ReSources: $10k → 12%Sightline Institute: $10k → 9%NW Straits Foundation: $10k → 12%Northwest Natural Resources Group: $15k → 9%Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association: $10k → 12%Climate Solutions: $10k → 9%Northwest Natural Resources Group: $10k → 9%Washington Environmental Council: $10k → 9%Northwest Natural Resources Group: $10k → 9%Sightline Institute: $10k → 9%Northwest Natural Resources Group: $10k → 9%International Living Future Institute: $10k → 9%Sightline Institute: $10k → 9%Oceans Initiative: $10k → 9%EarthCorps: $15k → 9%Emerald Cities: $10k → 9%EarthCorps: $10k → 9%Investigate West: $15k → 9%Toxic Free Future: $12k → 9%Investigate West: $10k → 9%Investigate West: $10k → 9%Clean Energy Transition Institute: $15k → 9%Zero Waste Washington: $15k → 9%Clean Energy Transition Institute: $10k → 9%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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$405k · 11 repeat orgs$207k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +37% since the first grant, against +5% for the ones you funded once.

11 repeat relationships — 5 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
15

Total granted

$405k
$155k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+5%

Still filing today

100%
93%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $52k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentScience & TechArts & CultureEducationAnimalsInternationalOther

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

  • CF
    CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
    5× · 2019–2024 · $55k · revenue +136%
  • CE
    Clean Energy Transition Institute
    5× · 2020–2024 · $55k · revenue +32%
  • I
    InvestigateWest
    4× · 2019–2022 · $45k · revenue +40%

Funded once

  • WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $15k · revenue +42%
  • PT
    PORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -3%
  • PF
    PCC FARMLAND TRUSTgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +72%

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
Nw Energy Coalition

The NW Energy Coalition is an alliance of over 100 environmental, civic, and human service organizations, utilities, and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, plus many individual members. The NW Energy…

—
2
Center for Environmental Law & Policy

The Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a statewide organization whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore Washington's waters through education, advocacy, policy reform, and public interest litigation.

Environment
3
Stewardship Partners

Stewardship Partners helps private landowners restore and preserve the natural landscapes of WA State. We collaborate with diverse interest groups to build bridges and find solutions that achieve mutual goals of environmental protection,…

Environment
4
Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council

The Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council is a local nonprofit organization that strives to enhance and restore habitat for fish and wildlife our community and for future generations. Our Board of Directors consists of seven members with…

Environment
5
Cascade Climate Inc

To accelerate progress in interventions that harness Earths natural systems to stabilize the climate.

Environment
6
Futurewise

Futurewise works throughout Washington state to encourage healthy, equitable and opportunity-rich communities, and to protect our most valuable farmlands, forests and water resources through wise land use policies and practices.

Environment
7
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
8
10000 Years Institute

10,000 Years Institute evaluates the ecological effects of human activities on natural environments, and promotes the maintenance and restoration of ecological integrity through the integration of reliable scientific information, sound…

Unclassified
9
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
10
Northwest Environmental Advocates

Work through advocacy and education to use federal environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act to protect and restore water quality and habit in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide.

Environment
11
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
12
Washington Wild

Washington wild protects and restores wild lands and waters in washington state through advocacy, education and civic engagement.

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Washington Conservation Action Education Fund and the most unlike its peers is Center for Sustainable Infrastructure. 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 32 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%4%<5yr15%11%5–10yr19%11%10–20yr19%41%20–35yr13%30%35–55yr13%4%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%4%<5yr15%22%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr19%35%20–35yr13%22%35–55yr13%4%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 4% 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%0/31
the rest of the field
13%
2,418/18,185

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

30 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 31 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/30
Grantees still filing
19/30
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE — $55,000 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURENORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE GROUP — $45,000 · EnvironmentNORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE GROUPSightline Institute — $40,000 · EnvironmentSightline InstituteWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND — $30,000 · EnvironmentWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUNDRE SOURCES — $25,000 · EnvironmentRE SOURCESKULSHAN CARBON TRUST — $20,000 · EnvironmentKULSHAN CARBON TRUSTSUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS — $15,000 · EnvironmentTOXIC-FREE FUTURE F/K/A WASHINGTON TOXICS COALITION — $12,000 · Environment+6 more — $60,000 · Environment+6 moreZero Waste Washington — $45,000 · OtherZero Waste WashingtonFRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS — $15,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE SAN JUAN…CLIMATE SOLUTIONS — $10,000 · OtherCLIMATE SOLUTIONSPUGET SOUND BIRD OBSERVATORY — $10,000 · OtherPUGET SOUND BIRD OBSERV…VIVA FARMS — $20,000 · OtherVIVA FARMSNOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION — $10,000 · OtherNOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCE…LONG LIVE THE KINGS — $10,000 · OtherLONG LIVE THE KINGSREMOTE ENERGY — $10,000 · OtherREMOTE ENERGYClean Energy Transition Institute — $55,000 · EducationClean Energy…WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $15,000 · EducationWASHINGTON S…InvestigateWest — $45,000 · Arts & CultureInvestiga…THE WHIDBEY INSTITUTE — $10,000 · Arts & CultureTHE WHIDB…PORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER — $10,000 · Science & TechOceans Initiative — $10,000 · Science & TechNORTHWEST STRAITS MARINE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Science & TechEarthcorps — $25,000 · InternationalSEATTLE FOUNDATION — $20,000 · Philanthropy
Environment$302,000Other$130,000Education$70,000Arts & Culture$55,000Science & Tech$30,000International$25,000Philanthropy$20,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE — $55,000 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetClean Energy Transition Institute — $55,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetInvestigateWest — $45,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetZero Waste Washington — $45,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetNORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE GROUP — $45,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetSightline Institute — $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND — $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetRE SOURCES — $25,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetEarthcorps — $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSEATTLE FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVIVA FARMS — $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS — $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS — $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOXIC-FREE FUTURE F/K/A WASHINGTON TOXICS COALITION — $12,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCLIMATE SOLUTIONS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPCC FARMLAND TRUST — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetInternational Living Future Institute — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetOceans Initiative — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWASHINGTON WATER TRUST — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE WHIDBEY INSTITUTE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOR A HEALTHY BAY — $10,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetREMOTE ENERGY — $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetLONG LIVE THE KINGS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJEFFERSON LAND TRUST — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHWEST STRAITS MARINE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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 Bullitt FoundationSeattle FoundationThe Russell Family Fo…The Norcliffe Foundat…The Rose Foundation f…The Hugh and Jane Fer…The Satterberg Founda…Puget Sound Energy Fo…Kaleidoscope Foundati…The GreerSolien FundPatagoniaorgThe Burning Foundation
The Bullitt FoundationWA46.9× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bullitt Foundation · Seattle Foundation · The Russell Family Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · The Rose Foundation for Communities the Environment · The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Kaleidoscope Foundation · The GreerSolien Fund · Patagoniaorg · The Burning 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 Sustainable Path Foundation 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
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your 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
    11report 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, FY20–24

    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Sustainable Path Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sustainable Path 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 31 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines