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Washington · Private foundation

The Ciel 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.

$2k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
2
Grants FY2025
17
Organizations funded FY2024
24%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$1,580
Largest grant, FY2025
$1,580
Organizations funded a year
2 to 31
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
1
Total assets, FY2025
$368k
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 24% of the organizations The Ciel Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 51% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 49% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsEducationHuman ServicesOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving2$2k50%
FY202417$5k24%
FY202313$3k31%
FY20222$3k50%
FY202131$4k16%
FY202031$3kn/a
89% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Religion$10kEnvironment$3kCivil Rights$2kHuman Services$1kAnimals$760Housing & Shelter$700Food & Nutrition$500International$500Other$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
MN
NY
OR
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CA
VA
AR
DC

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship$10,2606n/a
American Friends Service Committee$1,2002n/a
Institute for Washingtons Future$1,20020%
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc$1,00020%
Alternatives to Hunger Bellingham Food Bank$50050%
Opportunity Council$40050%
Re Sources$40050%
Whatcom Humane Society$35050%
Whatcom Land Trust$31050%
Medecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc$30050%
Show all 28 grantees

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 18 recipients with no EIN on record ($2k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Ciel Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetInstitute for Washingtons Future: $1,200 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAlternatives to Hunger Bellingham Food Bank: $500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetOpportunity Council: $400 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRe Sources: $400 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWhatcom Humane Society: $350 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWhatcom Land Trust: $310 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMedecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc: $300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWashington Trails Association: $225 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAntioch College Corporation: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetInterfaith Coalition of Whatcom County: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetConservation International Foundation: $150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNooksack Salmon Enhancement Association: $150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHumane Farming Association: $150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWild Whatcom: $150 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKulshan Community Land Trust: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmnesty International of the USA Inc: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGreenpeace Fund Inc: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHeifer Project International: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAnimals as Natural Therapy: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCedar Tree Montessori School: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHomesnow: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNational Park Foundation: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWhatcom Family & Community Network: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwest Indian College: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 26.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Whatcom Community FoundationWA34.5× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Whatcom Community Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · The Dudley Foundation · Mary H Storer Foundation · Chuckanut Health Foundation · First Fed Foundation · Lucky Seven Foundation · Seattle Foundation · Mount Baker Foundation · Riverstyx Foundation · PeaceHealth

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.

Compare The Ciel Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Ciel Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ciel 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.

About The Ciel Foundation

How much does The Ciel Foundation give?
The Ciel Foundation reported 2 grants totaling $2,080 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 31 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does The Ciel Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Religion (50%), Environment (13%), Civil Rights (11%).
Who are The Ciel Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship ($10k), American Friends Service Committee ($1k), Institute for Washingtons Future ($1k).
Does The Ciel Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 24% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Ciel Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Ciel Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Whatcom Community Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation, Puget Sound Energy Foundation.
Where is The Ciel Foundation based?
The Ciel Foundation is based in WA.

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 47 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 Ciel’s filings →

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