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The Foster Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Foster Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
59
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$750k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$4.1MHealth$1.8MHuman Services$835kPhilanthropy$654kHousing & Shelter$490kArts & Culture$300kFood & Nutrition$210kAnimals$173kOther$0
02FY2024 · 59 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k49 grants · $600k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $683k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.0M
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$57M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$750,000
SWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION$260,000
Individual grant recipient$160,000
OVERLAKE MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION$135,000
SEATTLE FOUNDATION$127,792
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - FOSTER SCHOOL BUILDING$100,000
NORTHWEST HARVEST$60,000
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM$50,000
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER$50,000
PAWS- PROGRESSIVE ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY$47,500
Individual grant recipient$35,000
OVERLAKE SCHOOL$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - TOUGHER TOGETHER$22,500
SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$20,000
YOUTHCARE$20,000
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 (FY20–24, $455k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%SOUND GENERATIONS: $10k → 9%SOUND GENERATIONS: $10k → 9%SOUND GENERATIONS: $10k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $10k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $10k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 9%WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $5k → 9%RYTHER: $15k → 9%RYTHER: $10k → 9%RYTHER: $10k → 9%RYTHER: $10k → 9%RYTHER: $10k → 9%HOPELINK: $15k → 9%HOPELINK: $10k → 9%HOPELINK: $10k → 9%HOPELINK: $10k → 9%HOPELINK: $10k → 9%AKIN: $10k → 9%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $10k → 9%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $10k → 9%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $10k → 9%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YOUTHCARE: $20k → 9%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $10k → 9%FULL LIFE CARE: $10k → 9%YOUTHCARE: $15k → 9%AMARA: $15k → 9%YOUTHCARE: $10k → 9%AMARA: $10k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $10k → 9%YOUTHCARE: $10k → 9%AMARA: $10k → 9%YOUTHCARE: $10k → 9%AMARA: $10k → 9%AMARA: $10k → 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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.9M · 68 repeat orgs$125k to everyone else

68 repeat relationships: 56 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

68
7

Total granted

$9.9M
$105k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+84%

Still filing today

75%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
HealthHuman ServicesEducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • TO
    THE OVERLAKE SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +89%
  • ST
    ST THOMAS SCHOOL
    3× · 2020–2022 · $700k · revenue +13%
  • SWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $600k · revenue +234%

Funded once

  • OH
    OVERLAKE HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • PS
    PASADO'S SAFE HAVENgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +84%
  • MP
    MADDIE'S PLACEgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +264%
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
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
2
Nexus Youth and Families

Restoring hope, building futures, and strengthening our communities through programs with youth, young adults and families. we support the behavioral health of at-risk and in-crisis youth across the greater south king county area. we take…

Human Services
3
North Olympic Healthcare Network

To provide patient-centered, quality-driven, whole-person healthcare services, accessible to everyone in our community.

Health
4
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.

—
5
One Community Health

Advance health and social justice for all members of our community.

—
6
Western Healthconnect

Support significant improvements in health care delivery and outcomes within the context of nonprofit, charitable ownership.

Health
7
Senior Life Resources Northwest

To preserve and enhance the quality of life at home, with dignity and care.

Human Services
8
School's Out Washington

School's out washington (sowa) drives positive systemic change so that all washington's children and youth, particularly those furthest from justice, have access to a robust ecosystem of high-quality expanded learning programs.

Youth Development
9
Cares of Washington

Support people with disabilities and low incomes to realize their purpose, potential and strength.

Employment
10
The Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences

Seattle academy is a dynamic community that challenges students to question, imagine, and create in order to contribute to a changing world.

Education
11
Seattle Children's Healthcare System

Seattle children's healthcare system (schs) is engaged in activities relating to the provision of health care services to infants, children, and adolescents, delivering and improving the delivery and the quality of those services through…

Health
12
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…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Childrens Home Society of Washington; the most unlike its peers is Conservation International Foundation. 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

60 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. 60 of the 78 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
58/60
Grantees still filing
47/60
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $1,645,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONIndividual grant recipient: $1,500,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - FOSTER SCHOOL BUILDING: $300,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $260,000 · OtherTOGETHER CENTER: $205,000 · Other+33 more: $1,760,219 · Other+33 moreTHE OVERLAKE SCHOOL: $1,050,000 · EducationTHE OVERLAKE SCHOOLST THOMAS SCHOOL: $700,000 · EducationST THOMAS SCHOOL+4 more: $179,409 · Education+4 moreSWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $600,000 · HealthSWEDISH MEDICAL…OVERLAKE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $325,000 · HealthOVERLAKE HOSPIT…Youth Eastside Services: $55,000 · HealthDowntown Emergency Service Center: $55,000 · HealthBoyer Children's Clinic: $55,000 · HealthNEIGHBORCARE HEALTH: $50,000 · HealthCANCER LIFELINE: $50,000 · HealthUPOWER: $50,000 · HealthHEALTHPOINT: $50,000 · HealthRIVKIN CENTER FOR OVARIAN CANCER: $50,000 · Health+4 more: $80,000 · Health+4 moreSEATTLE FOUNDATION: $593,869 · PhilanthropyThe Big Table: $60,000 · PhilanthropyYOUTHCARE: $65,000 · Human ServicesRYTHER: $55,000 · Human ServicesMARY'S PLACE SEATTLE: $55,000 · Human ServicesAMARA: $55,000 · Human ServicesHOPELINK: $55,000 · Human ServicesWELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $50,000 · Human ServicesTHE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER SEATTLE (6871): $50,000 · Human ServicesPROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Human ServicesSOUND GENERATIONS: $30,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $25,000 · Human Services+2 more: $20,000 · Human ServicesSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $250,000 · Arts & CultureSEATTLE OPERA: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Arts & CultureTREEHOUSE: $55,000 · Youth DevelopmentCAMP KOREY: $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentRISE ABOVE: $15,000 · Youth Development
Other$5,670,219Education$1,929,409Health$1,420,000Philanthropy$653,869Human Services$510,000Arts & Culture$330,000Youth Development$115,000

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 budgetTHE OVERLAKE SCHOOL: $1,050,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetST THOMAS SCHOOL: $700,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetSWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $600,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetSEATTLE FOUNDATION: $593,869 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetOVERLAKE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $325,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $250,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTOGETHER CENTER: $205,000 over 5y, 4.2% of budgetNORTHWEST HARVEST EMM: $155,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetOutdoors for all Foundation: $107,500 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetFRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER: $90,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTHCARE: $65,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Big Table: $60,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTILTH ALLIANCE: $55,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetKINDERING CENTER: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHWEST CENTER: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLOW INCOME HOUSING INSTITUTE: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetRYTHER: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJUBILEE WOMEN'S CENTER: $55,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetYouth Eastside Services: $55,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMARY'S PLACE SEATTLE: $55,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCOMPASS HOUSING ALLIANCE: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDowntown Emergency Service Center: $55,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTREEHOUSE: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNEW BEGINNINGS: $55,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetAMARA: $55,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetFARESTART: $55,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetHOPELINK: $55,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBoyer Children's Clinic: $55,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetBELLEVUE SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetRAINIER SCHOLARS: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNEIGHBORCARE HEALTH: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER LIFELINE: $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetWELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetUPOWER: $50,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetHEALTHPOINT: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRIVKIN CENTER FOR OVARIAN CANCER: $50,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetSEATTLE OPERA: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER SEATTLE (6871): $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetHAMLIN ROBINSON SCHOOL: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCAMP KOREY: $45,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDHAVEN: $45,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMEDIC ONE FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetEVERGREEN GOODWILL OF NORTHWEST WASHINGTON: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOUND GENERATIONS: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJubilee REACH: $29,409 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $25,000 over 3y, 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.

  • Who funds THE OVERLAKE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ST THOMAS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SEATTLE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OVERLAKE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SEATTLE ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds TOGETHER CENTER ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST HARVEST EMM ↗
  • Who funds Outdoors for all Foundation ↗
  • Who funds FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds YOUTHCARE ↗
  • Who funds The Big Table ↗
  • Who funds TILTH ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds KINDERING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST CENTER ↗
  • Who funds LOW INCOME HOUSING INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds RYTHER ↗
  • Who funds JUBILEE WOMEN'S CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Youth Eastside Services ↗
  • Who funds MARY'S PLACE SEATTLE ↗
  • Who funds COMPASS HOUSING ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds Downtown Emergency Service Center ↗
  • Who funds TREEHOUSE ↗
  • Who funds NEW BEGINNINGS ↗
  • Who funds AMARA ↗
  • Who funds FARESTART ↗
  • Who funds HOPELINK ↗
  • Who funds Boyer Children's Clinic ↗
  • Who funds BELLEVUE SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds RAINIER SCHOLARS ↗

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 FoundationPuget Sound Energy Fo…United Way of King Co…The Norcliffe Foundat…Employees Community F…Grousemont FoundationEmployees Community F…Moccasin Lake Foundat…Medina FoundationLiberty Mutual Founda…Elizabeth a Lynn Foun…Lucky Seven Foundation
Seattle FoundationWA65.8× affinity38 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · United Way of King County · The Norcliffe Foundation · Employees Community Fund of the Boeing Company · Grousemont Foundation · Employees Community Fund of Boeing-Puget Sound · Moccasin Lake Foundation · Medina Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Elizabeth a Lynn Foundation · Lucky Seven 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 The Foster Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Foster Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%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
    24report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Foster Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Foster 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 78 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Foster’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