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The Herbert Jones Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Herbert Jones 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.

$8.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$11MCommunity Improvement$1.4M
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k6 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+14 grants · $7.0M
$276,600
Median grant
1
States reached
$9.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN$1,500,000
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY$1,494,330
PIERCE COLLEGE FOUNDATION$553,200
SPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION$529,100
SEATTLE COLLEGES FOUNDATION$493,000
PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY$307,000
GREEN RIVER COLLEGE FOUNDATION$288,600
SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$276,600
HIGHLINE COLLEGE FOUNDATION$276,600
WALLA WALLA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$276,600
PENINSULA COLLEGE FOUNDATION$252,500
EDMONDS COLLEGE FOUNDATION$252,500
GRAYS HARBOR COLLEGE FOUNDATION$252,500
SKAGIT VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$252,500
COLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION$240,500
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $1.5M → 9%EDMONDS COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $253k → 9%SOUTH PUGET SOUND COMM COLLEGE FNDN: $217k → 9%PIERCE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $553k → 9%COLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $241k → 11%CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $132k → 11%SKAGIT VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $253k → 11%PENINSULA COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $253k → 12%SPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $529k → 12%WALLA WALLA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $277k → 13%YAKIMA VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $204k → 17%GRAYS HARBOR COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $253k → 18%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $45k → 9%TACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $204k → 9%CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $45k → 9%PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY: $307k → 9%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $222k → 12%SEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $173k → 12%NW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN: $1.5M → 9%EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $104k → 12%SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $277k → 9%WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY: $52k → 12%NW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN: $139k → 9%EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $99k → 12%NW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN: $31k → 9%WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY: $33k → 12%EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $95k → 12%GREEN RIVER COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $289k → 9%SEATTLE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $493k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $53k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $328k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $229k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $203k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $35k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $190k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $33k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $45k → 9%SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $33k → 9%HIGHLINE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $277k → 9%WASHINGTON BUSINESS WEEK: $50k → 9%WASHINGTON BUSINESS WEEK: $50k → 9%BELLEVUE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $241k → 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.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.1M · 13 repeat orgs$4.9M to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
2

Total granted

$7.1M
$41k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+142%

Still filing today

62%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 41% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.8M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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
    6× · 2020–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +40%
  • CW
    CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2024 · $232k · revenue +37%
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
    4× · 2020–2023 · $160k · revenue +59%

Funded once

  • NS
    NW SCHOOL FOR HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN
    one grant, 2020 · $31k
  • ET
    EDC TEAM JEFFERSONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +142%
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
Foundation for the Seattle Colleges

The Foundation for the Seattle Colleges exists to advance fundraising efforts for the Seattle Community College District. We seek to attract financial resources which support students so they may be successful; maintain the quality and…

—
2
South Seattle College Foundation

Our mission is to change lives by providing students with scholarships so they can pursue quality academic and vocational education. we do this through relationship building, fundraising and stewarding resources.

Education
3
Whatcom Community College Foundation

The wcc foundation strengthens educational opportunities by providing student scholarships, supporting faculty and staff development, and assisting with key college initiatives.

Education
4
Columbia State Community College Foundation

The columbia state community college foundation encourages friends, alumni, economic partners and others to invest their time and resources toward improvement of education at columbia state community college and making higher education…

—
5
Seattle Central College Foundation

To support seattle central students, faculty and programs by raising and providing financial resources to help students achieve their fullest potential through quality education.

—
6
Southwestern Oregon Community College Foundation

The purpose of the southwestern oregon community college foundation is to support the college in improving people's lives - socially, culturally, economically and educationally - through friend-raising and fundraising.

—
7
The Foundation for Florida Gateway College Inc

The foundation provides academic scholarships and financial support to the college.

Education
8
City University of Seattle

See schedule ofounded in 1973, city university of seattle's mission is to change lives for good by offering high quality and relevant lifelong education to anyone with the desire to learn. city university's vision is to provide underserved…

Education
9
College Success Foundation

We provide a unique integrated system of supports and scholarships to inspire underserved, low-income students to finish high school, graduate from college and succeed in life.

Education
10
North Seattle College Education Fund

The Education Fund enriches lives by supporting students, faculty, staff, and programs at North Seattle College.

—
11
Everett Community College Foundation

Working together with everett community college, we assist in making available accessible learning opportunities for everyone. through our partnership, we awaken people to possibility and, through education, enable them to achieve their…

Education
12
San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation

The mission of san mateo county community colleges foundation is to promote student success and program innovation by providing financial support to help san mateo county community college district students achieve their goals. the…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tacoma Community College Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Enterprise for Equity. 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

24 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. 24 of the 31 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
7/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN: $1,731,895 · OtherNW SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDRENSEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $1,689,330 · OtherSEATTLE UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $994,568 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONEASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $692,397 · OtherEASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITYWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: $610,000 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYPIERCE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $553,200 · OtherPIERCE COLLEGE FOUNDATIONSHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $276,600 · Other+7 more: $1,061,900 · Other+7 moreSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $529,100 · EducationSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATIONSEATTLE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $493,000 · EducationSEATTLE COLLEGES FOUNDATIONPacific Lutheran University: $357,700 · EducationPacific Lutheran UniversityGreen River College Foundation: $288,600 · EducationGreen River College FoundationHIGHLINE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $276,600 · EducationHIGHLINE COLLEGE FOUNDATIONWALLA WALLA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $276,600 · EducationWALLA WALLA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI…EDMONDS COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $252,500 · EducationEDMONDS COLLEGE FOUNDATIONSkagit Valley College Foundation: $252,500 · EducationSkagit Valley College FoundationBELLEVUE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $240,500 · EducationBELLEVUE COLLEGE FOUNDATIONCOLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $240,500 · EducationCOLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE FOUNDATIONSEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $223,311 · EducationSEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITYSOUTH PUGET SOUND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $216,500 · EducationTACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $204,400 · Education+2 more: $215,000 · EducationPENINSULA COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $252,500 · PhilanthropyEDC TEAM JEFFERSON: $10,000 · Community Improvement
Other$7,609,890Education$4,066,811Philanthropy$252,500Community Improvement$10,000

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 budgetSEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $1,689,330 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $529,100 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetSEATTLE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $493,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetPacific Lutheran University: $357,700 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetGreen River College Foundation: $288,600 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetSHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $276,600 over 1y, 20% of budgetHIGHLINE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $276,600 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetPENINSULA COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $252,500 over 1y, 18% of budgetEDMONDS COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $252,500 over 1y, 22% of budgetGRAYS HARBOR COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $252,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetSkagit Valley College Foundation: $252,500 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetBELLEVUE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $240,500 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetCOLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $240,500 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetCENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $232,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetSEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $223,311 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTACOMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $204,400 over 1y, 9.8% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE: $160,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetWHITWORTH UNIVERSITY: $110,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetVENTURES: $105,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetENTERPRISE FOR EQUITY: $92,000 over 4y, 8.0% 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.

Puget Sound Energy Fo…South Seattle College…Credit Unions in the …Seattle Prof Engineer…Seattle FoundationBuilding ChangesThe Norcliffe Foundat…United Way of King Co…The Albertsons Compan…Hickman Leona Educati…College Spark Washing…Washington State Micr…
Puget Sound Energy FoundationDE39.5× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Puget Sound Energy Foundation · South Seattle College Foundation · Credit Unions in the State of Washington · Seattle Prof Engineering Employees Assn Dba Soc of Prof Eng Empl in Aerospace · Seattle Foundation · Building Changes · The Norcliffe Foundation · United Way of King County · The Albertsons Companies Foundation · Hickman Leona Educational Trust · College Spark Washington · Washington State Microenterprise Association

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 Herbert Jones Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Herbert Jones Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%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
    5report 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 Herbert Jones Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Herbert Jones 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 31 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 Herbert Jones’ 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