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The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$850k
Granted FY2025still arriving
70
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$50k
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 2024.

Arts & Culture$2.7MEnvironment$2.5MAnimals$763kEducation$550kRecreation & Sports$298kPhilanthropy$246kHuman Services$192kScience & Tech$65kOther$0
02FY2025 · 70 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k16 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k52 grants · $706k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOODLAND PARK ZOO$50,000
BURKE MUSEUM$50,000
WING LUKE ASIAN MUSEUM$45,000
MAKAH CULTURAL AND RESEARCH CENTER$25,000
ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE$25,000
AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND$25,000
SOUTHWEST SEATTLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY$25,000
JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$25,000
KOAHNIC BROADCAST CORP$20,000
ALASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$20,000
JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$20,000
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND INDUSTRY$20,000
INLAND NORTHWEST LAND CONSERVANCY$20,000
WASHINGTON MUSEUM ASSOCIATION (WAMA CO CCHM)$20,000
CROW FAIR POW WOW$15,000
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 (FY17–25, $209k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CASCADIA ART MUSEUM: $6k → 9%CASCADIA ART MUSEUM: $5k → 9%EL CENTRO DE LA RAZA: $8k → 9%COMPANIS MISSION WORKERS ASSOCIATION: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $50k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $50k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $50k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
MT
IL
NY
OR
CA
CO
VA
NC
DC
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.
$7.7M · 129 repeat orgs$569k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

129 repeat relationships: 57 still active in FY2025, 72 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

129
56

Total granted

$7.7M
$474k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
+25%

Still filing today

74%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k 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
EnvironmentArts & CultureAnimalsEducationHuman ServicesScience & TechOther
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

  • WING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $385k · revenue +86%
  • WP
    WOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $375k · revenue +89%
  • TS
    THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $320k · revenue +180%

Funded once

  • FT
    Fiji Theater Company Inc dba Ping Chong and Companygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $20k · revenue +32%
  • FM
    FRYE MUSEUM
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
  • SA
    SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
    one grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue -30%
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
Discover Your Northwest

Discover Your Northwest promotes the discovery of northwest public lands, enriches the experience of visitors and builds community stewardship of these special places today and for generations to come.

Recreation & Sports
2
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
3
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
4
Museum of Northwest Art

The museum of northwest art collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits art created in the pacific northwest, supports artists, and strives to integrate art into the lives of all people. the museum is free and open to the public seven…

Arts & Culture
5
Wild Salmon Rivers

To conserve functioning salmon/steelhead eco-system at watershed levels, integrate angling activities with basic scientific research, collect raw data, monitor environmental functions, salmon/steelhead population dynamics, public…

Environment
6
Center for Wooden Boats

The Center for Wooden Boats promotes Northwest Maritime Heritage through education, interpretation and hands-on experience in building, maintaining and using historic small craft.

Recreation & Sports
7
Pacific Marine Research

The organization's mission is to promote respect and appreciation for Puget Sound by teaching principles of environmental stewardship and inspire observation of and involvement with Puget Sound. Through its Marine Science Afloat program,…

—
8
Puget Sound Restoration Fund

To restore habitat, water quality and native species in the puget sound

Environment
9
Cowiche Canyon Conservancy

Protecting our shrub-steppe and connecting people to this vanishing landscape.

—
10
Northwest Environmental Defense Center

Nedc's mission is to work toward a future in which the pacific northwest leads the nation in developing, implementing & enforcing strong laws and regulations that protect the environment & human health, and where our governments &…

—
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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wild Salmon Center; the most unlike its peers is Research and Development Services of America. 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

143 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. 143 of the 198 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
50
Early backer (in before they grew)
142/143
Grantees still filing
105/143
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BURKE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: $703,000 · Arts & CultureBURKE MUSEUM ASSOCIATIONHUMANITIES WASHINGTON: $172,500 · Arts & CultureHUMANITIES WASHINGTONTown Hall Association: $147,500 · Arts & CultureTown Hall AssociationPOTLATCH FUND: $125,000 · Arts & CulturePOTLATCH FUNDKOAHNIC BROADCAST CORPORATION: $97,500 · Arts & CultureBLACKPASTORG: $70,000 · Arts & CultureMAKAH CULTURAL AND RESEARCH CENTER: $70,000 · Arts & Culture+30 more: $665,000 · Arts & Culture+30 moreWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $385,000 · OtherWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONJEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $264,000 · OtherJEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETYPAWS: $146,000 · OtherPAWSPORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER: $149,500 · OtherPORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTERJEFFERSON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $95,000 · Other+81 more: $1,562,200 · Other+81 moreALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE: $205,000 · EnvironmentALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGU…Hanford Challenge Corporation: $107,000 · EnvironmentHanford Challenge Corpo…CONSERVATION NW: $95,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION NWJEFFERSON LAND TRUST: $85,000 · EnvironmentSoutheast Alaska Conservation Council Inc-SEACC: $79,500 · EnvironmentCOOK INLETKEEPER: $77,500 · EnvironmentBRAIDED RIVER: $75,000 · EnvironmentWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $70,000 · EnvironmentColumbia Riverkeeper: $68,000 · EnvironmentNorth Cascades Institute: $67,500 · EnvironmentPUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE: $67,500 · EnvironmentCASCADE FOREST CONSERVANCY: $62,500 · EnvironmentBIRDS CONNECT SEATTLE: $61,000 · Environment+30 more: $645,200 · Environment+30 moreWOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $375,000 · AnimalsWOODLAND PARK…THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY: $320,000 · AnimalsTHE SEATTLE A…LONG LIVE THE KINGS: $67,500 · AnimalsLONG LIVE THE…THE HUMANE SOCIETY FOR SEATTLEKING COUNTY: $62,000 · AnimalsTHE HUMANE SO…SAVE OUR WILD SALMON: $40,000 · AnimalsTune In To Nature org: $37,500 · AnimalsWILD SALMON CENTER: $35,000 · Animals+9 more: $77,900 · Animals+9 moreAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $180,000 · EducationTHE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $170,312 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $89,000 · EducationWASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF LAND TRUSTS: $53,000 · EducationEastern Washington University Foundation: $40,000 · Education+4 more: $32,700 · EducationSEATTLE PARKS FOUNDATION: $150,000 · Recreation & SportsWASHINGTON'S NATIONAL PARK FUND: $42,500 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF DISCOVERY PARK: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $180,000 · Human ServicesCASCADIA ART MUSEUM: $11,000 · Human ServicesCompanis Mission Workers Association: $10,000 · Human ServicesEL CENTRO DE LA RAZA: $8,000 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$2,050,500Other$2,601,700Environment$1,765,700Animals$1,014,900Education$565,012Recreation & Sports$212,500Human Services$209,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBURKE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: $703,000 over 9y, 4.6% of budgetWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $385,000 over 9y, 1.7% of budgetWOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $375,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY: $320,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetJEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $264,000 over 9y, 25% of budgetALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE: $205,000 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $180,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $180,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetHUMANITIES WASHINGTON: $172,500 over 8y, 2.5% of budgetTHE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $170,312 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetSEATTLE PARKS FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetPORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER: $149,500 over 4y, 11% of budgetTown Hall Association: $147,500 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetPOTLATCH FUND: $125,000 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetHanford Challenge Corporation: $107,000 over 9y, 3.5% of budgetKOAHNIC BROADCAST CORPORATION: $97,500 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetJEFFERSON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $95,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetCONSERVATION NW: $95,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $89,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJEFFERSON LAND TRUST: $85,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetSoutheast Alaska Conservation Council Inc-SEACC: $79,500 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetCOOK INLETKEEPER: $77,500 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetBRAIDED RIVER: $75,000 over 6y, 8.4% of budgetBLACKPASTORG: $70,000 over 7y, 9.9% of budgetMAKAH CULTURAL AND RESEARCH CENTER: $70,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetWASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $70,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetColumbia Riverkeeper: $68,000 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetEarthcorps: $67,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetNorth Cascades Institute: $67,500 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetPUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE: $67,500 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetLONG LIVE THE KINGS: $67,500 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetARTSFUND: $65,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetHISTORY INK: $62,500 over 9y, 1.6% of budgetCASCADE FOREST CONSERVANCY: $62,500 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetTHE HUMANE SOCIETY FOR SEATTLEKING COUNTY: $62,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetBIRDS CONNECT SEATTLE: $61,000 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF SEATTLE WATERFRONT: $60,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSolid Ground Washington: $60,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetINLAND NORTHWEST LAND TRUST: $55,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetWASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF LAND TRUSTS: $53,000 over 6y, 4.9% of budgetHIGHLINE HERITAGE MUSEUM: $52,500 over 6y, 4.7% of budgetHOMER SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY: $50,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetCOLUMBIA LAND TRUST: $47,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSouthwest Seattle Historical Society: $47,500 over 4y, 8.8% of budgetPACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $47,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetRE SOURCES: $47,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetWESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $45,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $45,000 over 5y, 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 BURKE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds WING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds WOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND ↗
  • Who funds CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB ↗
  • Who funds HUMANITIES WASHINGTON ↗
  • Who funds THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SEATTLE PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PORT TOWNSEND MARINE SCIENCE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Town Hall Association ↗
  • Who funds POTLATCH FUND ↗
  • Who funds Hanford Challenge Corporation ↗
  • Who funds KOAHNIC BROADCAST CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds JEFFERSON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CONSERVATION NW ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds JEFFERSON LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Inc-SEACC ↗
  • Who funds COOK INLETKEEPER ↗
  • Who funds BRAIDED RIVER ↗
  • Who funds BLACKPASTORG ↗
  • Who funds MAKAH CULTURAL AND RESEARCH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON CONSERVATION ACTION EDUCATION FUND ↗
  • Who funds Columbia Riverkeeper ↗
  • Who funds Earthcorps ↗
  • Who funds North Cascades Institute ↗
  • Who funds PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds LONG LIVE THE KINGS ↗
  • Who funds ARTSFUND ↗
  • Who funds HISTORY INK ↗
  • Who funds CASCADE FOREST CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds THE HUMANE SOCIETY FOR SEATTLEKING COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds BIRDS CONNECT SEATTLE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF SEATTLE WATERFRONT ↗

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 FoundationThe Norcliffe Foundat…ArtsfundThe Satterberg Founda…Puget Sound Energy Fo…Kaleidoscope Foundati…The Bullitt FoundationThe Russell Family Fo…The Rose Foundation f…PatagoniaorgM J Murdock Charitabl…The Burning Foundation
Seattle FoundationWA92.2× affinity76 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Artsfund · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Kaleidoscope Foundation · The Bullitt Foundation · The Russell Family Foundation · The Rose Foundation for Communities the Environment · Patagoniaorg · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · The Burning 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 Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Wild Salmon Center: 49% of income from government
  • High Desert Museum: 11% of income from government
  • Oregon Natural Desert Association: 9% of income from government
  • Japanese American Museum of Oregon: 5% of income from government
  • Columbia Riverkeeper: 1% of income from government
  • Western Rivers Conservancy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
53report 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 198 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 Hugh and Jane Ferguson’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