Skip to content
The Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$41k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$20k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$77kEnvironment$63kReligion$34kPhilanthropy$28kEducation$25kHuman Services$22kYouth Development$22kHealth$7kOther$0
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$11,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$852k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Second Harvest Inland Northwest$20,000
The Nature Conservancy$11,000
Abide Worldwide$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 76% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%TEAM CHILD: $4k → 9%2nd Harvest: $20k → 12%Accessible Solutions & Active Partnerships: $7k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $15k → 7%Second Harvest Inland Northwest: $20k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $5k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $12k → 7%2ND HARVEST: $15k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $5k → 16%The Nature Conservancy: $11k → 7%2ND HARVEST: $12k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $5k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10k → 7%2ND HARVEST: $10k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $5k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $8k → 7%Vanessa Behan: $6k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $5k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $7k → 7%THE VANESSA BEHAN NURSERY: $6k → 12%CASEY MCKERN PAY IT FORWARD: $3k → 16%THE VANESSA BEHAN NURSERY: $5k → 12%THE VANESSA BEHAN NURSERY: $5k → 12%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SPOKANE COUNTY: $5k → 12%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SPOKANE COUNTY: $5k → 12%VALLEY REAL LIFE: $8k → 12%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SPOKANE COUNTY: $5k → 12%VALLEY REAL LIFE: $5k → 12%If You Could Save Just One: $4k → 12%VALLEY REAL LIFE: $4k → 12%Abide Worldwide: $10k → 12%Abide Worldwide: $7k → 12%SPOKANE PUBLIC RADIO: $5k → 12%IF YOU COULD SAVE JUST ONE: $3k → 12%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 28% of The Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 78% of the giving stays in WA; by stated purpose, 64%.

The Sam & Anne Thoen Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 14% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$201k · 8 repeat orgs$21k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +14% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
4

Total granted

$201k
$21k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+9%

Still filing today

63%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Youth DevelopmentFood & NutritionEducationArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementReligionOther
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

  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST INLAND NORTHWEST
    5× · 2020–2024 · $77k · revenue +14%
  • CC
    CONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2018–2019 · $25k · revenue +13%
  • AB
    A B I D E WORLDWIDE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $17k · revenue +70%

Funded once

  • AS
    Accessible Solutions & Active Partnerships
    one grant, 2023 · $7k
  • VB
    VANESSA BEHAN
    one grant, 2023 · $6k · revenue +9%
  • SP
    Spokane Public Radio
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +23%
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
Northwest Harvest Emm

The organization's mission is growing food justice through collective action. the organization's vision is ending hunger in washington state.

—
2
Women Helping Women Fund

Empowering Spokane area women and children to achieve their fullest potential, by building a strong, diverse community of educated, engaged, and strategic givers.

Unclassified
3
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
4
Skagit Gleaners

Food recovery for low income families over 600 families served

—
5
Evergreen Childrens Association Dba Kids Co

Our mission is to provide and advocate for affordable quality childcare that enriches and nurtures all children, supporting their success in school and in life.

Human Services
6
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
7
Community Health Association of Spokane

The mission of the Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS Health) is to improve the overall health of the communities we serve by expanding access to quality health and wellness services.

Health
8
Spokane Humane Society

The vision of Spokane Humane Society is to enrich the lives of animals and their companions through Support, Education, Advocacy and Love (SEAL). As the oldest local non-profit in Spokane, we have been serving companion animals in need and…

Animals
9
Nw Childrens Foundation

To end the intergenerational cycle of child abuse, neglect and trauma.

Crime & Legal
10
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
11
Seattle Good Business Network Dba Good Business Network of Washington

Seattle Good Business Network connects and inspires people to buy, produce, and invest locally, so that everyone has a meaningful stake in the local economy.

Community Improvement
12
Seeding Justice

Seeding justice builds collective power by transforming philanthropy and funding movements, in the pursuit of justice and liberation for all communities. our programs are based on trust, relationships, and partnership. they are founded on…

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Second Harvest Inland Northwest; the most unlike its peers is Conscious Connections Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

10 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. 10 of the 13 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/10
Grantees still filing
8/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $62,700 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYCasey McKerns Pay It Forward: $27,670 · OtherCasey McKerns Pay It ForwardVALLEY REAL LIFE: $17,140 · OtherVALLEY REAL LIFETHE VANESSA BEHAN NURSERY: $16,000 · OtherTHE VANESSA BEHAN NURSERYAccessible Solutions & Active Partnerships: $6,500 · OtherSECOND HARVEST INLAND NORTHWEST: $77,000 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARVEST INLAND NORTHWES…CONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · EducationCONSCIOUS…Boys & Girls Club of Spokane County: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentIF YOU COULD SAVE JUST ONE: $6,500 · Youth DevelopmentA B I D E WORLDWIDE: $16,500 · ReligionVANESSA BEHAN: $6,000 · Crime & LegalSpokane Public Radio: $5,000 · Arts & CultureTeamChild: $3,900 · Community Improvement
Other$130,010Food & Nutrition$77,000Education$25,000Youth Development$21,500Religion$16,500Crime & Legal$6,000Arts & Culture$5,000Community Improvement$3,900

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 budgetSECOND HARVEST INLAND NORTHWEST: $77,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $62,700 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCasey McKerns Pay It Forward: $27,670 over 6y, 73% of budgetCONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetA B I D E WORLDWIDE: $16,500 over 2y, 6.8% of budgetBoys & Girls Club of Spokane County: $15,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetIF YOU COULD SAVE JUST ONE: $6,500 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetVANESSA BEHAN: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSpokane Public Radio: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTeamChild: $3,900 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Avista FoundationInnovia FoundationSchool's Out Washingt…Baird Foundation IncAmerican Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Avista FoundationWA19.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Avista Foundation · Innovia Foundation · School's Out Washington · Baird Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%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
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Sam & Anne Thoen Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Sam & Anne Thoen 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 13 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 Sam & Anne Thoen’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