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Wanda J Herndon Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Wanda J Herndon 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.

$9k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$5k
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.

Arts & Culture$54kEducation$13kHuman Services$9kHealth$4kPhilanthropy$3kCommunity Improvement$2kHousing & Shelter$1kReligion$600Other$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$250
Median grant
2
States reached
$193k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE 5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION$4,500
LEGACY FOUNDATION INC$2,500
NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM$500
YWCA OF KING COUNTY$500
O'DEA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION$250
COLLEGE SUCCESS FOUNDATION$250
DYNAMIC URBAN OPPORTUNITIES FOUNDATION$250
LEGACY FOUNDATION INC$250
FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH$100
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 (FY17–17, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%YOUTHCARE: $1k → 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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$71k · 12 repeat orgs$12k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
13

Total granted

$71k
$12k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+30%

Still filing today

58%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $250 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
Arts & CultureHealthYouth DevelopmentEducationPhilanthropyCrime & LegalOther
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

  • 5A
    5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $22k · revenue +16%
  • TL
    THE LEGACY FOUNDATION OF SEATTLE
    3× · 2020–2024 · $8k · revenue +36%
  • NA
    NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
    6× · 2017–2024 · $7k · revenue +102%

Funded once

  • SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -20%
  • SR
    SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATER
    one grant, 2019 · $1k
  • SC
    SEATTLE CHAPTER ARCS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
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 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
2
Seattle Architectural Foundation

The Seattle Architecture Foundation connects people to the architecture, design, and history of Seattle. We believe the more you engage with design, the more you feel connected to your changing city. As a volunteer driven organization, we…

Arts & Culture
3
Seattle JazzED

Through Jazz education that liberates and inspires, Seattle JazzED increase access in the music room, celebrates student expression, and builds lasting connection rooted in community.

Arts & Culture
4
Seattle Athenaeum

The Seattle Athenaeum connects a dynamic literary community through a curated book collection, diverse programming, and opportunities for engaging conversations and transformative ideas.

Education
5
Artist Trust

Artist Trust supports the livelihoods of artists working in all disciplines to create a more vibrant and equitable Washington State.

Arts & Culture
6
Seattle Arts and Lectures

Seattle arts and lectures cultivates transformative experiences through story and language with readers and writers of all generations.

Arts & Culture
7
Siff

Siff is a seattle-based 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation of vibrant experiences and spaces that champion film discovery and arts education.

Youth Development
8
The Washington Stem Center

Washington stem (wa stem) is a statewide, education nonprofit leveraging stem for social change, removing barriers to credential attainment, and creating pathways to long-term economic security for systemically underserved students.…

Education
9
Alliance for Education

Our mission is to support excellence in education by advancing educational justice and racial equity for students in Seattle Public Schools.

Education
10
Seattle Amistad School

At Seattle Amistad School, we foster community integrity through rigorous bilingual and bicultural education, developing our students' academic strengths and cultural sensibilities, while nurturing compassionate and engaged citizens.

Education
11
Seattlecu Foundation

The foundations impact pillars include wealth creation for low-income and marginalized communities, supporting small businesses, investing in our communities, and providing services for immigrant communities.

Education
12
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.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Seattle Repertory Theatre; the most unlike its peers is Maris Place. 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

17 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. 17 of the 27 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
14/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $21,500 · Arts & Culture5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATIONNORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: $6,500 · Arts & CultureNORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUMSEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE: $5,000 · Arts & CultureSEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE+2 more: $1,000 · Arts & CultureTHE 5TH AVENUE THEATRE: $18,000 · OtherTHE 5TH AVENUE THEATREMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $2,000 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYYWCA OF KING COUNTY: $1,500 · OtherYWCA OF KING COUNTYSEATTLE REPERTORY THEATER: $1,000 · OtherSEATTLE CHAPTER ARCS FOUNDATION: $1,000 · Other+7 more: $3,575 · Other+7 moreTHE LEGACY FOUNDATION OF SEATTLE: $7,750 · PhilanthropyTHE LEGACY FO…SEATTLE FOUNDATION: $2,500 · PhilanthropySEATTLE FOUND…Atlantic Street Center: $5,500 · Crime & LegalCANCER LIFELINE: $3,500 · HealthWashington Autism Alliance: $250 · HealthCollege Success Foundation: $2,300 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $250 · EducationTREEHOUSE: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentMaris Place: $500 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTHCARE: $1,000 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$34,000Other$27,075Philanthropy$10,250Crime & Legal$5,500Health$3,750Education$2,550Youth Development$1,500Human Services$1,000

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 budget5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $21,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LEGACY FOUNDATION OF SEATTLE: $7,750 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetNORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: $6,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetAtlantic Street Center: $5,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER LIFELINE: $3,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSEATTLE FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCollege Success Foundation: $2,300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTREEHOUSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTHCARE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF METROPOLITAN SEATTLE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWashington Autism Alliance: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEATTLE ART MUSEUM: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetO'DEA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 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.

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…Puget Sound Energy Fo…United Way of King Co…Morgan Stanley Global…Wyman Youth TrustMightycause Charitabl…Moccasin Lake Foundat…Raikes FoundationCredit Unions in the …American Gift FundThe US Charitable Gif…
Seattle FoundationWA22.5× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Seattle Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · United Way of King County · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Wyman Youth Trust · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Moccasin Lake Foundation · Raikes Foundation · Credit Unions in the State of Washington · American Gift Fund · The US Charitable Gift Trust

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 Wanda J Herndon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wanda J Herndon Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Wanda J Herndon Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Wanda J Herndon 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 27 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 Wanda J Herndon’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