How much does Whatcom Educational Credit Union give?

Whatcom Educational Credit Union reported 13 itemized grants totaling $251,716, out of $351,394 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 11 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Whatcom Educational Credit Union fund?

By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (65%), Arts & Culture (9%), Human Services (7%).

Who are Whatcom Educational Credit Union's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Foundation for Western Washington University and Alumni ($270k), The Whatcom Literacy Council ($80k), Baay ($70k).

Does Whatcom Educational Credit Union fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 27% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Whatcom Educational Credit Union?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Whatcom Community Foundation, Puget Sound Energy Foundation, Chuckanut Health Foundation.

Where is Whatcom Educational Credit Union based?

Whatcom Educational Credit Union is based in WA.

Foundation Dossiers

Washington · Public charity

Whatcom Educational Credit Union

WHATCOM EDUCATIONAL CREDIT UNION (wecu) is a not-for-profit financial cooperative where members are encouraged to save and borrow responsibly at fair and competitive rates, improving their financial well-being and standard of living. This state-chartered credit union is a member of the national credit union administration share insurance…

$351k
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 13
Itemized grants FY2025: 11
Organizations funded FY2024: 27%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2025: $252k; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $14,250
Largest grant, FY2025: $71,350
Organizations funded a year: 1 to 11; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 1
Total assets, FY2025: $3.3B

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 27% of the organizations Whatcom Educational Credit Union funded were first-time grantees, receiving 15% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureAnimalsPublic BenefitOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	12	$244k	17%
FY2024	11	$214k	27%
FY2023	8	$254k	50%
FY2022	7	$110k	43%
FY2021	7	$110k	57%
FY2020	7	$110k	43%
FY2019	5	$90k	100%
FY2018	1	$15k	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Education$775kArts & Culture$110kHuman Services$86kRecreation & Sports$40kMembership Benefit$30kYouth Development$30kAnimals$30kCommunity Improvement$22kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Foundation for Western Washington University and Alumni	$270,100	3	1%
The Whatcom Literacy Council	$80,000	4	10%
Baay	$70,000	4	4%
The Whatcom Dream	$61,000	4	16%
Communities in School of Whatcom Skagit	$60,000	3	3%
Whatcom Community College Foundation	$51,000	3	2%
Futuresnw	$45,000	3	12%
Children of the Valley	$40,500	2	3%
Max Higbee Community Recreation Center	$40,000	2	3%
Bellingham Childcare and Learning Center	$40,000	2	1%

Show all 25 grantees

All grantees of Whatcom Educational Credit Union by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Foundation for Western Washington University and Alumni	$270,100	3	1%
The Whatcom Literacy Council	$80,000	4	10%
Baay	$70,000	4	4%
The Whatcom Dream	$61,000	4	16%
Communities in School of Whatcom Skagit	$60,000	3	3%
Whatcom Community College Foundation	$51,000	3	2%
Futuresnw	$45,000	3	12%
Children of the Valley	$40,500	2	3%
Max Higbee Community Recreation Center	$40,000	2	3%
Bellingham Childcare and Learning Center	$40,000	2	1%
Pickford Film Center	$40,000	2	2%
Wild Whatcom	$33,750	3	1%
Skagit Valley College Foundation	$33,000	2	0%
Gowest Credit Union Association	$30,366	1	n/a
Whatcom Center for Early Learning	$30,000	2	0%
Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association	$30,000	2	1%
Whatcom Family Young Men's Christian Association	$30,000	2	0%
Opportunity Council	$25,000	2	0%
Lhaq'Temish Foundation	$25,000	2	0%
Skagit Preschool and Resource Center	$23,000	2	0%
Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County	$22,000	2	1%
Global Community Institute	$20,000	2	2%
Skagit Valley College	$17,000	2	n/a
United Way of Whatcom County	$15,000	1	1%
Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center	$14,250	1	n/a

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Whatcom Educational Credit Union supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 22.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Whatcom Community FoundationWA38.6× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Whatcom Community Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Chuckanut Health Foundation · North Sound Accountable Community of Health · Mount Baker Foundation · The Norcliffe Foundation · United Way of Whatcom County · The Albertsons Companies Foundation · Jerry H Walton Foundation · Tucker Family Foundation · First Fed Foundation · PeaceHealth

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.

Compare Whatcom Educational Credit Union with peer funders

About Whatcom Educational Credit Union

How much does Whatcom Educational Credit Union give?: Whatcom Educational Credit Union reported 13 itemized grants totaling $251,716, out of $351,394 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 11 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Whatcom Educational Credit Union fund?: By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (65%), Arts & Culture (9%), Human Services (7%).
Who are Whatcom Educational Credit Union's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Foundation for Western Washington University and Alumni ($270k), The Whatcom Literacy Council ($80k), Baay ($70k).
Does Whatcom Educational Credit Union fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 27% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Whatcom Educational Credit Union?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Whatcom Community Foundation, Puget Sound Energy Foundation, Chuckanut Health Foundation.
Where is Whatcom Educational Credit Union based?: Whatcom Educational Credit Union is based in WA.