Washington · Nonprofit
Backbone Campaign
Backbone Campaign (Washington) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,093 to it, the largest being PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD ($101,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $762k
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $640k
- Net assets
- $799k
What Backbone Campaign does
Mission
Backbone Campaign amplifies the aspirations of "We the People" with creative strategies & artful activism to manifest a world where life, community, nature, and our obligations for future generations are honored as sacred.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Solutionary Rail advanced our work to put rail in the public interest. We hosted a first of its kind listening session between rail labor and EJ communities, to explore the intersections in rail in the public interest and opportunities for solidarity. We developed a SE WA Rail Renaissance Plan for meeting farmers' needs for shipping wheat that is not dependent on Snake River barge operations. We continued our research advocacy for development of passenger rail service in the region, as well as mode shift of freight from trucks to rail.
$123,915 spent$160 earned by the program38% of program spendingArtful Activism: Backbone Campaign aupported its network of creative activists across the U.S. using light projection, bannering and props to amplify progressive values. We hosted workshops in our warehouse to teach people how to get their message out using these creative tools. We supported flotillas calling for Snake River restoration and protection of wild salmon and Southern Resident orcas.
$93,609 spent$25,145 earned by the program29% of program spendingVashon Resilience - Locally, we produced film screenings for community education With several other island organizations, we created and distributed a "Land of the Swiftwater People" yard People" yard sign in collaboration with a Puyallup artist. Other work included supporting visits by the Puyallup Tribe to Vashon Island, including for canoe journey practice and local food gathering. We created local art supporting community values of protecting salmon and and orca, using several different mediums.
$5,708 spent2% of program spendingEducation and Training
$103 spent0% of program spendingExpenses: $103.00 including grants of: $0.00 Revenue: $0.00 Education and Training Expenses: $101688.00 including grants of: $0.00 Revenue: $4058.00
$101,688 spent$4,058 earned by the program31% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $325,023.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $449k to $812k (+81%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Backbone Campaign’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
William Moyer
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $92k → $164k.
8 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Backbone Campaign’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Backbone Campaign has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
58% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Backbone Campaign.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 65% · 2019 47% · 2020 88% · 2021 37% · 2022 42% · 2023 61% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
31% of Backbone Campaign's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 39% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
Backbone Campaign draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $236k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Backbone Campaign runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 21,616 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,616 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Backbone Campaign
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Backbone Campaign: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Backbone Campaign?
- Backbone Campaign (Washington) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,093 to it, the largest being PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD ($101,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Backbone Campaign have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $640,093 in grants to Backbone Campaign, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Backbone Campaign?
- PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD is the largest funder on record, with $101,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Backbone Campaign find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 31 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing