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Washington · Nonprofit

Bright Water Waldorf School

Bright Water Waldorf School (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $113,588 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($54,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$986k
Funders on record
5
Grants received
$114k
Net assets
$395k
2/5 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 0%
01What it does

What Bright Water Waldorf School does

Mission

Bright Water Waldorf School's mission is to cultivate creative minds, capable hands, and compassionate hearts.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Bright Water Waldorf Society DBA Bright Water Waldorf School (the school) was founded in 1998 out of a desire for greater access to Waldorf education in Seattle, Washington. Waldorf education is based on a deep understanding of the needs of the growing child and the maturing adolescent. Through a rich curriculum and innovative teaching methods, Waldorf education addresses the whole child, working to develop clarity in thought, balance in feelings, and initiative in action. Currently, the school has an enrollment of 62 students in preschool through grade eight.

    $1,147,163 spent$964,647 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,147,163.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.6M) Expenses 100 ($2.3M) Net assets 100 ($279k)2018 Revenue 108 ($2.8M) Expenses 114 ($2.6M) Net assets 153 ($427k)2019 Revenue 132 ($3.4M) Expenses 139 ($3.2M) Net assets 214 ($597k)2025 Revenue 38 ($986k) Expenses 66 ($1.5M) Net assets 142 ($395k)
2017201820192025
Revenue (38)Expenses (66)Net assets (142)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $816k to $1.2M (+41%).

$816k
$1.2M
$1.3M
$993k
2017201820192025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

0% of Bright Water Waldorf School’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.

$254k
’17
$148k
’18
$170k
’19
−$543k
’25
7.2
months of
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.

Board chair

Jesseca Brand

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2017201820192025
Listed1111127
Joined·+3+6·
No longer listed·35·
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $6k → $22k.

4 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 Bright Water Waldorf School’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

Bright Water Waldorf School leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

99% 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 Bright Water Waldorf School.

48%
largest funder
99%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 56% · 2021 70% · 2022 100% · 2023 58% — diversifying over time.

“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.

Where its funders are

99% of Bright Water Waldorf School's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 1 state.

DE

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $113k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Bright Water Waldorf School is better cushioned than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−55% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve7.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−11% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Bright Water Waldorf School

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 15%Fundraising 10%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Bright Water Waldorf School: 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.

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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 Bright Water Waldorf School?
Bright Water Waldorf School (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $113,588 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($54,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Bright Water Waldorf School have?
IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $113,588 in grants to Bright Water Waldorf School, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Bright Water Waldorf School?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $54,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Bright Water Waldorf School 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.

Play a game about who funds Bright Water Waldorf School →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 5 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