Washington · Nonprofit
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (Washington) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,045,820 to it, the largest being LEE H & MARION B THOMPSON FOUNDATION ($1,025,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $4.0M
- Net assets
- $4.4M
What Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding does
Mission
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) is a post-secondary trade school that teaches craftmanship through boatbuilding at its 7-acre campus in Port-Hadlock, Washington. Incorporated as a non-profit corporation 40 years ago, the school has taught over 1,700 graduates the skills required to build and maintain both traditional and contemporary wooden boats, and in 2018 launched its new program to teach marine systems for marine technicians. The school fulfills three overarching goals as defined in its strategic plan: (1) providing quality education and job readiness (2) preserving and teaching craftsmanship (3) bringing vitality to our local community. NWSWB works closely with the boatbuilding industry to ensure that skills taught are relevant to current needs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Youth services introduced during this fiscal year 2024-2025.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The 12-month boatbuilding associate of occupational (aos) degree program offers a compact and comprehensive curriculum that takes time-tested traditional skills mixed with modern wood composite techniques to offer students the best program and get students into the workforce quickly. This hands-on training follows industry standards and techniques and provides effective and efficient boat building and woodworking techniques through a combination of hand and power tool use. Students learn while building a wide range of boat projects ranging from 8 to 36 feet, constructed through carvel, lapstrake, and composite construction techniques on power, sail, and row boats.
$1,072,430 spentof which $122,890 as grants$771,501 earned by the program53% of program spendingThe 9-month marine systems diploma program covers subjects integral to boat building and repair, such as electrical systems, electronics, corrosion, diesel engines, outboard motors, steering and controls, propulsion, hydraulics, marine plumbing and marine hvac. Modeled on competency-based training, students demonstrate the work as well as understand the theory behind it. The program is specifically designed with input from subject matter experts, focusing on skills that employees need in the workplace. The hands-on training follows cfr, abyc, nfpa, abs, and nmea industry standards and relies heavily on safety and workmanship. In-field training happens on real boats of all construction types: wood, fiberglass, aluminum, and steel. The school also provides one-week intensive courses in individual disciplines taught in the marine systems program.
$947,764 spentof which $85,800 as grants$639,987 earned by the program47% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,020,194.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.4M to $7.1M (+30%).
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: 2019 15% · 2020 46% · 2021 47% · 2022 17% · 2023 16% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
61% of Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $44k → $306k.
7 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 25 of 26 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
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 85% · 2019 44% · 2020 33% · 2021 30% · 2022 27% · 2023 18% — 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.
How long its funders stay
43% of Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding draws 66% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $394k 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.
Against its field
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.2M on record.
- Department of Education$746k
- Department of Commerce$448k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding: 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 Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding?
- Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (Washington) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,045,820 to it, the largest being LEE H & MARION B THOMPSON FOUNDATION ($1,025,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $4,045,820 in grants to Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding?
- LEE H & MARION B THOMPSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,025,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding 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 Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding →
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 26 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