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Washington · Nonprofit

NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY

NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY (Washington) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,265,311 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($3,512,315). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$52M
Funders on record
48
Grants received
$10M
Net assets
$34M
26/48 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 4%
01What it does

What Northwest University does

Mission

We, the people of Northwest University, carry the call of god by continually building a learning community dedicated to spiritual vitality, academic excellence, and empowered engagement with human need.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Postsecondary education: Northwest University provides postsecondary education to approximately 2405 students on campus in kirkland, wa, and via online learning modalities. Northwest University prepares our students to be professionals, lay leaders for church ministries and other not-for-profit ministry organizations. Many students have the opportunity to go on mission trips to other countries or to study abroad. Northwest University seeks to carry the call of god through our students and around the world as we build a learning community dedicated to spiritual vitality, academic excellence and empowered engagement with human need.

    $35,243,052 spentof which $12,697,499 as grants$36,928,836 earned by the program
    89% of program spending

  2. Postsecondary education: university housing and food service for students during the 2024-25 academic year; approximately 477 resident students

    $4,518,444 spent$6,084,567 earned by the program
    11% of program spending

  3. Post secondary education: university conferences and events. Serviced approximately 360 students during the 24-25 academic year.

    $49,844 spent$111,980 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $39,811,340.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($49M) Expenses 100 ($48M) Net assets 100 ($24M)2018 Revenue 104 ($51M) Expenses 104 ($49M) Net assets 106 ($25M)2019 Revenue 111 ($54M) Expenses 108 ($52M) Net assets 112 ($26M)2020 Revenue 115 ($56M) Expenses 111 ($53M) Net assets 123 ($29M)2021 Revenue 111 ($54M) Expenses 105 ($50M) Net assets 152 ($36M)2022 Revenue 111 ($54M) Expenses 108 ($52M) Net assets 149 ($35M)2023 Revenue 100 ($49M) Expenses 106 ($51M) Net assets 141 ($33M)2024 Revenue 96 ($47M) Expenses 106 ($50M) Net assets 129 ($30M)2025 Revenue 107 ($52M) Expenses 102 ($48M) Net assets 145 ($34M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (107)Expenses (102)Net assets (145)

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 $63M to $57M (−9%).

$62M
$61M
$62M
$62M
$68M
$66M
$63M
$57M
$61M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 2% · 2021 4% · 2022 7% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.1M
’17
$1.3M
’18
$2.3M
’19
$3.0M
’20
$4.2M
’21
$2.4M
’22
−$1.6M
’23
−$3.4M
’24
$3.9M
’25
2.9
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

Barbara Petty

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed393335333329283331
Joined·+0+6+0+2+7+3+6+4
No longer listed·642211416
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $157k → $1.3M.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
'26*
total
H G Clay Foundationunclassified
$70k
funders
4
8
11
20
18
21
18
21
10
1

9 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 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 UNIVERSITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

57% 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 NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY.

34%
largest funder
70%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 47% · 2019 38% · 2020 24% · 2021 63% · 2022 53% · 2023 53% — broadly stable.

“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

56% of NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

55% of NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY'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 $4.6M that is directly attributable, 64% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 19 states.

WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
IN
NJ
CT
CA
MO
DE
TN
OK
AL
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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

Government funding NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.8M on record.

Federal$6.8M
grants $6.8Mcontracts $0
20
21
25
Top agencies
  • Department of Education$6.7M
  • Department of Defense$94k

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 UNIVERSITY

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

Northwest University Foundation89%Seattle Pacific University86%The University of Puget Sound83%Walla Walla University83%Northwest Indian College Foundation82%Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities81%The Northwest School of the Arts Humanities and Environment81%Foundation for Western Washington University and Alumni81%

Nationally

Northwest University Foundation89%Seattle Pacific University86%North Central College84%Northpoint College84%Willamette University83%North Central University83%Point Loma Nazarene University83%National University83%
05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 16%Fundraising 2%

Governance

24
board members
88%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

70%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

WA

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Northwest University Foundation · exempt
  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (10) · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 UNIVERSITY?
NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY (Washington) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,265,311 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($3,512,315). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY have?
IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $10,265,311 in grants to NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY?
NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,512,315 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY 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 University →

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 48 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing