Washington · Nonprofit
Seattle Center Foundation
Seattle Center Foundation (Washington) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,771,928 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($6,950,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Seattle Center Foundation does
Mission
The Seattle Center Foundation supports the vision and purpose of Seattle Center by advocating for public support and private dollars for major capital and program improvements.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Seattle/King County Clinic: Seattle Center and Seattle Center Foundation bring together healthcare organizations, civic agencies, nonprofits, businesses, and thousands of volunteers to produce a massive four-day health clinic which provides free dental, vision, medical and social services to underserved and vulnerable populations in the region. In 2025, the Clinic served 3,319 patients and saved them nearly $3.1M in out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
$1,138,197 spentof which $25,133 as grants69% of program spendingEvents:Seattle Center Festal celebrates 25 free cultural festivals over 36 program days throughout the year, that run February through November. The Festal series showcases the heritage and richness of hundreds of cultural communities with live music, dance, vendor marketplaces, visual art, food, exhibits, hands-on activities, and more. Produced in partnership with community-based organizations, the 2025 Festal season was a record-breaking attendance year with over 400,000 people in attendance, and it is expected to continue trending in 2026.In 2025, Seattle Center hosted the 40th Annual Naturalization Ceremony for over 500 candidates taking the oath as new citizens. The ceremony was presided by The Honorable David G. Estudillo, Chief United States District Judge for the Western District Court of Washington. Currently, planning is underway for the 2026 ceremony and there will be 250 candidates being sworn in, which ties into America's 250th.Seattle Center Winterfest presented by Symetra offers five weeks of uplifting seasonal spirit and delightful diversion, including seasonal decor, ice sculpting, our Winter Train & Village, weekend entertainment on the Armory Stage, and a New…
$449,586 spentof which $38,000 as grants$45,496 earned by the program27% of program spendingSound Transit Project:Sound Transit is working on the Link light rail system which will have one or two stations near Seattle Center and a rail system passing the center. Seattle Center Foundation has been working with Sound Transit and Seattle Center partner organizations to provide feedback, revenue and information about the light rail process and the effects the stations and the trains rail system could have on the Seattle Center and surrounding area.
$66,131 spentof which $25,000 as grants4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,653,914.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $3.5M to $25M (+617%).
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 3% · 2021 0% · 2022 1% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of Seattle Center Foundation’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. 2 of the last 7 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 6 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $322k → $217k.
9 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.5M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington). These are real filings, and they are not money Seattle Center Foundation raised.
From the IRS filings of Seattle Center Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 26 of 27 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
Seattle Center Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 Seattle Center Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 38% · 2019 60% · 2020 73% · 2021 56% · 2022 68% · 2023 35% — 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
31% of Seattle Center Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
65% of Seattle Center Foundation'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 $5.5M that is directly attributable, 96% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
Seattle Center Foundation holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Seattle Center Foundation
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Seattle Center Foundation: 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 Seattle Center Foundation?
- Seattle Center Foundation (Washington) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,771,928 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($6,950,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Seattle Center Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $15,771,928 in grants to Seattle Center Foundation, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Seattle Center Foundation?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Seattle Center Foundation 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 FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 27 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