Washington · Nonprofit
SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC
SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $205,801 to it, the largest being SAGE FOUNDATION ($193,164). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $205k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $206k
- Net assets
- $209k
What Seattle Folklore Society Inc does
Mission
the preservation and presentation of folk arts
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Concert committee produces and presents concerts of traditional, largely acoustic music 2000+ people benefit
$43,858 spent$46,239 earned by the program24% of program spendingEmerald City Contra Dance is a weekly contra dance with live band and caller with room for 150 attendees. 7500 annual attendees.
$51,947 spent$53,089 earned by the program28% of program spendingThe Mexican Music Project records, transcribes, teaches and performs rare violin music from Mexico. Live concerts and on-line classes, online videos and musical transcriptions reach 100s
$53,200 spent$56,000 earned by the program29% of program spendingThe main committee of SFS produces the monthly newsletter, the SFS Flyer. It has roughly 450 subscribers, on paper and digitally, and is also distributed to a number of libraries and businesses.
$17,252 spent$20,495 earned by the program9% of program spendingOld Growth Oldtime Gathering is a new project of the Seattle Folklore Society. The event took place in October of 2024 and again in October 2025. Expenses listed here are almost exclusively for the 2023 event, but some of income is fundraising for the subsequent festival. The event included workshops, concerts and dances and g=had attendance of about 300.
$17,058 spent$19,765 earned by the program9% of program spendingDare to Be Square last happened here in 2019. We held the funds until the next location decided to put it on. We paid the rent for that event.
$3,010 spent2% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $186,325.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $162k to $181k (+12%).
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.
42% of SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $17k → $5k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC’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
SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2019 94% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC
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
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC: 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 FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC?
- SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $205,801 to it, the largest being SAGE FOUNDATION ($193,164). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $205,801 in grants to SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC?
- SAGE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $193,164 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY INC 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 Seattle Folklore Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), 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