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Washington · Nonprofit

THE CITY CLUB

THE CITY CLUB (Washington) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,754,800 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($1,119,700). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$483k
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$90k
11/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 65%
01What it does

What The City Club does

Mission

PRIMARY EXEMPT PURPOSE: Our mission is to inform, connect and engage the public to strengthen the civic health of our region. Its our vision that, along with natural wonder, innovative business and vibrant culture, the Puget Sound region is defined by informed people engaged with their leaders in effective democracy.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Washington State Debate Coalition: This statewide coalition of civic organizations, journalists and media executives produces free, publicly accessible, live-streamed and live-broadcasted, local and state-wide debates. Media partners include Converge Media, Cascade/PBS, FOX13, KING5, KIRO Radio, KOMO news, KUOW, Rainier Avenue Radio, the Washington State Standard, TVW and the Seattle Times. In the spring of 2024, Seattle CityClub organized a public forum at Seattles City Hall for the open Seattle city council seat for position 8, attracting over 100 participants to hear from the eight candidates running for that city-wide position.

    $195,687 spent$42,134 earned by the program
    73% of program spending
  2. Civic Cocktail: Civic Cocktail offers a lively look at big events and important issues facing the Puget Sound region, connecting leaders with the public for engaging conversation. The programs conversational format features elected officials, community organization leaders, journalists, political pundits, news-makers, and local residents. In 2024, Seattle CityClub coordinated Civic Cocktails to respond to current events and emerging technology. Topics included misinformation and cyber security, the promise and peril of artificial intelligence, youth civic engagement, mental health awareness, civil dialogue and election integrity.

    $61,002 spent
    23% of program spending
  3. Civic Field Trips: In 2024, we partnered with the Gates Foundation to offer in-depth, day-long, experiential learning programs on topics including volunteer engagement, education, immigration, civic engagement, and international public health. Weve also expanded the scope of these programs to include digital Resource Guides that include recent articles, podcasts, websites, videos and other inroads to civics.

    $6,474 spent
    2% of program spending
  4. Nonpartisan Candidate Forum: In the spring of 2024, Seattle CityClub organized a public, nonpartisan forum at Seattles City Hall for the open Seattle city council seat for position 8, attracting over 100 participants to hear from the eight candidates running for that city-wide position.

    $3,999 spent
    1% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $267,162.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($2.7M) Expenses 100 ($2.8M) Net assets 100 ($556k)2019 Revenue 17 ($469k) Expenses 24 ($667k) Net assets 64 ($358k)2020 Revenue 31 ($847k) Expenses 27 ($769k) Net assets 78 ($436k)2021 Revenue 25 ($677k) Expenses 23 ($635k) Net assets 64 ($353k)2022 Revenue 22 ($590k) Expenses 20 ($568k) Net assets 45 ($251k)2023 Revenue 16 ($444k) Expenses 21 ($605k) Net assets 16 ($91k)2024 Revenue 18 ($483k) Expenses 17 ($484k) Net assets 16 ($90k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (18)Expenses (17)Net assets (16)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 2018 to 2019, from $2.4M to $414k (−83%).

$2.4M
$414k
$549k
$375k
$297k
$140k
$118k
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 0% · 2021 11% · 2022 33%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

91% of THE CITY CLUB’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (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. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$109k
’18
−$198k
’19
$78k
’20
$42k
’21
$23k
’22
−$160k
’23
−$980
’24
0.5
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.

Chief executive

Alicia Crank

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed32282527141315
Joined·+12+8+8+1+9+2
No longer listed·1611614100
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $330k → $253k.

5 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 THE CITY CLUB’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

THE CITY CLUB leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

33% 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 THE CITY CLUB.

64%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 39% · 2019 53% · 2020 90% · 2021 56% · 2022 37% · 2023 79% — 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

29% of THE CITY CLUB's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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

88% of THE CITY CLUB's grant income comes from Washington funders.

WA
CA
VA
DE
AZ
DC

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. $413k 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

THE CITY CLUB's revenue fell 82% between 2018 and 2024.

Operating margin−0% · below the median
Months of reserve0.5mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−25% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like THE CITY CLUB

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

55% of spending goes to programs.

Program 55%Management 34%Fundraising 10%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

82%

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 THE CITY CLUB: 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 THE CITY CLUB?
THE CITY CLUB (Washington) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,754,800 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($1,119,700). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE CITY CLUB have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,754,800 in grants to THE CITY CLUB, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE CITY CLUB?
GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,119,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE CITY CLUB 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 19 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