Washington · Nonprofit
The Imagine Institute
The Imagine Institute (Washington) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,632 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($250,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $511k
- Net assets
- $14M
What The Imagine Institute does
Mission
Our mission is to create community relationships and innovative early learning programs that empower people, caring every day for every generation. Our vision is to support affordable, high-quality care for every child in Washington State by building an accessible and strong professional development system that elevates and improves the lives of child care providers and professionals.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
IMAGINE U:Imagine U is a relationship-based mentorship program designed to increase the number of licensed family child care providers who can care for children in Washington State. Imagine U pairs experienced and talented licensed child care providers with those interested in becoming licensed, and offers both the mentor and intern support to help them grow professionally. As interns progress through the program, they complete assignments such as cost benefit analyses, budgets, program policies and practice licensing visits while also working 20 hours per month in their mentor's child care facilities. At the conclusion of the program, successful participants receive a bonus to invest in their child care businesses. Imagine U's peer-to-peer model honors the knowledge and skill that exists in the field and helps ensure that new providers can benefit from their mentor's expertise.
$3,822,875 spent$7,156,183 earned by the program39% of program spendingTRAINING AND INCENTIVES:The Imagine Institute provides free training early childhood educators who serve low-income children throughout Washington State. Our training is developed in conjunction with early childhood educators to ensure it is meaningful and responsive to the field. The Imagine Institute created an innovative program to develop early childhood educators as state-approved trainers representing some of the first early childhood educators delivering STARS training (continuing education) to their peers in this state. Our trainers represent their communities speaking English, Spanish, and Somali. Importantly, these trainers have a deep understanding of life as an early childhood educator, which allows them to effectively educate and mentor their peers.
$1,014,143 spent$1,116,649 earned by the program10% of program spendingWASHINGTON STATE EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION SUBSTITUTE POOL:Since its inception, the WA State ECE Substitute Pool has distributed millions of dollars in substitute relief funding to hundreds of licensed family childcare and childcare centers throughout Washington State. As part of administering the substitute pool, the Imagine Institute provides training and orientation to community members so that they can become approved to work as a substitute, increasing the number of ECE workers in Washington State. The Imagine Institute also provides technical assistance to both substitutes and providers to assist them in effectively participating in the program.
$1,676,789 spent$1,800,782 earned by the program17% of program spendingAll other programs.
$3,206,632 spent$6,664,961 earned by the program33% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,720,439.
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 2024 to 2025, from $10M to $17M (+66%).
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: 2017 90% · 2018 100%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
0% of The Imagine Institute’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Cate Bridenstine
Chief Executive Officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $250k → $60k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 Imagine Institute’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 Imagine Institute leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
90% 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 Imagine Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
77% of The Imagine Institute's grant income comes from Washington funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $250k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
The Imagine Institute runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,297 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,297 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like The Imagine Institute
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 Imagine Institute: 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 The Imagine Institute?
- The Imagine Institute (Washington) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,632 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($250,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Imagine Institute have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $510,632 in grants to The Imagine Institute.
- Who is the largest funder of The Imagine Institute?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Imagine Institute 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 Imagine Institute →
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 4 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