Washington · Nonprofit
The Washington Bus Education Fund
The Washington Bus Education Fund (Washington) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,342,840 to it, the largest being ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING ($1,105,754). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $846k
What The Washington Bus Education Fund does
Mission
We catalyze the energy and enthusiasm of young Washingtonians and provide hands-on democracy opportunities like voter registration, youth voter turnout, and leadership development programs on campuses and communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
We began fiscally sponsoring the Washington Power Building Table coalition.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
POWER BUILDING TABLE Washington States Power Building Table is a state alignment table whose aim is to move a long-term agenda rooted in a multiracial democracy and build a state where all can thrive regardless of income, ability, immigration status, race and gender. Together, we are committed to building a people-powered movement in Washington through grassroots organizing and narrative change work.
$399,949 spentof which $310,000 as grants59% of program spendingYOUTH VOTER ENGAGEMENT Our Campus Program offers students opportunities for civic engagement, voter education, and voter registration. In 2024 we we hired two temporary campus organizers to mentor and support student leaders at 14 member campuses across Washington State. We were successful in registering around 900 new student voters and collecting over 3,500 student pledges to vote. Our High School program provides nonpartisan presentations about the history of voting rights, the importance of holistic civic engagement, and the opportunities that young people have to make a difference in their communities. In 2024 we went to one Seattle high school, where a class rap blitz event generated 130 direct engagements, spanning five classroom presentations and one library tabling session. We received 5 new voter registrations and 6 pledges to vote.
$147,546 spent22% of program spendingYOUTH LEADERSHIP The WA Bus Education Fund Fellowship is an intensive ten-week leadership development and organizing program for young people ages 18-25 in Washington State. It is an intentional and transformative experience for young folks who are ready to inspire change alongside their communities. Fellows learn from organizing experts and civic servants, run the most innovative, effective and fun civic programs in Washington State, and collaborate with community organizations and issue campaigns for hands-on organizing experience. The WBEF recruits fellowship participants from a diversity of communities. Fellows graduate with a professional network and experiences they can apply in a variety of fields, including organizing in their own communities. In 2024 we hired 12 Fellows who received over 45 hours of classroom time, and collected a total of 72 voter registrations and 853 pledge-to-votes across 20 canvassing shifts. The Fellows also organized 2 events, including an innovative non-partisan candidate forum for local and statewide candidate forum.
$135,232 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $682,727.
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 2023 to 2024, from $319k to $971k (+205%).
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: 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of The Washington Bus Education Fund’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Cinthia Illan-Vazquez
Executive Director
Board chair
Evann Strathern
Board President
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $182k → $154k.
7 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 Washington Bus Education Fund’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 Washington Bus Education Fund leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% 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 Washington Bus Education Fund.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 44% · 2019 59% · 2020 62% · 2021 47% · 2022 77% · 2023 69% — 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.
How long its funders stay
36% of The Washington Bus Education Fund's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
The Washington Bus Education Fund draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M 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.
Against its field
The Washington Bus Education Fund runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 976 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 976 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like The Washington Bus Education Fund
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
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Washington Bus · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Washington Bus Education Fund: 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 Washington Bus Education Fund?
- The Washington Bus Education Fund (Washington) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,342,840 to it, the largest being ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING ($1,105,754). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Washington Bus Education Fund have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $3,342,840 in grants to The Washington Bus Education Fund, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Washington Bus Education Fund?
- ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING is the largest funder on record, with $1,105,754 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Washington Bus Education Fund 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 25 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