Oregon · Nonprofit
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (Oregon) receives grants from 69 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,613,254 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,000,250). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $27M
- Funders on record
- 69
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $38M
What United Way of the Columbia-Willamette does
Mission
At United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (UWCW), we envision an Oregon and Southwest Washington where every child and family - regardless of geography, race, or family incomehas a stable foundation and access to the resources and support necessary to thrive.Grounded in the needs and lived experiences of people in our region, we believe that early and consistent support for families reduces childhood trauma, improves educational outcomes, increases economic mobility, and strengthens communities. In response to growing datasets that highlight the challenges ALICE households face (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), our work is increasingly focused on supporting individuals and families who earn above the federal poverty line yet still struggle to afford life's basic necessities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Housing StabilityAs rising costs of living, housing insecurity, and fragmented support systems place undue pressure on families across our region, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (UWCW) works to prevent homelessness and promote long-term housing stability.In the past year, UWCW strengthened our efforts through Eviction Legal Defense, Health-Related Social Needs, and the Resilient Families Fund, helping more than 6,700 households avoid displacement and/or remain securely housed. (See continuation on Schedule O). Eviction Legal Defense: Since 2023, this program has helped more than 4,000 households (~10,000 individuals), providing critical legal support to renters facing housing instability. In the last year alone, the program provided $1.8M in financial assistance to low-income renters in Portland facing eviction. Additionally, the Eviction Legal Defense program played a crucial role in crafting Oregon HB2001 and new tenant protections. Health-Related Social Needs: Through our regional partnership with CareOregon and 23 service providers, more than 2,500 households have received coordinated rent and utility assistance paired with case management and stabilization services.…
$13,819,051 spentof which $13,227,952 as grants55% of program spendingCoalition/ConveningBuilt on longstanding trust and partnership, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (UWCW) is uniquely positioned to convene local leaders and community members with lived experience around a shared vision for a stronger Oregon and Southwest Washington. These robust partnerships have united leaders and programs across sectors to effectively deploy resources and deliver impact at scale. (See continuation on Schedule O). Youth Opportunity: Convened organizations and supported programs that connected more than 12,000 children to early learning resources and services, placed 1,180 young children in high-quality Preschool Promise programs, and helped provide more than 13,000 children with monthly books through a strategic partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Community Resiliency: $302,000 in grants were distributed to 33 disaster resilience organizations statewide through UWCW's Disaster Resilience Learning Network. Over the past two years, UWCW has also expanded its role beyond a direct service facilitator to a strategic funder through initiatives like our Community Grants and the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) Organizational Health Grant…
$8,091,599 spentof which $4,687,553 as grants32% of program spendingVolunteerism For nearly 30 years, Hands On of Greater Portland (HOP) has connected volunteers to meaningful projects that strengthen Portland: mentoring youth, providing care to our most vulnerable, supporting literacy, and protecting the environment. Through the HOP program, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette links volunteers with local service opportunities and helps nonprofit organizations engage volunteers who are ready to make a difference. Hours given to volunteerism: 7,500 Number of volunteers: 4,703 Number of projects: 1,414 Number of non-profit agencies that we served: 85
$364,302 spent$13,140 earned by the program1% of program spendingCommunity Investment: UWCW awarded 32 grants to local organizations supporting Civic Engagement and Advocacy.Donor Choice - UWCW offers donor the opportunity to designate their gift directly to 501 (3) organizations of their choice. Donations given through United Way provide support to a wide variety of nonprofits and help keep fundraising cost low for these organizations as well as increasing philanthropy within the community.
$2,985,348 spentof which $1,868,433 as grants12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $25,260,300.
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 2020 to 2021, from $22M to $45M (+103%).
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 37% · 2018 46% · 2019 48% · 2020 63% · 2021 26% · 2022 40% · 2023 64% · 2024 73% · 2025 81%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Mihir Patel
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $659k → $806k.
15 of 69 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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: $818k from 16 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey); $28k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest United Way of the Columbia-Willamette). These are real filings, and they are not money United Way of the Columbia-Willamette raised.
From the IRS filings of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 69 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
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 United Way of the Columbia-Willamette.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 38% · 2019 28% · 2020 26% · 2021 92% · 2022 25% · 2023 25% — 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
35% of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
80% of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette'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 $6.3M that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette's revenue fell 19% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding United Way of the Columbia-Willamette receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $53.1M on record — $382k federal, $52.7M state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$382k
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$42.3M
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-PROFIT ORG$9.5M
- PAYMENTS TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$813k
- OTHER SPECIAL PAYMENTS$50k
- DISTRIBUTION TO OTHER GOVERNMENTS$28k
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT$17k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like United Way of the Columbia-Willamette
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for United Way of the Columbia-Willamette: 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 United Way of the Columbia-Willamette?
- United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (Oregon) receives grants from 69 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,613,254 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,000,250). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does United Way of the Columbia-Willamette have?
- IRS filings report 69 organizations giving $31,613,254 in grants to United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $20,000,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like United Way of the Columbia-Willamette find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 69 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