Washington · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY
UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY (Washington) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,841 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($375,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $713k
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $463k
What United Way of Thurston County does
Mission
United Way of Thurston County mobilizes the caring power of our community to fight for the health, education and financial stability of every person in thurston county.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The career and resource navigator program: navigators assist high school students, and their families to navigate fafsa/wafsa to completion. This helps students enroll in college and post-secondary education. This program is a result of a united way taskforce and is in its third year. Partners of the program are south puget sound community college (spscc) and thurston county school districts.
$9,321 spent2% of program spendingResidential construction academy: the academy is the result of a united way taskforce, in partnership with olympia master builders foundation and spscc. With guidance and support from industry experts and local workforce leaders, students of the 10-week training cycle gain practical, hands-on experience in residential construction, preparing hem to enter the trades immediately upon graduation.
$43,922 spentof which $43,420 as grants11% of program spendingOther uwtc community impact areas: with a focus on health, education, and financial stability United Way of Thurston County provides support and administration of the point-in-time homeless count, and day of caring, an annual community clean-up and restoration event. Uwtc also serves as the backbone of the emergency food and shelter program, which is a federal program, that enables federal support to flow to agencies that provide emergency food and shelter.
$361,167 spentof which $65,000 as grants$7,888 earned by the program87% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $414,410.
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 $1.2M to $720k (−41%).
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 27% · 2018 22% · 2019 22% · 2020 51% · 2021 77% · 2022 60% · 2023 60% · 2024 5% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Christian Wells Tharp
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $49k → $288k.
9 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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: $671k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY’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
UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 THURSTON COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 41% · 2019 48% · 2020 70% · 2021 46% · 2022 44% · 2023 74% — 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
42% of UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
72% of UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY'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 $303k that is directly attributable, 57% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $767k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 THURSTON COUNTY's revenue fell 55% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $625k on record.
- Corporation for National and Community Service$625k
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 THURSTON COUNTY
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
38% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 THURSTON COUNTY: 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 THURSTON COUNTY?
- UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY (Washington) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,841 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($375,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,070,841 in grants to UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY?
- TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $375,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF THURSTON COUNTY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 20 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