Washington · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY
UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY (Washington) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,534,939 to it, the largest being GIVINGFORCE USA FOUNDATION ($24,094,016). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $26M
- Net assets
- $2.5M
What United Way of Whatcom County does
Mission
United Way of Whatcom County's mission is to unite with a network of local businesses, nonprofits, and community stakeholders to enable financial stability for every person in whatcom county. Our focus is on individuals and families facing financial hardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The agency's community impact fund grant awards provide support to a comprehensive network of local nonprofits reaching more than 50,000 residents each year, providing access to basic needs like food, housing, and mental health services, increasing economic mobility through education, job skills, and training, and breaking the cycle of poverty by removing barriers like violence, abuse, and addiction and providing a variety of supports and services to help families succeed from generation to generation. United Way of Whatcom County's goal is to create a community where everyone has the tools and opportunities they need to achieve financial independence and stability.
$754,521 spentof which $613,500 as grants75% of program spendingDolly parton's imagination library (dpil). This program provides one age appropriate book by mail each month for enrolled whatcom county children age birth to five at no cost to families. Books are selected by a national committee of early childhood literacy experts with the intent to deliver a variety of inclusive and diverse titles that cover feel good topics. Data shows children in every zip code in whatcom county have enrolled, including rural and underserved areas of the community. The data confirms the organization is working in the right ways to partner with trusted entities to expand the reach of this program.
$150,905 spentof which $62,402 as grants15% of program spendingUnited Way of Whatcom County provides additional grants for projects and programs that align with our mission and community goals. Examples include: emergency relief funding, community initiatives, and emerging programs that address specific issues in our community. Some examples include pandemic and flood relief grants, support for alice and other critical research, childcare initiatives, and early learning programs.
$100,602 spentof which $64,059 as grants10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,006,028.
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 2021 to 2022, from $2.9M to $2.6M (−8%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 8% · 2023 13% · 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Kristi Birkeland
President/CEO
Board chair
Natalie Boatman
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $90k → $150k.
11 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM 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 WHATCOM COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 WHATCOM COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 27% · 2019 30% · 2020 31% · 2021 65% · 2022 39% · 2023 47% — 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
47% of UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $918k 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 WHATCOM COUNTY is better cushioned than half of the 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM 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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM 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 WHATCOM COUNTY?
- UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY (Washington) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,534,939 to it, the largest being GIVINGFORCE USA FOUNDATION ($24,094,016). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $25,534,939 in grants to UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM COUNTY?
- GIVINGFORCE USA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $24,094,016 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF WHATCOM 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 28 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