Washington · Nonprofit
Washington Filmworks
Washington Filmworks (Washington) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,606 to it, the largest being WASHINGTON TOURISM ALLIANCE ($75,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $149k
- Net assets
- $32M
What Washington Filmworks does
Mission
To build and enhance the competitiveness of Washington State's film and associated creative industry. We accomplish this by marketing and managing the state's production incentive program, representing the state in national and international film production market, supporting the business of film, encouraging professional development and employment and collaboration with other agencies and corporations dedicated to the economic development opportunities provided by the film industry.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Washington Filmworks manages two funding programs as the state film incentive. The Small Budget Production Initiative (SBPI) and the legacy Production Incentive Program (PIP). Both programs were established to grow and support the statewide film industry. SBPI is designed for emerging resident filmmakers with early-stage funding commitments and funding assistance for projects budgeted between $20,000 and $1 million. PIP continues to be the best tool the state has to attract motion picture production to the state. Between February 2007 when the program was launched and June 30, 2025, 149 productions have completed principal photography including 55 features, 24 episodic projects, 63 commercials, 6 short films, and 1 virtual reality project. These productions have collectively spent over $179.2 million in communities all across Washington State, while receiving $53.9 million in financial incentives. The return on investment represents real economic development for the State of Washington.
FWD, the Workforce Development Office for Washington Filmworks, uses a community informed approach to create statewide plans, programs, and resources to build the depth and breadth of the statewide film industry workforce. FWD aims to support and amplify efforts to ensure that the workforce is diverse and inclusive, and that career pathways are equitable and accessible. The first program launched was the Above the Line Education Forum and Mentorship Program. This program served 25 emerging Washington State directors and producers who participated in a 12 week educational forum. Five graduates were selected to participate in a six-month mentorship program to develop their own feature film projects.FWD also launched a funding initiative in early 2024 as a direct response to community feedback. The program is designed to invest in community-driven film industry workforce development efforts that serve historically underrepresented community members. In FY 2025, Washington Filmworks selected 6 proposals from across the state to financially support: one project providing film industry awareness - exposure to film industry career pathways and resources, and five projects providing film…
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.0M to $16M (+223%).
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 0% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
1% of Washington Filmworks’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Don Jensen
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of Washington Filmworks’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
Washington Filmworks leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Washington Filmworks.
“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
100% of Washington Filmworks's grant income comes from Washington funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
Washington Filmworks runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 328 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 328 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Washington Filmworks
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.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Washington Filmworks: 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 Washington Filmworks?
- Washington Filmworks (Washington) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,606 to it, the largest being WASHINGTON TOURISM ALLIANCE ($75,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Washington Filmworks have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $148,606 in grants to Washington Filmworks.
- Who is the largest funder of Washington Filmworks?
- WASHINGTON TOURISM ALLIANCE is the largest funder on record, with $75,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Washington Filmworks 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 2 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