Washington · Nonprofit
WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT
WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT (Washington) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,150,175 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($1,100,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $650k
What Washington Innocence Project does
Mission
Washington Innocence Project (WashIP) works to free innocent Washington State prisoners, improve our criminal legal system through education and advocacy, and support the wrongly convicted in Washington State as they rebuild their lives in freedom.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
WashIPs post-release Client Support work is being reorganized to better meet the needs of our community. We eliminated the Client Support Coordinator position and are instead providing targeted, ad hoc support upon request by members of our community of former clients, and subject to approval by leadership, while we study and rebuild our formal program.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
LITIGATION: Successfully completed the second of a three-year federal grant in partnership with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab to evaluate and get cases into DNA testing. One particularly complicated case is now in the process of testing and numerous other petitions for DNA testing are being litigated. The Litigation Team has deepened its knowledge on all cases of wrongful conviction by engaging in and leading trainings in national and state-level forums.
$535,449 spent$1,406 earned by the program50% of program spendingPOST-RELEASE SUPPORT: A number of clients are supported through our program with stabilizing support and assistance with securing medical appointments, submitting disability applications, seeking housing, seeking employment, and providing social-emotional support as our community of former clients work to reintegrate into the free world.
$374,815 spentof which $100,000 as grants35% of program spendingPOLICY REFORM: Continued deepening engagement with the defense bar and attempts to engage with prosecutors in a non-litigious manner to reduce costs and expedite moving cases forward. Three pieces of legislation were discussed during the legislative session, with one receiving a hearing and an interim plan established for 2025. Coalition building and information sharing among organizations and individuals with similar goals were established.
$160,635 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,070,899.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $466k to $870k (+87%).
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.
103% of WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Lara Zarowsky
Executive director
Board chair
Ashley Oconnor Mccready
Board president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $100k → $493k.
6 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT’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 INNOCENCE PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
26% 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 INNOCENCE PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 89% · 2022 70% · 2023 41% — 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
50% of WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT draws 94% 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. $333k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT: 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 INNOCENCE PROJECT?
- WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT (Washington) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,150,175 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($1,100,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $2,150,175 in grants to WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT?
- LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 is the largest funder on record, with $1,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WASHINGTON INNOCENCE PROJECT 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.
Play a game about who funds Washington Innocence Project →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), 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