OVERVIEW: This community foundation adjusted its focus in 2020 and pursues efforts for equity and economic opportunity through grantmaking and civic leadership.
IP TAKE: The Seattle Foundation’s Blueprint for Impact, created in 2020, “is informed by lessons from our past, bolstered by data revealing stark racial inequities among Black, Indigenous, People of Color and under-resourced communities, and encouraged by the belief that centering equity in our work will lead to a better future for all.” This community foundation takes its role as a civic leader seriously and works to facilitate cross-sector collaborations to achieve its equity goals for the city of Seattle and the larger metropolitan region. The foundation posts any competitive grant opportunities here, but this is not a particularly accessible funder, as it tends to work with existing partners and collaborators on policy and advocacy initiatives. Network with grantee partners to get involved, or contact individual staff members by phone.
PROFILE: Established in 1946, the Seattle Foundation is the largest community foundation serving the Pacific Northwest. It describes itself as “an agent of change” and works to “ignite[…] powerful, rewarding philanthropy to make Greater Seattle a stronger, more vibrant community for all.” Informed by the Seattle region’s recent growth, the COVID-19 pandemic and the persistence of racial inequity, the foundation’s Blueprint for Impact pursues a just democracy, equitable economy and resilient environment. To these ends, the foundation runs eight Core Programs; a Civic Leadership initiative; Civic Commons, a platform for networking and collaboration; and REPAIR, the foundation’s program for Racial Equitable Philanthropy Aimed at Initiating Reparations. The Seattle Foundation also facilitates Impact Investments for the benefit of the greater Seattle community.
Grants for Racial Justice
Over the past decade, racial justice has emerged as a major focus of the Seattle Foundation, with funding and engagements stemming from several grantmaking vehicles and initiatives.
REPAIR was launched in 2021 and is the result of several years of research and collaboration with and for Seattle’s BIPOC communities, leadership and nonprofit groups. The initiative represents a $25 million investment in Seattle’s Black communities and organizations through 2026, well as efforts and practices that “cuts across the entire foundation,” including donor-advised giving programs, support for Black-owned businesses and “accountability for how we are supporting the Black economic ecosystem of King County.”
Also launched in 2021, the Black-Led Joy and Wellness Fund is one of the foundation’s core programs. Funding supports the physical and mental wellness of Black staff members of nonprofits, including cash bonuses, retreats and paid time off. This program is conducted in collaboration with the 29-member Black-Led Organization Cohort (BLOC).
Past grantees include the Black Cinema Collective, Fathers and Sons Together, the Pan-African Center for Empowerment and Rainier Avenue Radio.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy and Community Development
Civic engagement and grassroots community organizing for progressive change main components of the Seattle Foundation’s Blueprint for Impact, with grants stemming from several different initiatives.
The Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) initiative is one of the foundation’s core programs and supports “grassroots efforts that increase engagement, power and influence of community members affected by poverty and racial disparities.” The program targets communities in South Seattle, White Center, Kent and SeaTac/Tukwila. In addition to grants, the program supports its grantees with technical assistance. Past N2N grantees include Movimiento Afro-Latino Seattle, Eagle’s Nest Community Kitchen, and Immigrant Seniors and Youth United.
Voter Education is another of the foundation’s core programs. The initiative works broadly to increase culturally-relevant voter engagement and the translation of voter education materials to languages spoken in Seattle’s most diverse neighborhoods. In collaboration with King County Elections, the program established the Voter Education Fund in 2017, which earmarks $950,000 for nonpartisan voter engagement and outreach for every election cycle. Recipients include the Hearing, Speech, & Deaf Center, Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project, and the Washington Indian Civil Rights Commission.
Another core program, the Civic Participation Impact Strategy, supports the development of “community-driven policy measures that foster a strong civic infrastructure through more inclusive representation, fair and accessible electoral systems, and deliberative democratic processes.” In addition to the passage of new laws and regulations, this program works to “ensure these community-driven priorities are fully implemented” in the interest in long-term, sustainable change. Grantees include Fair Vote Washington, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, and the Washington Bus.
The foundation brings its “deep localized knowledge and long-standing relationships” to an array of Civic Leadership engagements and collaborations. This work is geared toward policy systems-level change for “racial and economic equity” throughout the region. A sister initiative, Civic Commons, facilitates collaborations to advance “infrastructure and collective muscle needed to address the root causes of inequity in our region.” Civic Commons projects include the Black Home Initiative, a network of organizations and enterprises that accelerates Black homeownership, and We Belong Here, which builds cross-sector collaborations to “expand our region’s sense of belonging and ability to address challenges.”
Grants for Health, Housing, Work and Opportunity
The Seattle Foundation’s commitment to improving the lives of Seattle’s homeless, vulnerable and low-income people consists of policy development, systems reform and housing investment.
The Communities of Opportunity (COO) core program is a collaborative effort with King County “to increase health, housing, and/or economic opportunities through policy and systems reform.” The program was established in 2014, and gave away $2.5 million in its first five years. The initially targeted Seattle’s most diverse neighborhoods, but has more recently come focus on “upstream policy improvements that benefit the region as a whole.” For the latest areas of interest and funding opportunities, see the King County COO website. One past grantee partner, the White Center Community Development Association, received a grant to create a collaborative “community preference housing ordinance for King County.” Other grantee partners include the Seattle Indian Health Board, the Statewide Poverty Action Network, and the Chinatown-International District Worker and Organizing Center.
The Seattle Foundation also made impact investments in the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund, which provides funding for developments of affordable housing for working families.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
The Seattle Foundation’s Climate Justice Impact Strategy, another core program, pursues the goal of reducing “the disproportionate impact of climate change on people experiencing low income and communities of color.”
- Specific areas of focus for this program appear to change from year to year. A recent round of grantmaking supported leadership for resilience and mitigation, coalition building and storytelling.
- Grantees include the Transportation Choices Coalition, Environmental Professionals of Color, the Clean Energy Transition Institute and Grist’s Uproot Project, a “network of journalists” covering climate change and related environmental issues.
Grants for Nonprofits
The Seattle Foundation’s core program for Nonprofit Effectiveness and the affiliated Leading for Impact initiative invest in the improvement of “skills and operations” for organizations that serve the Seattle community. Main recipients of this funding include the nonprofit management platform 501 Commons and Bridgespan Consulting.
Important Grant Details:
The Seattle Foundation’s grants have been awarded in amounts of up to $6 million, but a significant portion of its larger grants probably stem from donor-advised vehicles.
The Seattle Foundation is committed to equity and economic opportunity in the region but tends to support policy and advocacy work as opposed to direct services.
The foundation takes it Civic Leadership role seriously, and serves as a facilitator of collaborations that “catalyze and leverage resources and relationships for long-term structural change and policy advocacy that works to center and support community power and decision making.”
Most of this funder’s discretionary grantmaking appears to go to preselected organizations. However, in many cases, panels of community members and leaders are in charge of grantmaking decisions. See core program pages for information about how grantmaking for each program is conducted.
The foundation occasionally posts information about competitive grants on its Grant Opportunities page.
For information about past grantees, see the foundation’s Impact Stories page or its tax filings.
Submit general inquiries to the foundation via its contact page. Phone numbers for individual staff members are provided in the staff directory.
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