The assets of Bellingham's top foundations grew to $19,825,559 for the most recent year on record, according to the recently released Washington Foundation DataBook, 4th Ed. The 960-page DataBook lists every foundation in Washington and profiles the top 373 Washington grantmaking foundations, whose assets represent more than 99% of all Washington foundation assets. The DataBook is the only directory in Washington that lists every one of the 20,000 grants awarded by the state's largest foundations.
There are 5 Bellingham foundations profiled in the DataBook. The combined total of the grants awarded by Bellingham foundations was $1,062,378.
Bellingham nonprofit organizations received 184 grants with a combined total of $4,377,644. The average grant to Bellingham nonprofit organizations was $23,792.
Each of the 20,000 grants made by the profiled foundations is described using the 26 Major Field Areas of the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) classification system, developed specifically to categorize nonprofit organizations. The top categories of foundation grants in Bellingham were: 91 grants classified as Education, with a sub-total of $1,866,289; 29 grants classified as Environmental quality, protection, with a sub-total of $1,837,243; 20 grants classified as Human services- other, multi-purpose, with a sub-total of $243,802.
Bellingham's largest foundation is the St. Lukes Foundation Of Bellingham, whose assets of $9,040,101 give it a state-wide ranking of 74, as compared to the other 372 foundations profiled. The largest Bellingham grant, made by Paul G. Allen Forest Protection Foundation, was to Northwest Ecosystem Alliance in the amount of $1,500,000. The purpose was: Support of forest conservation programs.
The combined asset amount of Washington's top 373 foundations is $36,700,281,240. The foundations profiled in the DataBook are identified by careful cross checking of IRS and state public records (starting with the IRS 990 tax returns foundations are required to file), culling out dedicated purpose foundations or foundations which award scholarships exclusively.
