Seattle Foundation is the

community foundation Community foundations (CFs) are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and grant making facility dedicated primarily to the social improvement of a given place. Community foundations are a global pheno ...

serving the greater

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

area. Established in 1946, it is the oldest community foundation serving the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, with assets of more than $965 million. As of 2017, it was the 21st largest community foundation in the United States.

Services

Under the leadership of its president and CEO Tony Mestres, Seattle Foundation offers an array of philanthropic services, including collective grant-making and

impact investing Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an a ...

. In 2013, the foundation awarded grants of more than $65 million. It has worked with Seattle and

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

lawmakers on civic initiatives to increase voter turnout and provide services to immigrants and refugees.

GiveBIG

Seattle Foundation's annual GiveBIG, a 24-hour online giving campaign designed to support King County and Washington state

nonprofit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, has raised more than $100 million from 400,000 individual donations to nearly 1,600 different organizations since 2011. In its sixth year, GiveBIG was extended an extra 24 hours due to technical difficulties with Kimbia, the fundraising platform used by dozens of community foundations across the country on May 3, 2016. The foundation's eighth and final GiveBIG campaign was held on May 9, 2018. * June 23, 2011: $3.6 million * May 2, 2012: $7.4 million * May 15, 2013: $11.1 million * May 6, 2014: $12.9 million * May 5, 2015: $16.3 million * May 3–4, 2016: $22 million * May 10, 2017: $19 million *May 9, 2018: $16.6 million In November 2018, Seattle Foundation announced that GiveBIG 2019 would be run by 501 Commons, a Seattle-based nonprofit consulting service. The campaign was held May 8, 2019, raising $11.4 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seattle Foundation Organizations based in Seattle Community foundations based in the United States Organizations established in 1946