The Dickey Fund

Private foundation · Grantmaker Seattle, WA EIN: 91-1961319

The Dickey Fund is a Form 990-PF private foundation based in Seattle, Washington (EIN 91-1961319). It reported making 15 grants totaling $123,000 in filing year 2025.

The Dickey Fund at a glance

In short: The Dickey Fund gave $123K across 15 grants in 2025 (avg $8K), mostly in Washington. 40% of 2025 grantees were new. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.

Annual giving (2025)
$123,000
-18.3% vs 2024
Grants made (2025)
15
-11.8% vs 2024
Average grant
$8,200
-7.4% vs 2024
Median grant
$3,000
Total assets
$129,385
+25.8% vs 2024
New grantees (estimate)
40% first-time grantees (6 of 15, 2025; small sample)
Primary geography
Washington (73% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
Latest 990 filing
Form 990-PF, 2025 View filing

Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2025; updated October 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology).

How to apply to The Dickey Fund

Accepts unsolicited proposals
No
How to Apply

The fund states that it makes contributions only to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds.

Contact

Mailing address: 405 18Th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112
Phone: (206) 328-2768

Application details from Grantable's research on the foundation's public materials; confirm on its website before applying.

Who The Dickey Fund funds

How this funder distributes its grants

Top Recipients

Top 10 recipients in 2025

Meredith Matthews YMCA: $51KMeredith Matthews YMCA$51KACLU: $15KACLU$15KPlanned Parenthood Federation: $15KPlanned Parenthood Federation$15KSama Seattle Sacred Music and Art: $10KSama Seattle Sacred Music andArt$10KShort Mt Sanctuary: $8KShort Mt Sanctuary$8KWilderness Awareness School: $6KWilderness Awareness School$6KNopal & Mesquite Sacred Pathways: $5KNopal & Mesquite SacredPathways$5KKuow: $3KKuow$3KUnion of Concerned Scientists: $3KUnion of Concerned Scientists$3KNatural Resources Defense Council: $2KNatural Resources DefenseCouncil$2K

The largest 2025 recipient was Meredith Matthews YMCA ($51K). Together the top 10 received $118K.

Grant Size Distribution

72 grants across all recorded years

66<$50K6$50–100K$100–250K$250–500K$500K–1M$1–5M$5M+

The most common grant size was under $50K: 66 grants of 72 (92%).

Geographic Focus

Where this funder awards grants

In 2025, 73% of grant dollars went to recipients in Washington, 15% to New York, 6% to Tennessee, 4% to Texas, and 2% to Massachusetts.

Grant Distribution by State

10states

Share of 2025 grant dollars across all 15 itemized grants.

Cities

SeattleNew YorkBellevueDuvallArlingtonCambridgeBremertonKentStratfordAustinLibertyMerrifirldMontgomerySan FranciscoVashonWashington

Is The Dickey Fund open to new grantees?

40%

first-time grantees, 2025

In 2025, 6 of 15 grantees (40%) were first-time recipients. With only 15 grantees, that is a small sample: one grantee more or less moves the share by about 7 points. First grants averaged $4K; repeat grants $11K. How we count

Medians: $3K first-time, $3K repeat.

  • 53% of 2025 grantees were also funded in 2024. Method
  • Giving fell 22% from 2022 to 2025. Method
  • In 2025 it paid out well above its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method

Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990-PF filings (2019–2025). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.

Giving History

Giving Over Time

Total grant dollars and number of grants per year

$0$100K$200K$300K14 grants2019 14 grants2020 10 grants2021 17 grants2022 13 grants2023 17 grants2024 15 grants2025

From 2019 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $98K (2019) to $205K (2023). In 2025 it made 15 grants totaling $123K.

Grants by year

Grant recipients and amounts by year

RecipientPurposeAmount
Meredith Matthews YMCA Seattle, WASports/Education$51,000
ACLU New York, NYCivil Liberties/Education$15,000
Planned Parenthood Federation Seattle, WACivil Liberties/Education$15,000
Sama Seattle Sacred Music and Art Seattle, WACultural Preservation$10,000
Short Mt Sanctuary Liberty, TNConservation and Preservation$7,500
Wilderness Awareness School Duvall, WAConservation and Education$6,000
Nopal & Mesquite Sacred Pathways Austin, TXConservation and Preservation$5,000
Kuow Seattle, WAMusic/Education$3,000
Union of Concerned Scientists Cambridge, MAEducation$3,000
Natural Resources Defense Council New York, NYConservation and Preservation$2,000
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Financial History

Multi-year comparison from IRS filings

Figures from IRS filings, by filing year
Filing yearTotal AssetsRevenueExpensesGrants paidGrantsQualifying DistributionsNet Investment IncomeDistributable Amount
2025$129,385$155,865$127,506$123,00015$126,200$48,485$10,084
2024$102,836$125,700$156,486$150,50017$153,985$95,706$8,846
2023$182,888$76,697$211,514$204,80013$208,050$62,040$13,171
2022$277,986$105,895$162,811$158,00017$160,120$75,758$20,324
2021$328,493$156,475$202,366$197,20010$199,400$116,269$23,596
2020$391,938$40,975$186,121$180,70014—$17,779$25,120
2019$521,538$124,789$103,822$98,17314—$74,385$23,970

Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, The Dickey Fund reported a distributable amount of $10K for 2025 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.

Research compiled by Grantable AI from public sources. Last updated September 2026.

Mission & Focus Areas

No mission statement for the fund is provided. Its 2025 grants included support for sports and education, civil liberties and education, cultural preservation, conservation and preservation, music and education, and food security.

Among its 2025 grantees, ARTE NOIR received $500. ARTE NOIR describes its mission as creating “space, stability, opportunity, and training” to serve the needs of Seattle’s displaced Black creative community through its permanent location at Midtown Square. This is the grantee’s stated mission, not the fund’s.

Grantmaking

In filing year 2025, the fund made 15 grants totaling $123,000. Grant amounts ranged from $500 to $51,000, with a median of $3,000.

The largest listed grants were $51,000 to MEREDITH MATTHEWS YMCA for sports and education; $15,000 to ACLU for civil liberties and education; $15,000 to PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION for civil liberties and education; and $10,000 to SAMA SEATTLE SACRED MUSIC AND ART for cultural preservation.

Leadership & Key People

Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings

The 2025 filing lists John Goodfellow as vice president and Barbara Peterson as president and secretary-treasurer.

The Dickey Fund is led by Barbara Peterson, President & Sec-Treas on every filing since 2019; none of the 2 officers listed in 2025 report compensation.

Officers on the 2025 filing

  • Barbara Peterson

    President & Sec-Treas

    On filings since 2019

    2 hrs/week

    No compensation reported

  • John Goodfellow

    Vice President

    On filings since 2019

    3 hrs/week

    No compensation reported

Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2019–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.

Frequently asked questions about The Dickey Fund

How much does The Dickey Fund give each year?

The Dickey Fund gave $123K across 15 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. In 2024 it gave $151K across 17 grants.

What is The Dickey Fund's typical grant size?

The Dickey Fund's median grant in 2025 was $3,000, and its average grant was $8,200, across 15 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Organizations receiving their first grant from The Dickey Fund that year got $4K on average.

Where does The Dickey Fund give grants?

The Dickey Fund gives mostly in Washington: 73% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF went to recipients there. The next largest states were New York (15%) and Tennessee (6%). The most frequent recipient cities were Seattle, WA (6 grants) and New York, NY (3 grants).

Does The Dickey Fund give general operating support?

Not in 2025: none of the 15 grants with a stated purpose on The Dickey Fund's 2025 IRS Form 990-PF were described as general or operating support. Recurring purposes include "Conservation and Preservation" (4 grants).

Who are The Dickey Fund's largest grantees?

The Dickey Fund's largest 2025 grantees include Meredith Matthews YMCA ($51,000), ACLU ($15,000) and Planned Parenthood Federation ($15,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Together they received 66% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.

How large is The Dickey Fund?

The Dickey Fund reported $129K in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. It paid out $126K in qualifying distributions that year, against a required minimum of $10K (roughly 5% of its investment assets).

What does The Dickey Fund fund?

No mission statement for the fund is provided. Its 2025 grants included support for sports and education, civil liberties and education, cultural preservation, conservation and preservation, music and education, and food security. See mission & focus areas ↑

How do I apply for a grant from The Dickey Fund?

The fund states that it makes contributions only to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds. Eligibility and process details are in the grantmaking section of this profile. See how to apply ↑

What is The Dickey Fund's EIN?

The Dickey Fund's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 91-1961319. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2019–2025.

Does The Dickey Fund accept unsolicited proposals?

No, according to Grantable's research on the foundation's published guidelines. See how to apply ↑

Data last updated October 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.

Data update history

(3)

When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable

  1. Added Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2019 (received by the IRS July 9, 2020)
  2. Added Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS June 8, 2026)
  3. IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2020–2024

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Cite this profile

Grantable. (2026). The Dickey Fund funder profile. GrantGraph. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://grantable.co/funders/the-dickey-fund-morg_85571a74d01b4af58bed706d20747016

BibTeX
@misc{grantable_911961319_2026,
  author       = {{Grantable}},
  title        = {{The Dickey Fund funder profile}},
  howpublished = {GrantGraph},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://grantable.co/funders/the-dickey-fund-morg_85571a74d01b4af58bed706d20747016},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-18. Data licensed CC BY 4.0}
}

The figures on this page are open data under CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to Grantable and a link. Download the data.

Figures come from The Dickey Fund's IRS filings (methodology). AI-written summaries, news items and logos are not covered by the open licence. Spot an error? Email hello@grantable.co.

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