Community Foundation For Southwest Washington

What Community Foundation For Southwest Washington does

The Community Foundation for Southwest Washington is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community foundation established in 1984 and headquartered in Vancouver, Washington. It serves individual donors, families, businesses, professional advisors, nonprofit organizations, and students across Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania Counties in southwest Washington. The foundation's core offering is philanthropic services — fund administration, grantmaking, scholarship management, and planned giving — delivered through a relationship-driven advising model backed by an online donor portal and a third-party SmarterSelect scholarship application platform. The product portfolio spans Donor Advised Funds, Scholarship Funds, Field of Interest, Designated, and Agency Funds, Giving Circles, and Heritage Society legacy gifts on the donor side, plus Focus Grants, Social Justice & Resiliency Grants, and SWIIFT low-interest loans on the grantmaking side.

The foundation's economic model combines fund administration fees (which vary by fund type and sometimes by fund size), modest interest income from SWIIFT loans (2-4% on $100K-$500K loans, terms of six months to five years), professional investment management fees on pooled charitable portfolios, and direct donations including contributions to the Administrative Endowment. In 2023 it distributed $22 million in total grants and $2.4 million in strategic grants to 63 organizations; in 2025 it awarded 499 scholarships totaling $1.4 million and $2.7 million in strategic grants to 55 organizations. The foundation manages 378 charitable funds and has distributed $314 million since inception. It operates with a small staff (1-10 employees) and has no proprietary technology platform, relying instead on a web-based donor portal, SmarterSelect for scholarships, and standard content/social media channels for outreach.

Name

Community Foundation For Southwest Washington

Legal name

Community Foundation for Southwest Washington

Website

https://cfsww.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Community Foundation for Southwest Washington is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1984 that administers charitable funds, distributes grants, and manages scholarships for donors, nonprofits, and students across Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania Counties in southwest Washington.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Philanthropy and Charitable Fund Administration

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Investment Advice (6282), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Family Offices & Philanthropic Advisors (Grantmaking) (BPAGAKAD)

Keywords

• Community philanthropy services
• Donor advised funds
• Charitable fund management
• Nonprofit grantmaking
• Scholarship fund administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Fund Administration Fees: Competitive administration fees offset the cost of fund administration for charitable funds. Fees vary by fund type and, in some cases, depend on fund size. These fees are reinvested in southwest Washington through community work.
2. SWIIFT Loan Interest: Low-interest loans (averaging 2-4% interest rates) provided to nonprofits and housing providers for capacity building and affordable housing development. Loans range from $100,000 to $500,000 with terms from 6 months to 5 years, generating modest financial returns that are recirculated for sustainable impact.
3. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The foundation receives donations to various funds including the Community Giving Fund, scholarship funds, and administrative endowment. Donors include individuals, families, businesses, and other foundations supporting southwest Washington communities.
4. Professional Investment Management: Charitable funds are pooled in professionally managed investment portfolios designed to fit donor time horizons and giving goals. The foundation manages investment pools that generate returns to sustain long-term charitable impact.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Community Foundation For Southwest Washington is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit philanthropic services organization that helps individuals, families, and businesses establish and administer charitable funds, manages professional investment portfolios for those funds, and distributes grants and scholarships to nonprofits and students across Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania Counties. It also offers the SWIIFT Initiative providing low-interest loans ($100,000-$500,000 at 2-4% interest) to nonprofits and affordable housing providers.

Product overview

Community Foundation For Southwest Washington is a philanthropic services organization offering a unified platform of charitable fund management products. The core portfolio includes Donor Advised Funds and Scholarship Funds for individual and family philanthropy, paired with Focus Grants and Social Justice & Resiliency Grants for nonprofit grantmaking. A distinctive offering is the SWIIFT Loans program providing low-interest capital to nonprofits and housing developers. The platform also encompasses Planned Giving services, specialty fund types (Field of Interest, Designated, Agency, Giving Circle), and educational tools like the Archetypes of Community Contribution. Supporting infrastructure includes an online donor portal for fundholders and a SmarterSelect-based scholarship application portal for students. Together, these products enable charitable giving, grantmaking, impact investing, and scholarship management across Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania Counties.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SWIIFT Initiative: An initiative providing low-interest loans to organizations working to develop affordable housing and scale promising programs.

Products and services

• Donor Advised Funds Tax-smart charitable giving accounts that act as a flexible alternative to private foundations, allowing donors to recommend grants to verified 501(c)(3) organizations over time with simplified recordkeeping.
• Scholarship Funds Customizable scholarship funds supporting students across any background, education level, institution or career path, with personalized criteria and selection committee management.
• Focus Grants Responsive grant funding for nonprofits working to disrupt the cycle of poverty through three impact areas: basic needs, educational attainment, and asset building, providing general operating support to 55+ organizations annually.
• Social Justice & Resiliency Grants Proactive and flexible rapid-response awards for organizations serving Black, Indigenous, and communities of color, supporting capacity building and systemic change efforts to address economic, social, and racial disparities.
• SWIIFT Loans Low-interest loans ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 for nonprofits and housing providers in southwest Washington, supporting affordable housing development and nonprofit capacity building with terms from six months to five years at 2-4% interest rates.
• Planned Giving / Legacy Gifts Estate planning services including bequests, beneficiary designations, charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, charitable lead trusts, and retained life estate options, with membership in the Heritage Society for legacy donors.
• Field of Interest Fund Charitable funds supporting specific cause areas or geographic regions, with grantmaking informed and managed by foundation professionals.
• Designated Fund Funds providing regular support to one or more selected charitable organizations, with automatic grant distribution managed by foundation staff.
• Agency Fund Endowment funds designed for nonprofits to accept complex gifts and maintain endowments, with professional investment management and administrative services.
• Giving Circle Pooled giving vehicles for groups of like-minded donors to collectively contribute tax-deductible donations and distribute grants, with administrative support provided by the foundation.
• Student Scholarship Application Portal Online application platform using SmarterSelect for students to apply for local scholarships, featuring eligibility quiz, document submission, and tracking capabilities.
• Online Donor Portal Web-based portal for fundholders to track fund balance, contribution and grant histories, investment earnings, and manage charitable giving activities.

Quantifiable outcome

• $314 Million in total grants distributed since inception
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Clark County Community ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal funder providing grants for nonprofits offering essential services across the housing continuum in Clark County.
• Cowlitz Tribal FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerClark County-specific funding focused on behavioral health, education, emergency/social services, environmental justice, and arts/culture.
• Firstenburg FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCapacity-building support for small nonprofits and grants for homelessness prevention and affordable housing in the region.
• SWACHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding for health promotion projects, community-clinical linkages, crisis response, and operating support in Clark, Klickitat, and Skamania Counties.
• United Way of Cowlitz and WahkiakumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal organization strengthening nonprofits addressing family poverty, early learning, and senior services.
• United Way of Columbia-WillametteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivic engagement and advocacy fund grants advancing racial equity in collaboration with communities.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust: A large Pacific Northwest private foundation making grants across the region including Washington state. Comparable as a major regional grantmaker, but operating as a private foundation rather than as a community foundation with donor-advised funds.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The largest private foundation in the Pacific Northwest, headquartered in Seattle and active across Washington and Oregon. Included only as a broad incumbent operating in overlapping grantmaking/strategic philanthropy space, not a direct competitor for community-level funds.

Direct peers

• Seattle Foundation: Washington state's largest community foundation, administering hundreds of charitable funds across the Puget Sound region. Directly comparable to CFSWW as a regional community foundation offering DAFs, scholarship funds, and grantmaking, but serving a different (larger) Puget Sound geography.
• Whatcom Community Foundation: Whatcom County's community foundation providing charitable fund management, scholarship administration, and grantmaking. Closely comparable to CFSWW in mission, county-level geographic focus, and DAF/scholarship product suite, though serving a different WA geography.
• The Oregon Community Foundation: One of the largest community foundations in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, administering thousands of charitable funds across Oregon and southwest Washington-adjacent counties. Highly comparable as a multi-county community foundation with DAFs, scholarship funds, and place-based grantmaking.
• Kitsap Community Foundation: A Kitsap Peninsula-based community foundation providing DAFs, scholarships, and grantmaking. Functionally and structurally comparable to CFSWW as a county-level WA community foundation, though serving a different Puget Sound region.
• Greater Tacoma Community Foundation: A Pierce County-based community foundation offering DAFs, scholarship funds, and nonprofit grantmaking. Comparable to CFSWW in scale, governance (board-led), and product mix, serving an adjacent southwest Washington/Puget Sound market.
• Community Foundation of North Central Washington: A multi-county WA community foundation administering charitable funds and running scholarship and grant programs across north central Washington. Directly comparable in operating model and product set, though smaller in scale and serving an inland region.

Emerging players

• United Way of Columbia-Willamette: A regional United Way serving the Portland/southwest Washington corridor with workplace giving, grant programs, and donor engagement. Partially overlapping with CFSWW in mission and donor base, but operating a federated/campaign-driven model rather than a community foundation DAF model.

Others

• Fidelity Charitable: The largest U.S. donor-advised fund sponsor, with national scale and a frictionless digital experience. Functions as an indirect competitor for regional donor giving — particularly for HNW and tech-savvy Pacific Northwest donors — rather than a direct community foundation peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CFSWW
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cfsww
• Instagraminstagram.com/cfsww

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Community Foundation For Southwest Washington