Organizations Funded to Date
Strengthening Our Communities Since 2015
First Fed Foundation, a private charitable corporation, began making grants in 2015, thanks to a generous gift valued at $12 million from the parent company of First Fed, when the bank was converted to a publicly traded company.
Committed to creating broad impact that benefits low- to moderate-income, disadvantaged, and/or marginalized persons and families, the Foundation has awarded, from 2015 through Spring 2026, $8,194,000 in grants to nonprofits, government and tribal organizations, and school districts in the following funding priorities and grantmaking areas:
Scroll down to see grants awarded in 2026 and 2025. For a full list of grants awarded since our inception in 2015, click here.
2026 Contributions
Housing & Homelessness Grants:
Road2Home: $25,000 to expand care to 150 additional highly vulnerable, medically fragile, chronically unsheltered individuals in Bellingham, by hiring an Outreach Specialist to provide consistent, personalized case management, and access to healing, stability, and permanent housing resources.
Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center: $25,000 to support the Housing Stability program in reducing homelessness caused by evictions by providing free mediation and conflict coaching services to tenants, landlords, neighbors, and roommates.
Community Development Grants:
Bremerton Foodline: $25,000 to purchase a new walk-in fridge and freezer, increasing capacity to safely store perishable foods for distribution to seven food banks, 29 nonprofits, and directly to the doors of households experiencing food insecurity and mobility challenges across Kitsap County.
Foothills Food Bank: $25,000 to provide shelf-stable, ready-to-eat food to underhoused and vulnerable East Whatcom County residents.
Jefferson Healthcare Foundation: $25,000 to purchase a digital intraoral scanner and mobile laptop that will increase access to high-quality dentures, nightguards, and prosthetic services for low-income and underserved adults.
South Kitsap Helpline: $25,000 to complete final capital improvements on the new facility in order to meet the growing needs of more than 9,000 low-income residents annually for food, emergency assistance, and connections to resources for clothing, housing, job training, childcare and more.
Economic Development Grants:
Community Works: $30,000 to build bridges between schools, industry, and the community by providing 77 Jefferson County youth, ages 18 to 24, with trades education through shop activities, paid internships, and in-school vocational training, and empowering youth to gain valuable skills while contributing to real solutions for regional economic development.
Olympic Medical Center: $30,000 to support the Workforce Development Program in providing tuition and financial assistance for Clallam and Jefferson County community members to earn healthcare degrees and advanced credentials, secure employment at Olympic Medical Center, build family-sustaining careers, and reduce critical workforce shortages.
The Coffee Oasis: $30,000 to increase the number of Kitsap County’s low-income, homeless youth, ages 16 to 25, participating in employment readiness and job preparation classes and paid internships, equipping them for employment and long-term self-sufficiency.
Community Support Grants:
East Clallam County CERT Association: $10,000 to purchase a drone to expedite First Responder information-gathering when roads are broken or otherwise impassable, and bring lifesaving resources to sudden and urgent needs of Clallam and Jefferson Counties’ most severely affected communities.
Jumping Mouse Children’s Center: $7,500 to increase the number of young children receiving in-depth mental health therapy, regardless of their ability to pay, benefitting nearly 100 families in Jefferson County.
NAMI of Whatcom County: $10,000 to expand the delivery of no-cost presentations for Whatcom County’s middle and high school students, staff, and parents, increasing knowledge of mental illness, warning signs, and communication skills so that more youth and families can access help sooner.
Peacock Family Services: $7,500 to help bridge the gap between true program costs and what families can afford, ensuring that all children—regardless of financial limitations—can participate. These funds will strengthen our capacity to maintain equitable access, support staff development, and ensure high-quality early education that builds a strong foundation for our community’s families.
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church: $7,500 to provide scholarships for children of low- and moderate-income families to attend a high-quality preschool in Forks.
WSU Kitsap Extension: $7,500 to support the Kitsap Farmers Fighting Hunger project in purchasing fresh, local produce from Kitsap farmers for donation to area food banks, stabilizing incomes for growers and expanding access to nutritious food for those experiencing food insecurity amid rising costs and reduced federal funding.
West Sound Treatment Center: $10,000 to provide essential stability items, emergency shelter supplies, and critical workforce readiness tools to support 1,500 homeless, justice-involved, and low- to moderate-income individuals navigating substance use and mental health disorders.
2025 Contributions
Housing & Homelessness Grants:
Dove House Advocacy Services: $25,000 to support Jefferson county families fleeing domestic violence by providing funds for rent, housing deposits, utilities, transportation, and other basic needs.
Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County: $25,000 to build the infrastructure—including streets, sewer, and utility hook-ups—for the Landes South development, comprised of 14 units of permanently affordable housing for as many as 30 low-income Port Townsend residents.
LifeWire: $25,000 to purchase and install a vehicle gate at the parking entrance to Hope Starts Here, a confidential shelter in Bellevue for individuals and families fleeing domestic violence, making it inaccessible to the public and safeguarding survivors.
The Sophia Way: $25,000 to provide the financial assistance and case management support needed so that 15 women from the city of Bellevue, who are experiencing homelessness, can secure permanent housing.
YWCA of Kitsap County: $25,000 to fund the replacement of stoves, refrigerators, and hot water heaters in the Y’s emergency shelter and transitional housing facility for formerly homeless women, domestic violence survivors, and their children.
Community Development Grants:
City of Port Angeles Fire Department: $25,000 to equip 34 first responders with protective gear and trauma kits, enhancing responder safety so that they can provide life-saving care to victims in high-risk and violent emergencies.
Ferndale Food Bank: $25,000 to help provide culturally relevant food to the 4,000 Latinx, Russian/Ukrainian, Iranian, and Indian individuals the food bank serves annually.
Forks Community Food Bank: $25,000 to improve access to healthy, nutritious food for the nearly 20,000 clients visiting the food bank annually.
Forks Community Hospital: $25,000 to purchase new, up-to-date mammography equipment, enabling more women to receive breast cancer screening and diagnostics services closer to home.
Olympic Peninsula YMCA: $30,000 to help fund classroom furnishings and equipment for the new Early Learning Childcare Center in Port Angeles which will serve 76 kids, extend financial subsidies to a minimum of 27% of them, and provide high-quality early education so that they’re prepared to enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Port Angeles Food Bank: $25,000 to purchase a larger, refrigerated box truck to expand and enhance the Mobile Market’s delivery of fresh and nutritious food directly to as many as 800 households per month.
Sequim Food Bank: $25,000 to provide nutritious protein for rural households by purchasing and distributing fresh, local ground beef to at least 1,000 individuals weekly, while also sourcing food from and supporting the local economy during a time when it’s needed most.
Economic Development Grants:
Peninsula College Foundation: $50,000 to help build the dental hygiene clinic and lab that, when completed, will facilitate hands-on training, graduate 10 licensed dental hygienists annually from Clallam and Jefferson Counties, address the healthcare workforce shortage, increase living-wage jobs, and add a low-cost dental clinic on the Olympic Peninsula.
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Multi-Employer Training and Education Fund: $25,000 to expand wraparound services—including childcare stipends, transportation assistance, technology access, tutoring, and individualized navigation services—to reduce barriers and support lower-income PeaceHealth employees to earn advanced credentials, move into higher-paying healthcare roles, and achieve family-sustaining careers.
United Way of Clallam County: $25,000 to provide 800 students struggling with barriers to their education, access to financial aid, scholarships, and other educational attainment services and resources to ensuring they can obtain credentials, enter the workforce, and achieve financial security.
Community Support Grants:
CK Food Bank: $10,000 to help the food bank serve 110,000 pounds of food and necessities each month to as many as 3,500 individuals, January through March 2026, ensuring that no family is turned away hungry.
Field Arts & Event Hall: $7,500 to provide over 1,400 K-12 students in Port Angeles and Sequim free access to professional performances, artist-led workshops, classroom arts experiences aligned with curriculum, and afterschool programs, removing barriers so low-income and rural youth can engage with and learn from exceptional local artists and thrive academically and creatively.
Foster Hearts: $5,000 to help provide extracurricular activities—including workshops, outdoor adventures, and educational outings—to 70 Whatcom County foster children, enhancing their emotional well-being, social skills, and resilience.
Helpline House: $10,000 to support construction of a new 12,731 square foot community services and resource center on Bainbridge Island, doubling the current facility size in order to address rapidly escalating demand for food, emergency assistance, and mental health counseling.
Key City Public Theatre: $5,000 to help bring Theatre Adventure Week to four Jefferson County classrooms, engaging hundreds of 1st-8th graders and their teachers in an arts program that incorporates and enhances existing curriculum by combining theatrical play and skill building, and culminates in student performances for schoolmates and parents.
Kitsap Home Builders Foundation: $10,000 to support a workforce development program for 18-24-year-olds, which aims to train and prepare young adults for careers in construction, address an industrywide skills gap, boost employment opportunities, and enhance earning potential and economic mobility.
Kitsap Homes of Compassion: $5,000 to establish the Resident Rental Assistance Fund, covering move-in costs and emergency rental assistance to help low-income residents secure and maintain stable, affordable housing.
Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center: $7,500 to provide housing financial assistance and navigation support to families at risk of eviction in Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap Counties.
Kitsap Regional Library Foundation: $5,000 to support ‘To the Library,’ introducing all 3rd and 6th graders in Kitsap County Public Schools to the library through in-school visits and library field trips, connecting 5,000 students with all the resources and learning opportunities the library has to offer.
Kulshan Community Land Trust: $15,000 to provide the support necessary for 18 first-time, low- to moderate-income households to purchase permanently affordable homes of their own at the new LaFreniere Court in Bellingham.
Lydia Place: $15,000 to support the expansion of the Prevention Program by adding a third case manager and assisting an additional 30-40 Whatcom County families with children who are at risk of homelessness, yet ineligible for other housing services, to remain housed, avoiding homelessness and its consequences.
Max Higbee Center: $5,000 to make necessary upgrades to the facility that serves more than 200 Whatcom County teens and adults living with developmental disabilities annually.
New Day Ministry: $5,000 to provide nutritious, high-quality foods to more than 900 low-income individuals, seniors, children, and families in Kitsap County.
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding: $7,500 to develop curriculum that teaches new and seasoned marine technicians from Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap Counties how to work with rapidly changing battery technology and providing a pathway to living wage jobs in the maritime trades.
Port Townsend Farmers Market (PTFM), Chimacum Farmers Market (CFM), Jefferson County Farmers Markets (JCFM): $7,500 to support the food security and nutrition of over 1,000 low-income Clallam County seniors by providing access to food benefits for fresh, local fruits and vegetables through the farmers market, food bank, and meal and home sites.
Port Townsend Marine Science Center: $7,500 to support 227 low- and moderate-income students to participate in hands-on education programs that provide real science skills, feed curiosity, help students form deeper connections to the marine environment, foster social/emotional learning, and introduce career opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
Rebuilding Hope Sexual Assault: $7,500 to provide critical programs and services that address sexual violence in Kitsap County, serving approximately 300 survivors annually with 24/7 victim advocacy and therapy, and providing prevention education to hundreds more in the wider community.
Scarlet Road: $7,500 to support crisis services to more than 170 survivors of sexual exploitation, provide prevention training for 1,400+ youth, and increase access to medical facilities and care for survivors in Kitsap County.
South Kitsap School District/West Sound STEM Network: $10,000 to deliver STEM Like ME! programs to 4,500 Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap County middle schoolers, connecting them with industry role models and hands-on STEM activities, and inspiring and creating future leaders.
Stephens House: $7,500 to help Stephens House increase the number of low- to moderate-income adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities participating in their affordable, inclusive day program that fosters social connection and community engagement and provides caregiver respite.
Whatcom Family & Community Network: $12,500 to help reduce suicide and promote mental well-being by providing trainings for middle and high school students, and workshops for adults and youth.
Wild Bird Charity: $10,000 to provide 3,000 weekend bags of food to Whatcom County kids, ensuring they can come to school on Monday mornings, fed and ready to learn, regardless of their circumstances.
YEA Music: $5,000 to support the sixth annual Summer Music Camps in Jefferson County, offered free of charge to more than fifty 4th through 12th graders.
For a list of all grants awarded since 2015, click here.