OVERVIEW: The Seattle-based Raikes Foundation works in Washington and across the U.S. in the areas of education, youth homelessness, democracy and racial equity. It also supports equitable change in the philanthropic ecosystem.
IP TAKE: The Raikes Foundation is an equity- and youth-focused funder working to shift power, policy and philanthropic practice. As cofounder Tricia Raikes wrote, the foundation aims to move attention and dollars “away from fear and divisiveness and toward shared values and collective aspirations.” That ethos shows up across its work: Raikes backs local organizations, coalitions and solutions led by people closest to the problems, while also investing in research, advocacy and donor organizing that can move systems.
This is not a cold-application funder. Raikes takes a proactive approach and does not accept unsolicited proposals. It has also has announced plans to spend down its endowment by 2038. Its strongest prospects are organizations already embedded in its priority ecosystems: education redesign and school funding, youth homelessness prevention, state-based power-building, equity-centered democracy work and donor mobilization through initiatives such as Resourcing Democracy.
The realistic path is visibility through current grantees, peer funders, collaboratives, staff networks and evidence of field-level leverage. Grantseekers should show credible data, strong communications, community trust and a clear systems-change role.
PROFILE: The Seattle-based Raikes Foundation was established in 2002 by Jeff and Tricia Raikes, who met in the early 1980s while working for Microsoft, where Jeff served as president of the company’s business division. He went on to serve as the CEO of the Gates Foundation.
The foundation’s goal is “to bring people together to break down barriers that prevent communities from thriving and to support solutions that allow all of us to determine a fair and just future.” Its grantmaking programs include Education, Housing Stability for Youth, Impact-Driven Philanthropy and Resourcing Equity and Democracy.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Education grantmaking works to support “youth, educators, and policymakers to reimagine and redesign our public education system so that all young people have an excellent education, no matter who they are or where they live.” Grantmaking spans PK-12 and higher education.Raikes’ current education language is systems-level, equity-centered, public-education-focused and increasingly “future-ready” in the AI era.
The foundation names four focus areas for its education grantmaking:
PK School and System Redesign focus area provides support supports for schools, districts and programs that emphasize “developmentally rich and challenging educational experiences” that place student needs at the center of instruction and learning. The foundation’s main partner in this pursuit is the Bele Network, which works to “transform experiences and outcomes” through “research-backed best practices.”
PK-12 Resource Equity focuses on reforming school funding so that schools are better able to meet the needs of every young learner. The foundation is a founding member of the Resource Equity Funders Collaborative, which works at the state and national level to “drive durable, systemic change in the public education system.”
The PK-12 Equity Advocacy focus area works to inform and educate policymakers and others on the science of learning and development so that they are able to make better decisions related to education policy at the state and local levels. Grantees include the Learning Policy Institute, the Education Trust and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, among others.
Post-Secondary Student Success focuses on first-generation college students, students of color and “public, broad-access institutions.” One grantee partner, the Student Experience Project, works to “increase degree attainment by building equitable learning environments and fostering a sense of belonging on campus.”
- Recent grantees include the Alliance for Education, Alliance for Youth Organizing, American Association of School Administrators, American Council on Education, School Board Partners, the National Center on Education and the Economy, Edunomics Lab at Georgetown, Education Law Center, Learning Policy Institute, University of Texas System, Building Changes and SchoolHouse Connection, among others.
Grants for Housing, Human Services and Community Development
Housing Stability for Youth grants occur in the state of Washington and elsewhere in the U.S. to prevent and respond to youth and young adult homelessness. The foundation does not operate a standalone LGBTQ program; LGBTQ youth are most clearly named within the Housing Stability for Youth strategy, where Raikes says LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color are overrepresented among youth experiencing homelessness.
The 2025 annual report says its approach includes prevention, education, crisis response, and field building/advocacy. This funding area is by invitation only.
Raikes names four specific focus areas for this giving program:
Prevent Youth Homelessness works to support organizations and agencies that support young people as they transition from foster homes, behavioral health care or youth justice programs to safe and stable housing.
The foundation also supports School Partnerships with agencies through which students can find or be placed in safe housing.
Raikes invests in efforts to provide young people at risk of becoming homeless with Immediate Access to Stable Housing, including efforts to provide stakeholders with “the data necessary to quickly match young people’s needs with housing options.”
Representation Matters refers to the foundation’s support fro “youth advocacy groups and community coalitions to educate policymakers on issues most pressing to young people experiencing homelessness.” The foundation established its Housing Our People Equity (HOPE) Initiative “to learn from young people with lived experience of homelessness and partner with them in grantmaking and leadership development opportunities.”
More than half of Raikes’s grantmaking for youth homelessness stays in the state of Washington, where its grantee partners include A Way Home Washington, Building Changes and Community Solutions.
- Recent grantees include SchoolHouse Connection, Building Changes, Mockingbird Society, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, YouthCare and related education/housing organizations.
- The 2025 report also names a multi-state Momentum Fund supporting seven states interested in adopting strategies to address youth homelessness, and an Acceleration Fund, a pooled fund directing donors toward strategic efforts to reduce youth homelessness in Washington State.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy and Racial Justice
Resourcing Equity & Democracy (RED) “strives to build capacity for democratic life by investing in organizing that builds the power of communities who have not had equal voice in our country’s institutions.”This funding area invests in community organizing, power building, multiracial democracy and state/national civic infrastructure
- Still in its earliest stages, the foundation has indicated that it will begin its work in this area “by co-developing an analysis of current organizing structures and will take counsel from youth organizers, veteran base-builders, and peer funders to guide our approach.”
- In 2025, Raikes announced grants to the Washington Power Building Table, Michigan Alignment Table, North Carolina groups including The Carolina Federation Fund, Somos Siembra and We Are Down Home, and national partners including Grassroots Power Project’s Grassroots Strategy College. The 2024 990-PF also shows democracy-adjacent grants through Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, including New Era of Democracy Alliance and Democracy Alliance Strategic Planning, and a grant to SD Foundation dba Voting Rights Lab.
Other opportunities
The Raikes Foundation established its Impact Driven Philanthropy program to help individual donors, whose giving accounts for “two-thirds of the total philanthropic dollars in the U.S.,” give more effectively to “dismantle the root causes of inequity and transform the systems that created them.” To these ends, the foundation invests in organizations what “work to change how donors give,” prioritizing organizations serving and led by underrepresented groups. The foundation names three strategies for this work.
This area invests in donor-support infrastructure, research, donor organizing, donor education, philanthropic field-building, and innovations that move resources toward equity and systems change.
The 2025 annual report says the initiative connects donors with wealth to grassroots, community-based organizations working to strengthen democracy and build a fairer society; it also emphasizes convening, investing and collaborating.
Reimagining How We Give refers to Raikes’s investment in “promising new models of donor support,” including restructured giving models for equity, equitable decision-making and “research that explores how we understand the donor landscape, behavior and support systems.”
Strength in Relationships is the foundation’s strategy to “build alignment, connectivity and develop trusting relationships” among organizations to accelerate both giving and movement toward justice and equity in the philanthropic ecosystem.
Giving Compass is an online resource launched by the Raikes Foundation that connects “givers to personalized learning resources and giving opportunities.”
- Grantees of the Impact Driven Philanthropy initiative include the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Donors of Color Network, Solidaire, the Center for Effective Philanthropy and Philanthropy Northwest.
Important Grant Details:
With only a few exceptions, the Raikes Foundation’s grants range from $5,000 to $2 million, although the vast majority of grants remain under the $500,000 mark.
While this is a national funder, a significant portion of funding stays in the foundation’s home state of Washington.
National funding tends to support large, well-known organizations and collaboratives.
- Even though there is no dedicated program for specific demographics, this funder makes grants for LGBTQ causes, equity and justice work.
The Raikes Foundation partners with some of its grantees on research and data analysis in the areas of education, youth homelessness and philanthropy.
This funder does not accept applications for funding.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s Our Grantmaking page or its annual reports.
- General inquiries may be submitted to the Raikes Foundation via email at info@raikesfoundation.org or telephone at (206)-801-9500.
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