Editor's note: This article was revised and updated on 9/7/2021.
Boeing is a big name in the state of Washington because this is where the world's largest aerospace company is headquartered. Through its corporate giving, Boeing supports such causes as STEM education, marine conservation and the arts. But the wealth thrown off by Boeing’s huge success, which has minted a great many local fortunes, also finds its way into in the charitable world through other avenues. A case in point is the Aldarra Foundation.
Background of the Aldarra Foundation
June Boeing, the wife of the late Bill Boeing Jr., runs this grantmaking foundation, which has been on the local funding scene since 2002. Bill Boeing Jr. passed away in Seattle in 2015 and was the son of the aviation pioneer who started Boeing. During his lifetime, he was deeply involved in philanthropy, especially related to education, Seattle’s Museum of Flight, the Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington.
Since then, June Boeing has provided local support through the Aldarra Foundation to a broad range of local causes, including education, health, human services and animal-related organizations. She is the current president and director of the foundation. Aldarra is an important name in the Boeing family, just as the Aldarra Golf Club is located on the original site of the Boeing family’s farm in Sammamish, Washington.
Aldarra’s Commitment to Seattle
A quick look at the Aldarra Foundation’s tax records will tell you that Seattle is the prime location for foundation grants. This funder is deeply committed to the city and regularly supports aviation-related schools and museums here. Aldarra has also provided general support to the Virginia Mason Medical Center, Junior Achievement, and the Kidney Disease Biomarkers Research Fund. Lately, this foundation has been paying special attention to STEM-related initiatives and programs that connect local students to jobs in science and technology. But more broadly, the foundation is committed to the entire Puget Sound region.
Sunsetting in 2025
An important update about the Aldarra Foundation is that this funder is in the process of spending down and closing its doors. Aldarra will award its final grants in 2025 to pre-selected organizations in its home region. The foundation didn’t have a website just a few years ago, but now it does so more information is publicly available about how and where it gives.
Advice for Local Grantseekers
As the Aldarra Foundation spends down its assets, it is not considering any unsolicited funding requests. In the final years, grants will be going to pre-selected organizations working in the fields of health, human services, education, animal welfare and environmental stewardship.
This is a funder that often supports the same organizations for multiple years, and it makes both program support and general operating support available for these groups. In a recent year, the foundation awarded over $1.5 million in contributions, gifts and grants paid.
Check out IP’s full profile of the Aldarra Foundation to learn more about this local Northwest funder and how to get in touch with general questions.
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