Bridgehead Foundation

The Bridgehead Foundation is a privately-operated, deeply Christian grant-making foundation headquartered in Kenmore, Washington, holding $23.4 million in assets as of December 2024. Their stated mission — "elevating organizations that share Christian values towards more thoughtful, strategic, and productive engagement of their world" — is not symbolic. Bridgehead funds organizations for whom evangelical Christian identity is foundational, not incidental, framing its purpose as assisting nonprofits "fulfilling the redemptive mission of the Gospel." The foundation organizes its grantmaking philosophy around four explicit core values: holistic transformation, strategic effectiveness, thoughtful leadership, and responsible stewardship. Any approach that does not authentically reflect these values will not succeed.

This is a preselected and relationship-driven funder. No public application portal, open RFP, or online submission system has been located. The foundation's IRS filing notes that "application instructions can be found at bridgeheadfoundation.org," but that site has been inaccessible since at least mid-2026 due to an expired SSL certificate. In practice, Bridgehead makes grants primarily to organizations it already knows. Repeat grantees dominate its historical record: Medical Teams International received 4 separate grants totaling $300,000 over multiple years; Christian Union received 4 grants totaling $176,060; Sagamore Institute received 4 grants totaling $21,500. New entrants are rare and typically introduced through existing network relationships.

A critical FY2024 leadership transition is the most important contextual factor for prospective applicants today. Jonathan K. Sharpe became President (compensation: $156,167) and Jonathan L. Sharpe assumed Executive Director ($152,058), replacing longtime ED Simon Mould, who received only $10,163 in a transitional role. The impact on grantmaking was immediate and sharp: direct grants to external organizations fell approximately 50% year-over-year to $445,600 across just 6 recipients. First-time applicants should treat 2025–2026 as a relationship-cultivation window, using the period to establish contact with the Sharpe leadership before pursuing a formal grant request.

The typical grant relationship at Bridgehead begins with a modest introductory award in the $10,000–$25,000 range. Larger cumulative commitments — Christian Union's $176,060, Medical Teams International's $300,000 — flow to organizations that have demonstrated results and values alignment over multiple years. Any approach strategy should lead with authentic Christian identity, concrete community impact metrics, and explicit alignment to Bridgehead's four core values.

Across 44 documented grants totaling $3,198,305, Bridgehead's grantmaking is dramatically concentrated in two large intermediary vehicles. National Christian Foundation (NCF) received 4 grants totaling $1,610,245 — 50.4% of all historical giving — designated for "outreach ministries." Schwab Charitable received a single grant of $721,000 to its donor-advised fund program. Together, these two intermediaries absorbed 73% of total grant dollars. Stripping them out, the remaining 42 grants to operational nonprofits totaled approximately $867,060, for an average of just $20,644 per direct organizational grant.

For direct grants to working nonprofits (excluding NCF and Schwab), the typical award falls between $15,000 and $25,000, with the largest single direct-to-organization grant reaching $35,000 (Hand in Hand Kids food bank). The foundation's own typical grant size data shows a median of $45,000 and average of $87,686 across a recent sample of 4 grants, consistent with its larger partner relationships.

Annual direct grants-paid to external organizations by fiscal year: FY2020: $491,000; FY2021: $350,745; FY2022: $736,500; FY2023: $887,560; FY2024: approximately $445,600 — the 2024 figure representing a sharp 50% year-over-year decline. The foundation's total program expenditures in FY2024 were approximately $886,949, with the gap between that and direct grants attributable to internal curriculum program operations and the new leadership compensation structure.

Geographically, Washington state captures 69% of grant volume — 25 of 44 total grants, concentrated in the Seattle-Bellevue metro. Oregon receives 9% (4 grants, including Medical Teams International in Portland); Indiana and New Jersey each account for 4 grants; New York received 2 grants.

By program area: outreach and DAF intermediaries command 73% of total dollars; medical and disaster relief claims 9% (Medical Teams International exclusively); Christian education and leadership development claims approximately 12% (Christian Union, Sagamore Institute, Northwest University, InterVarsity, Seattle Pacific University, Go Strategic); urban poverty and community development claims approximately 6% (Urban Impact, Hand in Hand, Northwest Family Life, Vital Solutions, Agros International). Counseling services (Centered) and youth programs (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) account for the remainder.

The foundation's investment income is its sole meaningful revenue source — 93.2% of FY2024 revenue came from dividends ($1,303,487 of $1,398,661 total). With $23.4 million in assets, the 5% minimum private foundation payout requirement mandates approximately $1.17 million in qualifying distributions annually. NCF and Schwab DAF contributions are essential to meeting this regulatory threshold in years when direct grants fall short.

The five closest asset-equivalent peers to Bridgehead Foundation in the Religion NTEE category, drawn from national foundation data, are shown below:

Bridgehead stands out within this peer cohort for the relative depth of its public footprint. It is the only foundation among these five with a documented multi-year grantee roster, named executive leadership with disclosed compensation, an IRS-filed curriculum program description, and a public-facing mission statement. Most religion-category private foundations at this asset tier operate with minimal disclosure, making benchmarking against peers difficult.

What further distinguishes Bridgehead is its hybrid grantmaking model: a majority of its historical giving flows through the National Christian Foundation's donor-advised fund infrastructure rather than as direct grants, effectively leveraging the NCF ecosystem to extend charitable reach while minimizing internal grant administration. Lrg Impact in Michigan and Blue Cloud Foundation in Indiana likely fund regional religious organizations along similar lines, but neither maintains accessible grantee records. Bangor Theological Seminary's assets serve primarily an educational endowment function rather than external philanthropic grantmaking. For grant-seekers, Bridgehead is the only foundation in this peer group where external organizations have a documented path to a relationship-based award.

The defining recent development at Bridgehead Foundation is the FY2024 leadership transition. Jonathan K. Sharpe assumed the presidency with total compensation of $156,167, and Jonathan L. Sharpe became Executive Director at $152,058 — together representing a combined new leadership cost exceeding $308,000, compared to Simon Mould's prior total compensation of $65,513 in FY2023 and $101,039 in FY2022. Mould received only $10,163 in FY2024, indicating a phased handover. This transition was not publicly announced and has not been explained in any foundation communications.

The effect on grantmaking was immediate. Total external grants fell to approximately $445,600 across 6 recipients in FY2024, compared to $887,560 across 11 recipients in FY2023. The 2024 recipient roster included: National Christian Foundation ($383,500), Urban Impact ($25,000), Centered ($20,000), Woodinville Storehouse ($10,000), and Kiros ($1,100). The NCF distribution alone accounted for 86% of all 2024 external grant dollars.

Notably absent from 2024: Medical Teams International, which had been one of Bridgehead's most consistent partners, receiving 4 grants totaling $300,000 for disaster relief and medical relief programs in Portland, Oregon. Whether this represents a temporary gap or a strategic pivot under the Sharpes is unclear.

The foundation's website (bridgeheadfoundation.org) has been inaccessible due to an expired SSL certificate as of mid-2026. No new program announcements, news releases, or leadership statements are publicly available. The most recent Form 990-PF was filed November 17, 2025, covering the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 — the only authoritative source of recent organizational data.

Securing a grant from Bridgehead Foundation requires relationship cultivation long before any paperwork is submitted. This is not a foundation that funds organizations through open competition, and no documented case of a cold-application grant has been identified. The entry point is a phone call to (425) 286-7364, introducing your organization to the new Sharpe leadership — not an email, not a web form.

Authentic Christian identity is the single most critical criterion. Bridgehead funds organizations for whom evangelical Christian values animate every aspect of operations — not a subset of programs, but the founding mission, executive hiring, and organizational culture. The foundation's IRS filings describe its purpose as assisting nonprofits "fulfilling the redemptive mission of the Gospel." If your organization's faith identity lives in one program among many, or if it is framed as an "optional enrichment" component, you are not a match.

Frame all correspondence around Bridgehead's four core values. Holistic transformation: demonstrate that your work addresses root causes, not just symptoms. Strategic effectiveness: present outcome data, not just outputs. Thoughtful leadership: describe how your leadership continues to develop and grow. Responsible stewardship: show financial accountability, board engagement, and cost-effectiveness per person served. These four phrases should appear explicitly in any LOI or introductory letter.

Washington state organizations are at a structural advantage. Sixty-nine percent of all historical grants went to WA-based recipients, with the Seattle-Bellevue metro as the clear focal point. Organizations based in Oregon, Indiana, or the Northeast — where Bridgehead does make occasional grants — must compensate with exceptional alignment to the foundation's mission and prior connection to its network.

Calibrate your ask to the relationship stage. First-time grantees have received $1,100–$25,000. Requesting $100,000+ without an established track record signals poor research and will likely end the conversation. Start with a $15,000–$25,000 ask that lowers the foundation's perceived risk, deliver a rigorous impact report, and build from there over multiple cycles.

Account for the 2024–2025 recalibration period. With new leadership and a 50% decline in grant activity in FY2024, the Sharpe team may still be defining its strategic framework. Early 2026 outreach positions your organization well for FY2026 and FY2027 grant cycles once the new leadership has found its rhythm.