Humanlinks

Humanlinks (EIN 91-1980248, Woodinville, WA) is best understood not as a conventional grantmaking foundation but as the private-foundation parent of 21 Acres, the LEED Platinum-certified sustainable-agriculture education campus it founded in 2006. Multiple third-party databases (Grantable, Candid/Foundation Directory, Instrumentl) confirm the foundation is "preselected only" — it identifies and selects its own grantees rather than accepting unsolicited proposals — and the DB record's application_instructions field is explicitly blank, application_deadline is null, and no application_form_url exists. This is a strong signal that cold applications have a low probability of success. The foundation's own tracked grant history in this database shows only 4 recorded grants totaling $58,333 (average $14,583), concentrated in Washington State and California, with a clear thematic tilt toward literacy and sustainable food systems: Reading Partners (three grants totaling $30,000 for children's literacy) and Tilth Alliance ($28,333 for sustainable food systems work). For first-time applicants, the realistic path in is relationship-building, not cold submission: engaging with 21 Acres' own programming (farm tours, volunteer days, classes, the farm market) as a way to build a track record of alignment before any funding conversation, and seeking introductions through the four family officers who run the foundation — President Gretchen Garth, Vice President Byron Garth, Treasurer Judy Courshon, and Secretary Catherine G. Bell — all of whom serve as uncompensated directors, indicating a hands-on, family-governed structure rather than a staffed program office. Organizations whose work maps closely onto 21 Acres' own thematic core (climate-resilient food systems, soil health, green building/LEED practices, hands-on agricultural education, or children's literacy) are the best fit; organizations outside food systems, sustainability, or literacy are unlikely to be a match regardless of merit.

Humanlinks' financial profile is dominated by its own operating program rather than third-party grantmaking, and the two figures diverge sharply. Total assets have fallen from $17.35M (FY2015) to $8.6M (FY2024), a roughly 50% decline over nine years, while reported total_giving (which appears to capture broad qualifying distributions including 21 Acres program operations, not just outbound grants) has stayed comparatively steady: $1.81M (FY2019), $1.81M (FY2020), $1.84M (FY2021), $1.60M (FY2022), and $1.70M (FY2023). Against that backdrop, grants_paid to outside organizations — the figure most relevant to an external applicant — has been small and volatile: $14,700 (FY2019), $5,000 (FY2020), $38,333 (FY2021), $10,000 (FY2022), and $0 (FY2023). The only itemized third-party grants in this dataset total $58,333 across 4 grants (avg. $14,583; range $28,333–$30,000 in aggregate per recipient), split between Reading Partners (3 grants, $30,000 total, children's literacy) and Tilth Alliance ($28,333, one grant, sustainable food systems in Washington State). Geographically, 3 of 4 tracked grants went to CA-based literacy programming and 1 to a WA-based food-systems group, though the foundation's operating base and majority of spending is concentrated in King County, WA through 21 Acres itself. Historically the foundation gave more directly to outside grantees — $465,718 in FY2015 and $117,038 in FY2014 — suggesting a strategic shift over the past decade away from broad third-party grantmaking and toward funding its own campus and programming almost exclusively. Contributions received (revenue) have also fluctuated: from $3.58M (FY2014) and $3.31M (FY2015) down to $433K–$1.24M annually in 2020–2023, reflecting a smaller, more concentrated donor base feeding the endowment.

Humanlinks sits within a cluster of small, single-family-governed private foundations with assets in the $8.6M–$8.6M range, all classified under Philanthropy & Grantmaking. Compared to its closest asset-matched peers, Humanlinks is distinguished by running its own operating program (21 Acres) rather than functioning as a pure grantmaking vehicle.

All five peers cluster within roughly $10,000 of Humanlinks' asset base, reflecting a common database matching pattern for small, generalist private foundations rather than direct programmatic overlap — none of the peer records include public giving totals or focus-area detail beyond the generic "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE classification. The meaningful differentiator for Humanlinks specifically is that it operates a physical program (a working farm and education center) that consumes the bulk of its distributions, which is atypical for this peer set and makes it a lower-probability target for unsolicited grant applications than a similarly-sized foundation with no operating program of its own.

The most concrete recent data point is the foundation's FY2024 Form 990, filed November 7, 2025, which reported total assets of approximately $8.6M (down from $9.03M in FY2023) and total revenue of $1.497M. Web searches for Humanlinks-specific news, press releases, or leadership changes in 2025–2026 returned no independent news coverage — this is consistent with a small, closely-held family foundation that does not issue press releases. Leadership has remained stable across the filings in this dataset: Gretchen Garth (President), Byron Garth (Vice President), Judy Courshon (Treasurer), and Catherine G. Bell (Secretary) appear consistently across multiple years of officer/director listings, with all four serving as uncompensated directors — no officer compensation has been reported in any year from 2019 through 2023. The most visible ongoing activity is the continued operation of 21 Acres in Woodinville, WA — its farm, farm market (Wednesday–Friday 11am–6pm, Saturday 10am–4pm), education center (Wednesday–Friday and Saturday 9am/10am–4pm), and volunteer programming — which functions as the foundation's primary, continuous "activity" in lieu of a traditional grants calendar. No new program announcements, funding initiatives, or grant cycles specific to Humanlinks were identified in this research; grant seekers should not expect a public RFP or cycle announcement and should instead monitor 21acres.org directly for programmatic updates.

Humanlinks does not operate a conventional open application process — the database's own application_instructions field is blank and application_deadline is null, and independent grant-research platforms (Grantable, Candid/Foundation Directory Online, Instrumentl) all describe it as a foundation that selects its own grantees rather than accepting unsolicited proposals. Practical implications for anyone pursuing this funder: (1) Do not lead with a cold LOI or grant application — there is no public form or portal to submit to. (2) Build visibility first through 21 Acres' own public programming: attend a farm tour, take a class, volunteer, or participate in a community event at the Woodinville campus (13701 NE 171st St, Woodinville, WA 98072; phone 425-481-1500) — this is the most realistic on-ramp to a relationship with foundation leadership. (3) Align your mission language tightly with the foundation's core thematic pillars — green energy, soil health, local/regenerative food systems, and climate solutions through hands-on education — since both of the foundation's tracked outside grants (Reading Partners and Tilth Alliance) fall within literacy or sustainable-agriculture themes adjacent to its own program. (4) Because the foundation is governed entirely by four family officers (Gretchen Garth, Byron Garth, Judy Courshon, Catherine G. Bell) with no listed program staff, any outreach should be personal and relationship-based rather than routed through a generic info@ inbox — a warm introduction via a mutual contact in the Woodinville/King County sustainability or education community will carry more weight than a written proposal. (5) Common mistake to avoid: treating Humanlinks like a national or open-cycle funder and submitting a generic proposal — its grant volume to outside organizations is small ($0–$38,333/year in the four most recent years on record) and highly selective, so proposals disconnected from food systems, sustainability education, or literacy are unlikely to be considered regardless of quality. (6) Note the foundation's listed website (humanlinks.org) is stale and now resolves to an unrelated personal tech project — all legitimate foundation and program information should be sourced from 21acres.org.