Recipients › Washington › Western Washington University
Recipient organisation · UEI U3ZFA57417D4
Western Washington University
USAspending caveat. Figures are obligations reported by federal agencies to USAspending.gov, not payments. In USAspending's words: "An outlay occurs when federal money is actually paid out, not just promised to be paid ('obligated')." "Every agency has a Senior Accountable Official who must officially certify that the quarterly financial data submitted by their agency is accurate and complete." "If there are any discrepancies in procurement data, FPDS is the authoritative source." Contract data for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is published with a 90-day delay. Data loaded 30 Sep 2026. View the USAspending recipient profile.
USAspending records $99M in award obligations to Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) over the fiscal years it is listed for (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
In FY2026, the most recent complete fiscal year, obligations were $15M, with contracts under the listing floor.
That is down 48% on FY2025 ($29M).
Western Washington University ranks 98 of 636 listed organisations located in WA by five-year obligations, and 5,560 of 30,989 nationally.
Its $1.0M-plus awards since FY2023 came from National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce: 5 awards worth $7.6M in total award value.
Obligations by fiscal year contracts vs assistance
| Fiscal year | All obligations | Contracts | Assistance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | $27,899,989 | under $1.0M | $27,899,989 | — |
| FY2024 | $27,660,251 | under $1.0M | $27,660,251 | -1% |
| FY2025 | $28,742,046 | under $1.0M | $28,742,046 | +4% |
| FY2026 | $15,015,195 | under $1.0M | $15,015,195 | -48% |
| FY2027 to date | under $1.0M | — | — | — |
A fiscal year runs 1 October to 30 September. "Contracts" are procurement award types A–D; "assistance" is everything else (grants, direct payments, loan subsidy cost, insurance, other). The contracts column is listed only where contract obligations alone reached $1.0M; the assistance figure is the remainder and may therefore include up to $1.0M of contracts.
Compared with its state and the largest recipients five listed years
| Measure | This organisation | Largest in WA | Largest nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five-year obligations (listed years) | $99M | $73B | $416B |
| FY2026 obligations | $15M | $23B | $118B |
| Contracts, five years | under $1.0M | under $1.0M | $94B |
| Assistance, five years | $99M | $73B | $416B |
| Rank by five-year obligations | 5,560 of 30,989 | 1 of 636 in WA | 1 |
Largest in state: Department of Social & Health Services. Largest nationally: Health Care Services, California Department of. Rankings count organisations located in the state, by the sum of their listed fiscal years.
Awarding agencies $1.0M+ awards since FY2023
| # | Agency | Awards | Award value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Science Foundation | 4 | $5.1M | 68% |
| 2 | Department of Commerce | 1 | $2.4M | 32% |
Assistance programs listings
Places of performance $1.0M+ awards
Counties: Whatcom County, WA $7.6M
Largest awards begun since FY2023
| Awarding agency | Type | Industry or program | Award value | Begun | Place | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of CommerceNational Institute of Standards and Technology | GrantProject Grant (B) | 11.617 Congressionally-Identified Projects | $2.4M | 4 Sep 2024 | WA | USAspending |
| National Science Foundation | GrantProject Grant (B) | 47.076 STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) | $1.8M | 25 Jul 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| National Science Foundation | GrantProject Grant (B) | 47.074 Biological Sciences | $1.2M | 6 Feb 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| National Science Foundation | GrantProject Grant (B) | 47.076 STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) | $1.2M | 11 Sep 2023 | WA | USAspending |
| National Science Foundation | GrantProject Grant (B) | 47.050 Geosciences | $1.0M | 11 Apr 2024 | WA | USAspending |
Award value is the amount obligated to the award to date as USAspending reports it. Descriptions below are USAspending's text, unedited and truncated; those that appear to name a person are withheld.
- $2.4M, Department of Commerce, 4 Sep 2024: PURPOSE: WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (WWU) IS FINALIZING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ACADEMIC FACILITY THAT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND CAPACI
- $1.8M, National Science Foundation, 25 Jul 2023: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE ELEMENTARY SCIENCE TEACHING -CURRICULUM MATERIALS ARE NOT A SCRIPT FOR TEACHERS TO FOLLOW, BUT A TOOL OVER WHICH THEY EXERT AGENCY AS THEY
- $1.2M, National Science Foundation, 6 Feb 2023: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLVED - EMBEDDING A VISION TO OPERATIONALIZE, LIFT UP, AND VALUE EQUITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE CONSORTIUM OF AQUATIC SCI
- $1.2M, National Science Foundation, 11 Sep 2023: SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR EQUITY IN K-6 (SEEK) -THE PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL NEED OF DEVELOPING HIGHLY QUALIFIED SCIENCE TEACHER LEADERS IN ELEMENTARY SCH
- $1.0M, National Science Foundation, 11 Apr 2024: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPLEMENTATION GRANT: ACTIVE SOCIETAL PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION -THE ACTIVE SOCIETAL PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATI
Questions and answers
How much federal money does Western Washington University receive?
$99M in award obligations over the fiscal years it is listed for (FY2023: $28M; FY2024: $28M; FY2025: $29M; FY2026: $15M). Years not listed were under the $1.0M floor. Obligations are binding commitments, not payments made.
Which agencies award to Western Washington University?
By the value of $1.0M-plus awards begun since FY2023: National Science Foundation ($5.1M) and Department of Commerce ($2.4M).
What is the money for?
Assistance falls under STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) (47.076), Congressionally-Identified Projects (11.617) and Biological Sciences (47.074).
Where is the work performed?
Primary places of performance for its larger awards: WA ($7.6M).
Is Western Washington University a large federal recipient?
It ranks 5,560 of 30,989 organisations on this site by five-year obligations and 98 of 636 located in WA. The site covers organisations with at least $1.0M in a fiscal year; individuals are excluded.
Where does this data come from?
USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), award transactions as loaded on 30 Sep 2026; fiscal-year totals via the spending-by-category endpoint and award lists via the award search endpoint. The USAspending recipient profile is the authoritative record.
Provenance
Source: USAspending.gov API v2 (U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service), CC0. Fiscal-year obligations from the spending-by-category recipient ranking by recipient state (listing floor $1.0M per year); awards from the award search endpoint (new awards of $1.0M or more by base obligation date); parent and business categories from the recipient profile where fetched. Closed fiscal years are snapshots taken after year end; FY2027 is refreshed on each build. Data loaded by USAspending on 30 Sep 2026. Individuals and sole proprietors are excluded at ingest. Errors in processing are corrected at the next build; see corrections and the methodology.