· Private foundation
Bill and Bea Idema Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- $50k–250k5 grants · $400k
- $250k+3 grants · $5.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JOHN BALL ZOO | $3,500,000 |
| GRAND ACTION 20 | $1,030,000 |
| MARY FREE BED FOUNDATION | $1,000,000 |
| WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH FOR CAMP HENRY | $200,000 |
| MACKINAC CENTER | $50,000 |
| OUR HOPE ASSOCIATION | $50,000 |
| AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION INC | $50,000 |
| UPCYCLE BIKES | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY24–24, $50k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +115% since the first grant, against -3% for those funded once.
5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- OCOTTAWA COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION INC4× · 2020–2023 · $4.5M · revenue -14% · 67% of their budget
- JBJOHN BALL ZOO2× · 2022–2024 · $3.5M · revenue +115%
- GAGRAND ACTION FOUNDATION 202× · 2023–2024 · $1.1M · revenue ×16
Funded once
- GCGILDA'S CLUB GRAND RAPIDSone grant, 2023 · $63k · revenue -15%
- BNBLANDFORD NATURE CENTERone grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -3%
- TPThe Potters Housegraduatedone grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +80%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The Center's mission is to inspire, entertain, educate, and serve all in Northern Michigan year-round by presenting exceptional experiences across the full spectrum of the performing arts and offering impactful educational opportunities.
Our mission is conserving West Michigans ecologically critical land. We protect land by creating public nature preserves, providing support to communities and local governments in creating natural areas, and helping private landowners…
The mission of gtrlc is to protect significant natural, scenic and farm lands and advance land stewardship now and for future generations.
Bird research and conservation in the western lake michigan region of the united states.
Inspire individuals and organizations to invest in their community to improve the quality of life.
A member driven organization committed to providing quality professional park and recreation programs and services with fiscal integrity and progressive leadership to michigans recreation and parks trade.
To conserve, sustain, and connect natural areas, land, and waters that make the places we live special
Heart of the Lakes provides technical assistance, leadership training, and strategic communication tools that help organizations thrive - from grassroots land conservancies to larger regional conservation groups. Programs such as peer…
Inspire awareness, appreciation and passion for michigan's history and stories, culture and environment through the arts.
We connect your life to wildlife while inspiring lifelong learning and conservation action.
The wilds is a conservation center and safari park operating as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization on nearly 10,000-acres in southeastern ohio. the wilds specializes in high-quality recreational opportunities that focus on connecting…
To advance the mission of the mackinac center for public policy, a michigan nonprofit corporation.
How this is measured
11 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 11 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds OTTAWA COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds JOHN BALL ZOO ↗
- Who funds GRAND ACTION FOUNDATION 20 ↗
- Who funds GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds GILDA'S CLUB GRAND RAPIDS ↗
- Who funds BLANDFORD NATURE CENTER ↗
- Who funds Our Hope Association ↗
- Who funds MACKINAC CENTER ↗
- Who funds The Potters House ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
- Who funds UPCYCLE BIKES ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Grand Rapids Community Foundation · Cdv5 Foundation · Frey Foundation · Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation · The Sebastian Foundation · The David and Carol Van Andel Family Foundation · The Meijer Foundation · Douglas & Maria Devos Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · Grand Haven Area Community Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area Inc · The Doornink Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Bill and Bea Idema Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bill and Bea Idema Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Bill and Bea Idema Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Bill and Bea Idema Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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