Skip to content
Charles Stewart Harding Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Charles Stewart Harding Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$880k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$400k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$2.2MInternational$1.3MReligion$1.1MCivil Rights$568kRecreation & Sports$376kEducation$249kCrime & Legal$210kCommunity Improvement$100kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $110k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $365k
  • $250k+1 grant · $400k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BLESSING PROJECTS$400,000
BIBLOS FOUNDATION$140,000
UPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION$75,000
FLINT INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY$50,000
FRIENDS OF BERSTON FIELD HOUSE$50,000
FLINT INSTITUTE OF ARTS$50,000
UPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION$25,000
FLINT INSTITUTE OF MUSIC$25,000
FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$20,000
GRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY$20,000
FLINT PUBLIC LIBRARY$10,000
GREATER FLINT ARTS COUNCIL$10,000
YWCA OF GREATER FLINT$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $88k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WHALEY CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1k → 16%WHALEY CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1k → 16%WHALEY CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1k → 16%WHALEY CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $11k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $11k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $11k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $11k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $10k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $10k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $10k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $5k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $5k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.7M · 20 repeat orgs$707k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +77% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
6

Total granted

$5.7M
$557k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+77%
0%

Still filing today

70%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $150k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesEnvironmentReligionCrime & LegalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BO
    Bill of Rights Institute
    2× · 2017–2018 · $368k · revenue +248%
  • TA
    TRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $326k · revenue +135%
  • FI
    Flint Institute of Music
    7× · 2017–2025 · $325k · revenue +122%

Funded once

  • VF
    VOICES FOR CHILDREN ADVOCACY
    one grant, 2024 · $210k · revenue +4%
  • TN
    THE NAZARENE FUND
    one grant, 2019 · $150k · revenue -83%
  • FC
    FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST
    one grant, 2018 · $100k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Great Lakes Center for the Arts

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.

Arts & Culture
2
Flint Public Art Project

Non Profit Art Organization

Community Improvement
3
Flint Cultural Center Foundation

To receive and administer funds and to operate exclusively for the benefit of, and to carry out the purposes of Flint Cultural Center Corporation.

Arts & Culture
4
Flint & Genesee Group

To promote the common economic interests of all the commercial enterprises in the Genesee County, Michigan community. The Organization strives to enhance the business climate in the area and advocates for public policy that supports…

Community Improvement
5
Foundation for the Flint Cultural Center

The foundation for the flint cultural center is committed to improving the quality of life in genesee county through support of the flint cultural center and its various entities. to act on this commitment, the foundation for the flint…

Arts & Culture
6
Flint Jewish Federation

To further the welfare of the jewish community

Philanthropy
7
Ferris Wheel Innovation Center

Housed in flint, michigan, we are a non-profit with a mission to relieve the innovator of the entrepreneurial burden. we know entrepreneurship can be difficult, and that's why we're here to help. as a community of student professionals,…

Education
8
Finger Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum

The organization's mission is to inspire appreciation and celebrate the cultures and ecology of the vast finger lakes region.

Arts & Culture
9
Land Conservancy of West Michigan

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…

Environment
10
Pierce Park Nature Preserve

To improve the ecological health of Pierce Park in the City of Flint

Environment
11
Flint Riverquarium Inc

Conservation and education. the flint riverquarium promotes conservation through aquatic exhibits and educational, entertaining experiences that engage diverse audiences by interpreting the unique ecosystems of the flint river watershed.

Arts & Culture
12
Foundation for Flint

To support and benefit the community foundation of greater flint. the organization will address a wide variety of community needs in greater flint, and its immediate priority is to provide aid to those affected by the flint water crisis.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Flint Cultural Center Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Biblos Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

20 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. 20 of the 28 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/20
Grantees still filing
11/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BLESSING PROJECTS ORGANIZATION: $480,000 · OtherTHE BLESSING PROJECTS ORGANIZATIONBill of Rights Institute: $368,000 · OtherBill of Rights InstituteTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC: $325,500 · OtherTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTAT…Flint Institute of Science & History: $220,000 · OtherFlint Institute of Science & HistoryFlint Public Library: $176,000 · OtherFlint Public LibraryTHE NAZARENE FUND: $150,000 · OtherTHE NAZARENE FUNDFIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST: $100,000 · OtherALFRED P SLOAN MUSEUM: $93,000 · Other+6 more: $239,200 · Other+6 moreFlint Institute of Arts: $1,081,200 · Arts & CultureFlint Institute of ArtsFlint Institute of Music: $325,000 · Arts & CultureFlint Institute of MusicFlint Cultural Center Corporation: $280,000 · Arts & CultureFlint Cultural Center CorporationCLARION PROJECT INC: $200,000 · Arts & CultureCLARION PROJECT INCTHE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $127,000 · Arts & CultureTHE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUMThe Blessing Projects: $1,299,000 · Community ImprovementThe Blessing ProjectsUPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION: $100,000 · Community ImprovementUPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORP…Biblos Foundation: $415,616 · ReligionVOICES FOR CHILDREN ADVOCACY: $209,500 · Crime & LegalGRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY: $70,000 · EnvironmentTORCH LAKE PROTECTION ALLIANCE: $25,000 · EnvironmentYWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $84,000 · Human ServicesWhaley Children's Center Inc: $4,000 · Human ServicesStep Up America Foundation Inc: $18,500 · Education
Other$2,151,700Arts & Culture$2,013,200Community Improvement$1,399,000Religion$415,616Crime & Legal$209,500Environment$95,000Human Services$88,000Education$18,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Blessing Projects: $1,299,000 over 5y, 53% of budgetFlint Institute of Arts: $1,081,200 over 9y, 2.7% of budgetBiblos Foundation: $415,616 over 4y, 21% of budgetBill of Rights Institute: $368,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC: $325,500 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetFlint Institute of Music: $325,000 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetFlint Cultural Center Corporation: $280,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetFlint Institute of Science & History: $220,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN ADVOCACY: $209,500 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetCLARION PROJECT INC: $200,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetTHE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $127,000 over 5y, 4.2% of budgetYWCA OF GREATER FLINT: $84,000 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetGRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY: $70,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGREATER FLINT ARTS COUNCIL: $70,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetTORCH LAKE PROTECTION ALLIANCE: $25,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetWhaley Children's Center Inc: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budget
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 The Blessing Projects ↗
  • Who funds Flint Institute of Arts ↗
  • Who funds Biblos Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Bill of Rights Institute ↗
  • Who funds TRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC ↗
  • Who funds Flint Institute of Music ↗
  • Who funds Flint Cultural Center Corporation ↗
  • Who funds Flint Institute of Science & History ↗
  • Who funds VOICES FOR CHILDREN ADVOCACY ↗
  • Who funds CLARION PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NAZARENE FUND ↗
  • Who funds THE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST ↗
  • Who funds UPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds YWCA OF GREATER FLINT ↗
  • Who funds GRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds GREATER FLINT ARTS COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds TORCH LAKE PROTECTION ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds Step Up America Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds Whaley Children's Center Inc ↗

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.

Charles Stewart Mott …Stella & Frederick Lo…Anna Paulina Foundati…Ruth Mott FoundationNartel Family Foundat…The Whiting FoundationConsumers Energy Foun…Tummala Charitable Fo…The Hagerman Foundati…The Serra FoundationCommunity Foundation …Child Welfare Society…
Charles Stewart Mott FoundationMI27.1× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust · Anna Paulina Foundation · Ruth Mott Foundation · Nartel Family Foundation · The Whiting Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · Tummala Charitable Foundation · The Hagerman Foundation · The Serra Foundation · Community Foundation of Greater Flint · Child Welfare Society of Flint

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Charles Stewart Harding Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Charles Stewart Harding Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Charles Stewart Harding Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Charles Stewart Harding 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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 28 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Charles Stewart Harding’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home