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Council of Michigan Foundations at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Council of Michigan Foundations

To lead, strengthen and support michigan's community of philanthropy.

$137k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

92% of Council of Michigan Foundations’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Sanilac County Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

3
’17
4
’18
3
’19
3
’20
3
’21
3
’22
4
’23
1
’24
1
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$4.8MEducation$1.5MEnvironment$1.0MCivil Rights$780kHuman Services$440kYouth Development$374kCommunity Improvement$306kPublic Benefit$38kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $98,091, the rows itemized in this filing. The $136,674 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $38,583 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $45k
$8,250
Median grant
1
States reached
$44M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SANILAC COUNTY COMMUNITY$20,000
STURGIS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$13,850
BATTLE CREEK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$11,000
MICHIGAN GATEWAY COMMUNITY$8,459
BRANCH COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$8,250
OTSEGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$8,250
CANTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$7,627
CITY OF HAZEL PARK$7,500
LENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$7,280
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR OCEANA COUNTY$5,875
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 (FY21–23, $852k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 48% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%TIDES CENTER: $440k → 10%ONE LOVE GLOBAL: $274k → 16%ONE LOVE GLOBAL: $100k → 16%WE THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT: $38k → 21%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 52% of Council of Michigan Foundations’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Council of Michigan Foundationslessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.1M · 6 repeat orgs$137k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
8

Total granted

$3.1M
$130k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+46%

Still filing today

67%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k 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
PhilanthropyEducationHuman ServicesHealthSocial ScienceOther
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

  • CS
    CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2023 · $939k · revenue +14%
  • MS
    MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2018–2020 · $750k
  • LAUNCH MICHIGAN
    2× · 2023–2024 · $635k · 32% of their budget

Funded once

  • We the People of Detroitgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $38k · revenue +63%
  • Council on Foundations Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue -70%
  • CF
    Community Foundation for St Clair County
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
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
Charlevoix County Community Foundation

Awarding grants and scholarships.

Philanthropy
2
Montgomery County Community Foundation

The mission of the Montgomery County Community Foundation (MCCF) is to provide leadership in Montgomery County by directing sustainable financial resources that strengthen our community and improve the quality of life for current and…

Philanthropy
3
Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation

Inspire individuals and organizations to invest in their community to improve the quality of life.

Community Improvement
4
Akron Community Foundation

To identify, activate, and support informed and passionate philanthropists who strive to improve the quality of life in our community. we accomplish this by:- building a permanent source of charitable funding- cultivating strategic…

Philanthropy
5
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
6
Michigan Credit Union Foundation

Cooperatively empowering credit unions to increase financial well-being by supporting community enrichment, financial education, and credit union development initiatives

Public Benefit
7
Community Foundation of Lorain County

The community foundation responds to the changing needs of the community by making grants to local nonprofit organizations, awarding scholarships to help local students, working together with donors to build community endowment and…

Philanthropy
8
Huron County Community Foundation

Receive and Administer funds for the public welfare of the people of Huron County, Michigan

Philanthropy
9
Community Foundation for Muskegon County

The mission of the community foundation for muskegon county is to build community endowment, effect positive change through grantmaking and provide leadership on key community issues, all to serve donors' desires to enhance the quality of…

Philanthropy
10
The Community Foundation for Ocala Marion County Inc

Our mission at the community foundation for ocala/marion county is to enhance the quality of life for all residents of our community by fostering philanthropy and stewarding charitable resources. we strive to identify and address the most…

—
11
Arizona Community Foundation

To lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better arizona.

Philanthropy
12
Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation

The greater cedar rapids community foundation (the community foundation) partners with donors, funders, and other community collaborators to achieve high-impact philanthropy, supports nonprofit organizations that address our community's…

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fremont Area Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

46 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 46 of the 52 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)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
46/46
Grantees still filing
35/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FLINT: $1,050,698 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FLINTCHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION: $939,000 · PhilanthropyCHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATIONKALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $865,750 · PhilanthropyKALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $705,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATIONBATTLE CREEK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $640,095 · PhilanthropyBATTLE CREEK COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MARQUETTE COUNTY: $427,857 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MARQUETTE COUNTYANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $328,948 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN: $325,000 · PhilanthropyGRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $225,349 · Philanthropy+27 more: $966,564 · Philanthropy+27 moreMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $750,000 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE …MICHIGAN NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION: $293,500 · OtherMICHIGAN NONPRO…NIAGARA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $150,000 · OtherNIAGARA COMMUNI…+5 more: $67,527 · Other+5 moreTIDES CENTER: $440,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENT…ONE LOVE GLOBAL: $373,592 · Human ServicesONE LOVE G…We the People of Detroit: $38,000 · Human ServicesLAUNCH MICHIGAN: $635,267 · Education+1 more: $12,500 · EducationCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR OCEANA COUNTY: $17,125 · Community ImprovementDETROITERS WORKING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: $8,000 · HealthTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $5,000 · Social Science
Philanthropy$6,474,261Other$1,261,027Human Services$851,592Education$647,767Community Improvement$17,125Health$8,000Social Science$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FLINT: $1,050,698 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetCHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION: $939,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetKALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $865,750 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $705,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetBATTLE CREEK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $640,095 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetLAUNCH MICHIGAN: $635,267 over 2y, 32% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $440,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MARQUETTE COUNTY: $427,857 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetONE LOVE GLOBAL: $373,592 over 2y, 24% of budgetANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $328,948 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN: $325,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMICHIGAN NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION: $293,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $225,349 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBAY AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $176,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetLEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetGRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $105,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSHIAWASSEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $65,750 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetFremont Area Community Foundation: $51,260 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSTURGIS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $46,100 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetWe the People of Detroit: $38,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE HOLLAND/ZEELAND AREA INC: $33,198 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHILLSDALE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetCouncil on Foundations Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE UPPER PENINSULA: $25,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMACKINAC ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $24,370 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetOTSEGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $23,699 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MUSKEGON COUNTY: $22,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSANILAC COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetLENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $19,280 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBRANCH COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $18,800 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCANTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $18,627 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetLAPEER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $18,603 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCAPITAL REGION COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $17,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR OCEANA COUNTY: $17,125 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFOUR COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetEUP COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ALLIANCE I: $14,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN: $13,698 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMICHIGAN GATEWAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $13,459 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMIDLAND AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Education Commission: $12,500 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetROSCOMMON COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGratiot County Community Foundation: $5,899 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE ALLEGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,698 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $5,000 over 1y, 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.

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.

Consumers Energy Foun…Community Foundation …Charles Stewart Mott …Michigan College Acce…WK Kellogg FoundationMichigan Health Endow…DTE Energy FoundationEdward Jones Foundati…The Skillman Foundati…Michigan Nonprofit As…Frey FoundationKalamazoo Community F…
Consumers Energy FoundationMI46× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Consumers Energy Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · Michigan College Access Network · WK Kellogg Foundation · Michigan Health Endowment Fund · DTE Energy Foundation · Edward Jones Foundation · The Skillman Foundation · Michigan Nonprofit Association · Frey Foundation · Kalamazoo Community Foundation

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 Council of Michigan Foundations funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Council of Michigan Foundations. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.

    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 52 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 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 Council of Michigan Foundations’ 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