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Plinth

· Public charity

Desk Drawer Fund

Our mission is to partner with donors to empower transformational change to make a sustainable difference in our communities.

$688k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2025.

Youth Development$1.0MHousing & Shelter$1.0MArts & Culture$647kCommunity Improvement$226kEducation$103kPhilanthropy$101kHealth$66kAnimals$40kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 17 grants below total $648,192 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $688,194 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $40,002 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k12 grants · $238k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $410k
$20,066
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LIGHTHOUSE MI$100,000
TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC$100,000
CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES$100,000
WOMEN'S CENTER OF GREATER LANSING$60,199
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS CAPITAL REGION$50,000
AFFIRMATIONS$40,133
IMPRESSION 5$25,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION$25,000
MICHAEL'S PLACE$20,066
SALUTE INC$20,066
UNITED WAY OF SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN$20,066
FAMILY PROMISE OF WEST MICHIGAN$20,066
NEW MOM'S INC$20,066
WOLDUMAR NATURE CENTER$17,530
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER$10,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY19–25, $703k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FIRST STEP: $25k → 21%NEW MOM'S INC: $20k → 14%SALUS CENTER: $31k → 16%SALUTE INC: $20k → 14%WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $48k → 7%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $100k → 16%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $100k → 16%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $100k → 16%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $100k → 16%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $26k → 16%SMALL TALK: $8k → 16%CHILD AND FAMILY CHARITIES: $6k → 16%LOVE IN DEED: $33k → 16%ALLEN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $47k → 16%THE DAVIES PROJECT: $39k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.3M · 24 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +42% since the first grant, against +9% for the ones you funded once.

24 repeat relationships — 9 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
32

Total granted

$2.3M
$837k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+9%

Still filing today

88%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $198k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureHousing & ShelterHealthEducationYouth DevelopmentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • CA
    Child and Family Charities
    6× · 2019–2025 · $432k · revenue +169%
  • I5
    IMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CENTER
    5× · 2020–2025 · $155k · revenue +55%
  • HF
    HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $150k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • TO
    TRI-COUNTY OFFICE ON AGING
    one grant, 2024 · $61k
  • WR
    WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREA
    one grant, 2023 · $48k · revenue +11%
  • AN
    Allen Neighborhood Centergraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $47k · revenue +55%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Mid Michigan Community Action Agency Inc

Mid michigan community action guides local residents on the path to self-sufficiency through empowerment, education and community enrichment.

—
2
Michigan Legacy Art Park

Inspire awareness, appreciation and passion for michigan's history and stories, culture and environment through the arts.

Arts & Culture
3
Equality Michigan

To achieve full equality and respect for all michigan residents, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Civil Rights
4
Michigan Advocacy Program

To advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions.

Crime & Legal
5
Say Detroit

Providing pathways to success for detroiters in need.

Housing & Shelter
6
Shared Pregnancy Womens Center

To offer education, assistance and resources to women and families in the greater lansing area.

Civil Rights
7
Michigan Family Resources

Michigan Family Resources mission is to deliver holistic family-centered services to children that promote their well-being and development.

Education
8
Business Leaders for Michigan

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

—
9
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
10
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
11
Michigan Chamber of Commerce

To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.

—
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Affirmations Community Center and the most unlike its peers is Grit Glam and Guts. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%0%<5yr14%6%5–10yr19%31%10–20yr16%16%20–35yr13%33%35–55yr14%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%0%<5yr14%17%5–10yr19%20%10–20yr16%9%20–35yr13%42%35–55yr14%11%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/64
the rest of the field
15%
3,551/23,469

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

55 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 55 of the 64 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/55
Grantees still filing
32/55
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Child and Family Charities — $431,907 · Human ServicesChild and Family CharitiesWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREA — $47,965 · Human ServicesWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRA…Allen Neighborhood Center — $46,828 · Human ServicesAllen Neighborhood CenterEVE - End Violent Encounters — $43,390 · Human ServicesEVE - End Violent Encounter…THE DAVIES PROJECT FOR MID MICHIGAN CHILDREN — $39,253 · Human ServicesHELPING WOMEN PERIOD INC — $37,333 · Human ServicesLOVE IN DEED INC — $32,709 · Human ServicesSALUS CENTER — $31,497 · Human Services+5 more — $99,039 · Human Services+5 moreTRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA D/B/A TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC — $200,000 · Arts & CultureTRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHE…IMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CENTER — $155,000 · Arts & CultureIMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CE…THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS — $125,000 · Arts & CultureTHE DETROIT INSTITUTE O…LANSING ART GALLERY & EDUCATION CENTER — $70,000 · Arts & CultureLANSING ART GALLERY & E…ARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER LANSING — $53,758 · Arts & CultureARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER…ALL OF THE ABOVE HIP HOP ACADEMY — $27,500 · Arts & CultureDETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE — $25,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more — $27,500 · Arts & CultureCapital Area United Way Inc — $160,123 · OtherCapital Area United Way IncTRI-COUNTY OFFICE ON AGING — $60,829 · OtherTRI-COUNTY OFFICE ON AGINGWomen's Center of Greater Lansing — $60,199 · OtherWomen's Center of Greater La…CITY OF EAST LANSING — $50,500 · OtherCITY OF EAST LANSINGOAKLAND COUNTY — $37,334 · OtherNEW HOPE PET RESCUE — $36,789 · OtherYOUTH HAVEN INC — $30,073 · OtherTHE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDATION — $116,478 · OtherTHE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDAT…UNITED WAY OF SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN — $44,123 · OtherAFFIRMATIONS COMMUNITY CENTER — $40,133 · OtherBARN SANCTUARY — $39,839 · Other+11 more — $169,031 · Other+11 moreSOUTH OAKLAND SHELTER — $200,000 · Housing & ShelterSOUTH OAKLAND SH…HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION INC — $150,000 · Housing & ShelterHABITAT FOR HUMA…FAMILY PROMISE OF GRAND RAPIDS — $40,066 · Housing & ShelterFAMILY PROMISE O…AYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE — $37,333 · Housing & ShelterAYA YOUTH COLLEC…CAPITAL AREA HOUSING PARTNERSHIP — $27,500 · Housing & ShelterCAPITAL AREA HOU…HOME REPAIR SERVICES OF KENT COUNTY INC — $20,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more — $11,500 · Housing & ShelterLansing Promise — $149,350 · EducationReach Studio Art Center — $36,057 · EducationCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF MICHIGAN — $10,000 · EducationGREATER LANSING AREA HOLIDAY COMMISSION — $10,000 · EducationAccelerate4KIDS Foundation — $9,000 · EducationCHILDREN'S HEALING CENTER — $45,859 · HealthTHE NEW DAY FOUNDATION FOR FAMILIES — $39,108 · HealthFirecracker Foundation — $38,534 · HealthMENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION OF WEST MICHIGAN — $26,407 · HealthMICHAEL'S PLACE — $20,066 · HealthBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS MICHIGAN CAPITAL REGION INC — $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentGRIT GLAM AND GUTS — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentEPIFANYNOW — $7,500 · Youth Development
Human Services$809,921Arts & Culture$683,758Other$845,451Housing & Shelter$486,399Education$214,407Health$169,974Youth Development$117,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetChild and Family Charities — $431,907 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetTRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA D/B/A TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC — $200,000 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetSOUTH OAKLAND SHELTER — $200,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCapital Area United Way Inc — $160,123 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetIMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CENTER — $155,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION INC — $150,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetLansing Promise — $149,350 over 4y, 9.6% of budgetTHE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS — $125,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDATION — $116,478 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS MICHIGAN CAPITAL REGION INC — $100,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetLANSING ART GALLERY & EDUCATION CENTER — $70,000 over 6y, 4.7% of budgetARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER LANSING — $53,758 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREA — $47,965 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetAllen Neighborhood Center — $46,828 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetCHILDREN'S HEALING CENTER — $45,859 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN — $44,123 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEVE - End Violent Encounters — $43,390 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAFFIRMATIONS COMMUNITY CENTER — $40,133 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF GRAND RAPIDS — $40,066 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBARN SANCTUARY — $39,839 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTHE DAVIES PROJECT FOR MID MICHIGAN CHILDREN — $39,253 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetTHE NEW DAY FOUNDATION FOR FAMILIES — $39,108 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetFirecracker Foundation — $38,534 over 1y, 11% of budgetHELPING WOMEN PERIOD INC — $37,333 over 2y, 21% of budgetAYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE — $37,333 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetReach Studio Art Center — $36,057 over 1y, 10% of budgetSALUS CENTER — $31,497 over 1y, 23% of budgetYOUTH HAVEN INC — $30,073 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetKIDS' FOOD BASKET INC — $27,501 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCAPITAL AREA HOUSING PARTNERSHIP — $27,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetALL OF THE ABOVE HIP HOP ACADEMY — $27,500 over 2y, 9.6% of budgetHOPE AGAINST TRAFFICKING — $26,407 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetMENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION OF WEST MICHIGAN — $26,407 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE — $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFirst Step The Western Wayne County Project Domestic Assault — $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNEW MOMS INC — $20,066 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMICHAEL'S PLACE — $20,066 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetSALUTE INC — $20,066 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetHOME REPAIR SERVICES OF KENT COUNTY INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRende Progress Capital — $20,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY - GRAND TRAVERSE REGION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLANSING SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $17,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MICHIGAN GREAT LAKES INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHAVEN HOUSE — $11,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF MICHIGAN — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAccelerate4KIDS Foundation — $9,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetSMALL TALK CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER — $7,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetEPIFANYNOW — $7,500 over 1y, 47% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Capital Region Commun…Consumers Energy Foun…Lansing Economic Area…Dte Energy FoundationLansing Rotary Founda…Community Foundation …Comerica Charitable F…Joe D Pentecost Found…Louis Berkowitz Famil…Dart Foundation fka S…Re Olds FoundationGreater Lansing Desti…
Capital Region Community FoundationMI44.4× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Capital Region Community Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · Lansing Economic Area Partnership · Dte Energy Foundation · Lansing Rotary Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Comerica Charitable Foundation · Joe D Pentecost Foundation · Louis Berkowitz Family Foundation Inc · Dart Foundation fka Solid Waste Management Foundation · Re Olds Foundation · Greater Lansing Destination Development Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Desk Drawer Fund funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    26report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Desk Drawer Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Desk Drawer Fund 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 64 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

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

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines