· Public charity
Desk Drawer Fund
Our mission is to partner with donors to empower transformational change to make a sustainable difference in our communities.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k12 grants · $238k
- $50k–250k5 grants · $410k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION | $25,000 |
| IMPRESSION 5 | $25,000 |
| SALUTE INC | $20,066 |
| NEW MOM'S INC | $20,066 |
| MICHAEL'S PLACE | $20,066 |
| FAMILY PROMISE OF WEST MICHIGAN | $20,066 |
| UNITED WAY OF SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN | $20,066 |
| WOLDUMAR NATURE CENTER | $17,530 |
| HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER | $10,000 |
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 (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 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 +42% since the first grant, against +9% for those 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
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $198k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CAChild and Family Charities6× · 2019–2025 · $432k · revenue +169%
- I5IMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CENTER5× · 2020–2025 · $155k · revenue +60%
- HFHABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION INC3× · 2023–2025 · $150k · revenue +42%
Funded once
- TOTRI-COUNTY OFFICE ON AGINGone grant, 2024 · $61k
- WRWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREAone grant, 2023 · $48k · revenue +11%
- ANAllen Neighborhood Centergraduatedone grant, 2023 · $47k · revenue +81%
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.
Mid michigan community action guides local residents on the path to self-sufficiency through empowerment, education and community enrichment.
Inspire awareness, appreciation and passion for michigan's history and stories, culture and environment through the arts.
To achieve full equality and respect for all michigan residents, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
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.
Providing pathways to success for detroiters in need.
To offer education, assistance and resources to women and families in the greater lansing area.
Michigan Family Resources mission is to deliver holistic family-centered services to children that promote their well-being and development.
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.…
Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.
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.
To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in 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…
How this is measured
55 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. 55 of the 64 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 Child and Family Charities ↗
- Who funds TRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA D/B/A TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC ↗
- Who funds SOUTH OAKLAND SHELTER ↗
- Who funds Capital Area United Way Inc ↗
- Who funds IMPRESSION 5 SCIENCE CENTER ↗
- Who funds HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CAPITAL REGION INC ↗
- Who funds Lansing Promise ↗
- Who funds THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS ↗
- Who funds THE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS MICHIGAN CAPITAL REGION INC ↗
- Who funds LANSING ART GALLERY & EDUCATION CENTER ↗
- Who funds Women's Center of Greater Lansing ↗
- Who funds ARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER LANSING ↗
- Who funds WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREA ↗
- Who funds Allen Neighborhood Center ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S HEALING CENTER ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds EVE - End Violent Encounters ↗
- Who funds AFFIRMATIONS COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
- Who funds FAMILY PROMISE OF GRAND RAPIDS ↗
- Who funds BARN SANCTUARY ↗
- Who funds THE DAVIES PROJECT FOR MID MICHIGAN CHILDREN ↗
- Who funds THE NEW DAY FOUNDATION FOR FAMILIES ↗
- Who funds Firecracker Foundation ↗
- Who funds HELPING WOMEN PERIOD INC ↗
- Who funds AYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE ↗
- Who funds Reach Studio Art Center ↗
- Who funds LOVE IN DEED INC ↗
- Who funds SALUS CENTER ↗
- Who funds YOUTH HAVEN INC ↗
- Who funds KIDS' FOOD BASKET INC ↗
- Who funds ALL OF THE ABOVE HIP HOP ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds CAPITAL AREA HOUSING PARTNERSHIP ↗
- Who funds HOPE AGAINST TRAFFICKING ↗
- Who funds MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION OF WEST MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE ↗
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: 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
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Desk Drawer Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Desk Drawer Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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.
Play a game based on Desk Drawer’s filings →