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Detroit Lions Charities

DETROIT LIONS CHARITIES (the "charities") is the nonprofit community funding extension of detroit lions, inc.

$1.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
25
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$200k
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 FY2017–2025.

Youth Development$3.3MEducation$1.6MHealth$1.6MRecreation & Sports$1.5MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.3MCrime & Legal$980kHousing & Shelter$919kCommunity Improvement$520kOther$0
02FY2025 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 25 grants below total $1,351,752 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,507,346 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $155,594 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

  • Under $10k3 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $217k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $1.1M
$36,750
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM$200,000
ALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS$182,130
PLAYWORKS$100,000
UNITED WAY OF NORTH CAROLINA$100,000
LOMAS BROWN JR FOUNDATION$81,130
THE YUNION$80,130
CITY YEAR INC$80,000
LIFE REMODELED$79,130
DOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM$79,130
WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFFS RESERVE FOUNDATION$70,000
DETROIT CRIME COMMISSION$60,000
DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE$45,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN$36,750
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION$24,970
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT$20,000
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 (FY17–25, $2.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SHAREFEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $49k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1.0M → 14%CHADTOUGH DEFEAT DIPG FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%CALVIN JOHNSON JR FOUNDATION: $20k → 6%MOTOR CITY MITTEN MISSION: $25k → 10%DETROIT PHOENIX CENTER: $79k → 21%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $126k → 21%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $100k → 21%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $20k → 21%COVENANT HOUSE: $75k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $165k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $165k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $65k → 21%THE CHILDRENS CENTER INC: $25k → 21%CHILDRENS CENTER OF WAYNE COUNTY INC: $15k → 21%THE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $8k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $165k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $104k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC: $100k → 21%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $64k → 21%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $51k → 21%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $51k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: $45k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: $15k → 21%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.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CA
MO
VA
NC
DC
OK
GA
TX

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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$10M · 35 repeat orgs$2.4M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +13% since the first grant, against +2% for the ones you funded once.

35 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
41

Total granted

$10M
$2.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+2%

Still filing today

86%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $258k 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
Human ServicesHealthEducationYouth DevelopmentCrime & LegalPhilanthropyOther

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

  • HF
    HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM
    6× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +69%
  • BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN
    5× · 2021–2025 · $1.0M · revenue +13%
  • DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INCORPORATED
    8× · 2017–2025 · $824k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • AN
    American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches
    one grant, 2018 · $1.0M · revenue +9%
  • HF
    HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $216k · revenue -61%
  • DP
    DETROIT PHOENIX CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $79k · revenue +96%

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
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
2
Business Leaders for Michigan Foundation

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.…

Community Improvement
3
Detroit Food Policy Council

The organization was founded by a group of concerned citizens, working in cooperation with the detroit city council, to shape food policy and to work for a more localized, more just, and environmentally friendly food system. the…

Food & Nutrition
4
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.…

—
5
Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation

The mission of desc is to cultivate local workforce talent to align with the needs of the business community through partnerships with key workforce agencies, faith- and community- based organizations, education and training institutions,…

Employment
6
Detroit Parent Network

To be a champion for parents of children in the community.

Human Services
7
Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan

To enable african americans and people in need to reach their full human potential

—
8
Diploma Equity Project

The organization works with k-12, higher education and other community partners to design and implement programs to improve rates of college persistence and completion.

Education
9
Community Education Commission

CEC works with diverse stakeholders across Detroit to develop critical resources and system-level solutions that address common challenges faced by Detroit families in accessing quality education.

Education
10
Detroit Economic Growth Corporation

Promotion of activities to spur economic growth and revitalization in the city of detroit

—
11
Michigan Enviromental Council

Informing and educating the public and decision makers about environmental issues.

Environment
12
Friends of the Children - Detroit

Friends of the children - detroit has a mission of impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships and professional mentors - 12+ years, no matter what. 92% go on to enroll in…

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Alternatives for Girls and the most unlike its peers is Spielman Family Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyYouth Development CentersHealth Access Advocacy and …Women & Girls Leadership De…Youth Development ServicesYouth Sports ProgramsUnited Way AffiliatesAffordable Housing Developm…Elementary Literacy TutoringFood Banks and PantriesEnvironmental Conservation …Volunteer Fire & Ems Servic…School District FoundationsDomestic Violence ServicesLocal Food System Organizat…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 26 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%0%<5yr13%7%5–10yr20%25%10–20yr15%31%20–35yr14%24%35–55yr18%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%0%<5yr13%5%5–10yr20%11%10–20yr15%35%20–35yr14%21%35–55yr18%27%55yr+

The field is 20% 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 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/78
the rest of the field
12%
6,511/53,778

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

61 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. 61 of the 86 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/61
Grantees still filing
38/61
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

PLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED — $1,270,000 · Youth DevelopmentPLAYWORKS EDUCATION EN…BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN — $1,039,250 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF …PURE HEART FOUNDATION — $276,500 · Youth DevelopmentPURE HEART FOUNDATION+2 more — $14,000 · Youth DevelopmentAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $1,000,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red …DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $824,000 · Human ServicesDETROIT POLICE ATHLETI…THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN — $411,700 · Human ServicesTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN+7 more — $304,542 · Human Services+7 moreHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM — $1,105,885 · HealthHENRY FORD HEAL…HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION — $216,000 · HealthHENRY FORD HEAL…CARING ATHLETES TEAM FOR CHILDREN'S AND HENRY FORD HOSPITALS — $154,300 · HealthCARING ATHLETES…TRAGEDY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR SURVIVORS INC — $145,000 · HealthTRAGEDY ASSISTA…+4 more — $128,970 · Health+4 moreCITY YEAR INC — $694,700 · OtherCITY YEAR INCEASTERN MARKET CORPORATION — $502,579 · OtherEASTERN MARKET CORPORATIONALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS — $260,630 · OtherALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLSUNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN — $181,268 · OtherUNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN…THE YUNION — $158,630 · Other+42 more — $1,285,228 · Other+42 moreHAVEN INC — $467,499 · Crime & LegalHAVEN INCDetroit Justice Center — $278,000 · Crime & LegalDetroit J…DETROIT CRIME COMMISSION — $130,000 · Crime & LegalDETROIT C…WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFFS RESERVE OFFICERS FOUNDATION — $130,000 · Crime & LegalWAYNE COU…GIVE MERIT INC — $40,000 · Crime & LegalDETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $477,500 · EducationLOMAS BROWN JR FOUNDATION INC — $170,630 · EducationDETROIT PUBLIC SAFETY FOUNDATION — $114,500 · EducationEDUCATION FOUNDATION FOR THE FLINT COMMUNITY SCHOOLS — $50,000 · EducationNATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ALUMNI INC — $40,000 · EducationBEYOND BASICS — $36,000 · EducationOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $35,000 · Education+1 more — $20,000 · EducationNFL FOUNDATION INC — $510,000 · Recreation & SportsDOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM — $335,630 · Recreation & SportsDETROIT METRO SPORTS COMMISSIONINC — $35,000 · Recreation & Sports
Youth Development$2,599,750Human Services$2,540,242Health$1,750,155Other$3,083,035Crime & Legal$1,045,499Education$943,630Recreation & Sports$880,630

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 budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED — $1,270,000 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM — $1,105,885 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN — $1,039,250 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $824,000 over 8y, 5.7% of budgetCITY YEAR INC — $694,700 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNFL FOUNDATION INC — $510,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetEASTERN MARKET CORPORATION — $502,579 over 6y, 2.6% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $477,500 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetHAVEN INC — $467,499 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN — $411,700 over 6y, 3.3% of budgetDOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM — $335,630 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetDetroit Justice Center — $278,000 over 4y, 6.1% of budgetPURE HEART FOUNDATION — $276,500 over 5y, 30% of budgetALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS — $260,630 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION — $216,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN — $181,268 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLOMAS BROWN JR FOUNDATION INC — $170,630 over 3y, 58% of budgetTHE YUNION — $158,630 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetCARING ATHLETES TEAM FOR CHILDREN'S AND HENRY FORD HOSPITALS — $154,300 over 4y, 6.6% of budgetTRAGEDY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR SURVIVORS INC — $145,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetDETROIT CRIME COMMISSION — $130,000 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetWAYNE COUNTY SHERIFFS RESERVE OFFICERS FOUNDATION — $130,000 over 4y, 54% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC SAFETY FOUNDATION — $114,500 over 4y, 3.5% of budgetFamily Assistance for Renaissance Men — $96,213 over 2y, 17% of budgetUNITED CHARITABLE — $88,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetDETROIT PHOENIX CENTER — $78,500 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE MICHIGAN — $75,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNorthend Christian Community Development Corporation — $75,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetDETROIT LIONS COURAGE HOUSE — $70,000 over 4y, 46% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $53,970 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWARRICK DUNN CHARITIES INC — $50,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetMARINERS INN — $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetSharefest Community Development Inc — $48,542 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCHILDRENS CENTER OF WAYNE COUNTY INC — $47,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ALUMNI INC — $40,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetGIVE MERIT INC — $40,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBEYOND BASICS — $36,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDETROIT METRO SPORTS COMMISSIONINC — $35,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN — $25,101 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFORGOTTEN HARVEST INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOTOR CITY MITTEN MISSION — $25,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetTHE MISSION CONTINUES — $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCalvin Johnson Jr Foundation Inc — $20,000 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetCHARLIE SANDERS FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 over 1y, 100% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT — $16,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetThe Children's Center Inc — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Dte Energy FoundationUnited Way for Southe…Community Foundation …The Skillman Foundati…Children's Hospital o…Detroit Pistons Found…The Ralph C Wilson Jr…The Kresge FoundationMichigan College Acce…Ford PhilanthropyMcGregor FundMichigan Health Endow…
Dte Energy FoundationMI42.8× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dte Energy Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Skillman Foundation · Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation · Detroit Pistons Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · Michigan College Access Network · Ford Philanthropy · McGregor Fund · Michigan Health Endowment Fund

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 Detroit Lions Charities 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%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc — 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Detroit Lions Charities?

Find your warmest path to Detroit Lions Charities 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 86 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