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Great Lakes Colleges Association Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Great Lakes Colleges Association Inc

Together we will define the future of residential liberal arts education by developing and supporting faculty and staff as institutional citizens and by offering opportunities that successfully launch students into rewarding careers.

$358k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$170k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Education$5.1M
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 6 grants below total $346,379, the rows itemized in this filing. The $358,079 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $11,700 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

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $311k
$60,025
Median grant
2
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EARLHAM COLLEGE$169,788
OBERLIN COLLEGE$81,081
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY$60,025
WABASH COLLEGE$12,727
DEPAUW UNIVERSITY$12,330
ALBION COLLEGE$10,428
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 57% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HOPE COLLEGE: $172k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $157k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $168k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $90k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $75k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $46k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $91k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $119k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $82k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $75k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $38k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $62k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $78k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $70k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $68k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $31k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $32k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $56k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $62k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $60k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $21k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $22k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $51k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $25k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $55k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $16k → 8%KALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $6k → 12%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $50k → 9%KENYON COLLEGE: $16k → 10%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $42k → 15%HOPE COLLEGE: $11k → 8%ANTIOCH COLLEGE: $1k → 9%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $24k → 15%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $11k → 15%OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $9k → 15%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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.7M · 12 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

12 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
0

Total granted

$4.7M
$0

Still filing today

100%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

  • OW
    OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $420k · revenue +53%
  • AC
    ALLEGHENY COLLEGE
    6× · 2017–2023 · $413k · revenue +15%
  • DU
    DENISON UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2017–2023 · $405k · revenue +39%

Funded once

    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
    Wilson College

    Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

    Education
    2
    Albright College

    As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

    Education
    3
    President and Trustees of Bates College

    Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

    Education
    4
    Macalester College

    Macalester is committed to being a preeminent liberal arts college with an educational program known for its high standards for scholarship and its special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.

    Education
    5
    Augustana College

    Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

    Education
    6
    The President and Trustees of Colby College

    to provide a rigorous and transformative liberal arts education that prepares students to become thoughtful, engaged citizens.

    Education
    7
    Lehigh University

    The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

    Education
    8
    LaGrange College

    Education - lagrange college challenges the minds and inspires the souls of its students. founded in 1831 and committed to its relationship with the united methodist church and its wesleyan and liberal arts traditions, the college supports…

    Education
    9
    Boston Architectural College

    The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

    —
    10
    Otterbein University

    Otterbein University is an inclusive community dedicated to educating the whole person in the context of humane values. Our mission is to prepare graduates to think deeply and broadly, to engage locally and globally, and to advance their…

    Education
    11
    Defiance College

    Defiance College graduates students to lead distinctive lives in their chosen professions through a spirit of service by preparing them to Know, To Understand, To Lead, and To Serve.

    Education
    12
    Carleton College

    See schedule o.founded in 1866, carleton college is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of 2,007 students located in the historic river town of northfield, minnesota. nationally recognized as the nation's top college for…

    Education
    How this is measured
    The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The College of Wooster; the most unlike its peers is DePauw University. 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

    13 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.

    Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

    0
    Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
    0
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    13/13
    Grantees still filing
    11/13
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    ANTIOCH COLLEGE CORPORATION: $523,542 · EducationANTIOCH COLLEGE CORPORATIONEarlham College Inc: $521,583 · EducationEarlham College IncOHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $420,137 · EducationOHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITYALLEGHENY COLLEGE: $413,360 · EducationALLEGHENY COLLEGEDENISON UNIVERSITY: $405,480 · EducationDENISON UNIVERSITYALBION COLLEGE: $380,655 · EducationALBION COLLEGEKALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $368,726 · EducationKALAMAZOO COLLEGEWabash College: $364,778 · EducationWabash CollegeDePauw University: $355,466 · EducationDePauw UniversityTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER: $349,188 · EducationTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTERKENYON COLLEGE: $344,244 · EducationKENYON COLLEGEHOPE COLLEGE: $334,704 · EducationHOPE COLLEGEOberlin College: $284,907 · EducationOberlin College
    Education$5,066,770

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

    25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetANTIOCH COLLEGE CORPORATION: $523,542 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetEarlham College Inc: $521,583 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetOHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $420,137 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetALLEGHENY COLLEGE: $413,360 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetDENISON UNIVERSITY: $405,480 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetALBION COLLEGE: $380,655 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetKALAMAZOO COLLEGE: $368,726 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetWabash College: $364,778 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetDePauw University: $355,466 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER: $349,188 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetKENYON COLLEGE: $344,244 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE: $334,704 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetOberlin College: $284,907 over 6y, 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 ANTIOCH COLLEGE CORPORATION ↗
    • Who funds Earlham College Inc ↗
    • Who funds OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds ALLEGHENY COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds DENISON UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds ALBION COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds KALAMAZOO COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds Wabash College ↗
    • Who funds DePauw University ↗
    • Who funds THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER ↗
    • Who funds KENYON COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds HOPE COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds Oberlin College ↗

    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.

    Ibm International Fou…Raymond James Charita…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
    Ibm International FoundationNY13.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

    Open a dossier: Ibm International Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Great Lakes Colleges Association Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Great Lakes Colleges Association Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

    2025
    ’20’21’22’23’24’25
    no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
      no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
      0get no government money at all
      2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
      0rely on government for over half their income
      ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
      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 13 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

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      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
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      $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