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Great Lakes Energy People Fund at a glance

· Public charity

Great Lakes Energy People Fund

The GREAT LAKES ENERGY PEOPLE FUND exists to support humanitarian, charitable, scientific, educational, community development, and benevolent purposes by making distributions to organizations qualifying under internal revenue code section 501(c)(3) or as tax exempt organizations.

$261k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$235k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Human Services$95kRecreation & Sports$75kArts & Culture$59kHealth$42kEnvironment$28kHousing & Shelter$23kPublic Benefit$20kPublic Safety & Disaster$19kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $26k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $235k
$7,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$207k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GRANTS LESS THAN 5000$235,422
BANKS TOWNSHIP FIRE AND RESCUE$7,000
VETERANS EDUCATION TRAINING AND SUP$7,000
LINCOLN TWP FIRE DEPT$6,000
NW MI HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$6,000
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 (FY17–24, $77k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 76% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%VETERANS EDUCATION TRAINING AND SUP: $7k → 11%OCEANA COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING: $5k → 16%WOMENS INFORMATION SERVICES INC: $7k → 20%WINGS OF HOPE HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE: $7k → 10%SYLVIA'S PLACE: $6k → 10%NEWAYGO COUNTY COMPASSION HOME: $15k → 13%LOVE INC WEXFORD AND OCEANA CNTY: $6k → 16%STONY CREEK THERAPEUTIC RIDING CNTR: $6k → 16%STONY CREEK THERAPEUTIC RIDING CNTR: $6k → 16%STONY CREEK THERAPEUTIC RIDING CNTR: $6k → 16%FRIENDSHIP CENTERS OF EMMET CNTY: $5k → 9%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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 6 repeat orgs$346k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
42

Total granted

$1.6M
$326k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+35%

Still filing today

50%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesArts & CultureEnvironmentHealthPublic BenefitCrime & LegalOther
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

  • GL
    GRANTS LESS THAN 5000
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.6M
  • CH
    Charlevoix Historical Society
    3× · 2019–2023 · $19k · revenue +149%
  • SL
    STONY LAKE THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER
    3× · 2020–2022 · $18k

Funded once

  • NC
    NEWAYGO COUNTY COMPASSION HOME FOR THE TERMINALLY ILLgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue +179%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $12k
  • IS
    INJURED SOLDIERS INC
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -45%
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
Northwest Michigan Rural Housing Partnership

To help provide safe, accessible, and affordable housing in Northwest Michigan.

Housing & Shelter
2
Hospice Homes of Genesee and Lapeer Counties

To provide housing and end of life care and support to terminally ill individuals.

Human Services
3
Little Traverse Conservancy Conservation Trust

To protect scenic and natural lands in northern Michigan.

—
4
Bird Center of Michigan Inc

Rescue, care for, and release abandoned and injured birds.

—
5
Chippewa Watershed Conservancy Inc

To protect and restore central michigan's land, water, and wildlife resources to improve the quality of life for all.

Environment
6
Manistee County Historical Society Inc

To educate the public on the history of Manistee County

—
7
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
8
Michilimackinac Historical Society

To preserve, record and maintain the historical information of the area between michigan's upper and lower peninsulas, known as michilimackinac.

—
9
ShareCare of Leelanau Inc

To facilitate connecting the Leelanau county community of seniors with services and activities that promote a healthy independent and fulfilled lifestyle while aging.

Human Services
10
Oconto Area Humane Society & Animal Shelter Inc

Oconto area humane society is an open-admission shelter dedicated to providing protection, care and shelter for abandoned and homeless campanion animals

Animals
11
Pace North

A provider of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) which is a community-based, long-term care delivery program that provides comprehensive, coordinated, managed care to eligible participants.

Health
12
Humane Society of West Michigan

Our mission is to promote the humane treatment and responsible care of animals in west michigan through education, example, placement and protection.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Friendship Centers of Emmet County Inc; the most unlike its peers is Newaygo County Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. 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

32 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. 32 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/32
Grantees still filing
23/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GRANTS LESS THAN 5000: $1,570,065 · OtherGRANTS LESS THAN 5000+28 more: $240,019 · Other+28 moreSTONY LAKE THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $18,000 · Human ServicesNEWAYGO COUNTY COMPASSION HOME FOR THE TERMINALLY ILL: $14,775 · Human ServicesWINGS OF HOPE HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE INC: $7,099 · Human ServicesVETERANS EDUCATION TRAINING & SUPPORT INC: $7,000 · Human ServicesWOMENS INFORMATION SERVICES INC: $6,875 · Human ServicesSYLVIA'S PLACE: $6,200 · Human ServicesLOVE INC OF WEXFORD AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES: $6,000 · Human ServicesOCEANA COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING: $5,498 · Human ServicesFRIENDSHIP CENTERS OF EMMET COUNTY INC: $5,148 · Human ServicesZERO DAY INC: $10,000 · EnvironmentLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $6,500 · EnvironmentGreat Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund Inc: $6,000 · EnvironmentOTSEGO WILDLIFE LEGACY SOCIETY INC: $5,600 · EnvironmentRaven Hill Discovery Center: $8,000 · Arts & CultureBEAVER ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN: $7,352 · Arts & CultureCROOKED TREE ARTS COUNCIL INC: $7,000 · Arts & CultureMASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,500 · Arts & CultureHARMONIZED HEALING COUNSELING SERVICES INC: $14,050 · HealthWINGS HOME: $7,500 · HealthBeaver Island Rural Health Center: $5,500 · HealthINJURED SOLDIERS INC: $10,475 · Public BenefitSAFE HARBOR CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $10,000 · Crime & LegalPETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $6,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,810,084Human Services$76,595Environment$28,100Arts & Culture$27,852Health$27,050Public Benefit$10,475Crime & Legal$10,000Philanthropy$6,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCharlevoix Historical Society: $18,500 over 3y, 5.2% of budgetSTONY LAKE THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $18,000 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetNEWAYGO COUNTY COMPASSION HOME FOR THE TERMINALLY ILL: $14,775 over 1y, 12% of budgetHARMONIZED HEALING COUNSELING SERVICES INC: $14,050 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetTHE MANNA FOOD PROJECT INC DBA - THE MANNA FOOD PROJECT: $12,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINJURED SOLDIERS INC: $10,475 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BARRY COUNTY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSAFE HARBOR CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNEWAYGO COUNTY PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT: $10,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetZERO DAY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetRaven Hill Discovery Center: $8,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetWINGS HOME: $7,500 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetCHALLENGE MOUNTAIN OF WALLOON HILLS INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSPIRITUAL CARE CONSULTANTS OF WEST MICHIGAN INC: $7,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetBEAVER ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN: $7,352 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetWINGS OF HOPE HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE INC: $7,099 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCROOKED TREE ARTS COUNCIL INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetVETERANS EDUCATION TRAINING & SUPPORT INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWOMENS INFORMATION SERVICES INC: $6,875 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $6,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHWEST MI HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $6,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSYLVIA'S PLACE: $6,200 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGreat Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund Inc: $6,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLOVE INC OF WEXFORD AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES: $6,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetOTSEGO WILDLIFE LEGACY SOCIETY INC: $5,600 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetMASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,500 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBeaver Island Rural Health Center: $5,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetOCEANA COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING: $5,498 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDSHIP CENTERS OF EMMET COUNTY INC: $5,148 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE OF LAKE COUNTY: $5,020 over 1y, 6.1% 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.

Charlevoix County Com…Fremont Area Communit…Consumers Energy Foun…Petoskey-Harbor Sprin…Frey FoundationOleson FoundationTriford FoundationCharles Stewart Mott …Allegan County United…Charles M and Joan R …The Allegan County Co…The Offield Family Fo…
Charlevoix County Community FoundationMI28.2× affinity11 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charlevoix County Community Foundation · Fremont Area Community Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation · Frey Foundation · Oleson Foundation · Triford Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · Allegan County United Way · Charles M and Joan R Taylor Foundation Inc · The Allegan County Community Foundation · The Offield Family 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 Energy People Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Great Lakes Energy People Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Great Lakes Energy People Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Great Lakes Energy People 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 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Great Lakes Energy People’s 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