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Great Lakes Sports Commission at a glance

· Public charity

Great Lakes Sports Commission

The mission of the GREAT LAKES SPORTS COMMISSION is to promote northern michigan as a premier destination for sports, recreation, and tourism.

$348k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Recreation & Sports$1.5MCommunity Improvement$163k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $252,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $347,715 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $95,715 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

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $150k
$22,100
Median grant
1
States reached
$5.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAULT AREA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU$150,000
TRAVERSE CITY AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS$25,000
GOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE$25,000
SWEDETOWN TRAILS CLUB$22,100
TOP SHELF HOCKEY SHOP LLC$12,400
PADDLE ANTRIM$10,000
ST IGNACE VISTORS BUREAU$7,500
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 77% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%TRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOW: $250k → 11%PRESERVE HICKORY: $130k → 7%PADDLE ANTRIM: $10k → 9%TRAVERSE CITY CURLING CLUB: $95k → 10%CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN: $13k → 10%906 ADVENTURE TEAM: $150k → 11%HANNAHVILLE INDIAN COMMUNITY: $10k → 12%BOON SPORTS MANAGEMENT: $14k → 13%KIWANIS SKI CLUB: $99k → 13%SAULT AREA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU: $150k → 13%ST IGNACE VISTORS BUREAU: $8k → 14%SWEDETOWN TRAILS CLUB: $22k → 14%COPPER PEAK CONSTRUCTION: $154k → 17%TRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOWS: $100k → 11%TRAVERSE CITY AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $25k → 7%TRAVERSE CITY CURLING CLUB: $70k → 10%ISHPEMING SKI CLUB INCORPORATED: $55k → 11%KIWANIS SKI CLUB: $83k → 13%MICHIGAN TECH ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT: $150k → 14%GOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $25k → 17%TOP SHELF HOCKEY SHOP LLC: $12k → 10%TRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOWS: $25k → 10%TRAVERSE BAY AREA YOUTH SOCCER: $6k → 10%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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$722k · 3 repeat orgs$943k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +727% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
10

Total granted

$722k
$691k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+727%
+19%

Still filing today

67%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $252k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Recreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • TC
    TRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOW
    3× · 2020–2024 · $375k
  • KS
    KIWANIS SKI CLUB INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $182k · revenue +727% · 48% of their budget
  • TC
    TRAVERSE CITY CURLING CLUB INC
    2× · 2020–2022 · $165k · revenue +264% · 100% of their budget

Funded once

  • CP
    COPPER PEAK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $154k · revenue +322% · 44% of their budget
  • MT
    Michigan Tech University
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • 9A
    906 ADVENTURE TEAM
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue -13%
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
Superior Snowmobile Club

Maintains snowmobile trails in houghton and ontonagon counties in the upper peninsula of michigan.

—
2
Pere Marquette Snowmobile Club Inc

Maintain & improve pere marquette michigan area snowmobile trails.

Recreation & Sports
3
Madison Nordic Ski Club

Promotion of, and access to, the sport of nordic skiing for the greater Madison WI community of all ages.

Recreation & Sports
4
Vasa Ski Club

The mission of Vasa Ski Club is to promote access and enjoyment of Nordic skiing through instruction, recreation, and community.

Recreation & Sports
5
Teacup Lake Nordic Club

Maintain the trails and facilities, operate ski venue and provide programs for the portland metro and columbia gorge areas.

Recreation & Sports
6
Aqua Skiers Inc

To promote safe water skiing practice, water/boat safety and community spirit. 35 of the members are high school age or younger. The team hosts clinics and promotes community pride.

Recreation & Sports
7
Aitkin Sno-Drifters Snowmobile Club

To maintain groomers and groom approximately 85 miles of trails in and around the city of aitkin. the club focuses on youth safety, trail maintenance, and donating to other non-profit organizations.

—
8
Munising Bay Trail Network

Create and maintain a non motorized multi-use trail system that provides a place to experience mountain biking, hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, trail running and more in a natural environment while providing the opportunity to…

Recreation & Sports
9
Portage Area Jt Recreation Commission
Recreation & Sports
10
Blackhawk Ski Club

To develop and promote skiing and other winter sports in madison, wisconsin and environs, by improving existing facilities, development of new areas, and by sponsoring competitions and offering instruction, and do all other things…

Recreation & Sports
11
Beaverland Must-Skis Inc

The promotion of the sport of water skiing through group participation in shows and tournaments. the development and maintenance of facilities for water skiing and to stimulate interest in water skiing among non-skiers in the community.

Human Services
12
Wolverine Nordic Ski Club Inc

To provide recreational ski trail to area residents and to visitors to gogebic county, michigan. to provide cross country ski lessons and to hold other fitness conscious events during the year.

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Traverse City Curling Club Inc; the most unlike its peers is Paddle Antrim. 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

12 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. 12 of the 20 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOW: $375,000 · OtherTRAVERSE CITY HORSE SHOWCOPPER PEAK INC: $153,820 · OtherCOPPER PEAK INCMichigan Tech University: $150,000 · OtherMichigan Tech UniversitySAULT AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $150,000 · OtherSAULT AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCEISHPEMING SKIERS TRAINING FACILITIES INC: $55,000 · OtherISHPEMING SKIERS TRAINING FACILITIES INC+8 more: $120,500 · Other+8 moreKIWANIS SKI CLUB INC: $182,260 · Recreation & SportsKIWANIS SKI CLUB INCTRAVERSE CITY CURLING CLUB INC: $165,000 · Recreation & SportsTRAVERSE CITY CURLING C…906 ADVENTURE TEAM: $150,000 · Youth Development906 ADVENTU…BOON SPORTS MANAGEMENT: $14,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOON SPORTS…PRESERVE HICKORY: $130,000 · Community ImprovementFORBUSH CORNER NORDIC: $10,000 · EnvironmentPADDLE ANTRIM: $10,000 · Environment
Other$1,004,320Recreation & Sports$347,260Youth Development$164,000Community Improvement$130,000Environment$20,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKIWANIS SKI CLUB INC: $182,260 over 2y, 48% of budgetTRAVERSE CITY CURLING CLUB INC: $165,000 over 2y, 100% of budgetCOPPER PEAK INC: $153,820 over 1y, 44% of budget906 ADVENTURE TEAM: $150,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetPRESERVE HICKORY: $130,000 over 1y, 68% of budgetSWEDETOWN TRAILS CLUB: $22,100 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetBOON SPORTS MANAGEMENT: $14,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetFORBUSH CORNER NORDIC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetST IGNACE VISITORS BUREAU: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTraverse Bay Area Youth Soccer Inc: $6,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA2.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Sports Commission funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Great Lakes Sports Commission. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Sports Commission?

    Find your warmest path to Great Lakes Sports Commission 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 20 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

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