· Public charity
Iron Belle Trail Fund
The mission of the Michigan Trails Fund is to secure and distribute private resources that will be used to assist in the expansion and connectivity of the statewide non-motorized trail system which promotes access for all, healthy communities, connects people to places through heritage, improves local economies, and maintains Michigan's…
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- $50k–250k5 grants · $486k
- $250k+1 grant · $4.3M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance | $4,260,607 |
| Midland County Road Commission | $133,568 |
| Michigan Department of Natural Resources | $100,000 |
| Charter Township of AuSable | $100,000 |
| City of Clare Parks and Recreation | $89,554 |
| North Country Trail Association | $62,920 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 87% of its 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.
4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 2 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, 8% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.4M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MCMIDLAND COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION2× · 2023–2025 · $260k
- NCNORTH COUNTRY TRAIL ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED3× · 2020–2025 · $178k · revenue +27%
- ACAUSABLE CHARTER TOWNSHIP2× · 2020–2025 · $126k
Funded once
- ATACME TOWNSHIPone grant, 2023 · $300k
- TTTITTABAWASSEE TOWNSHIPone grant, 2020 · $100k
- HWHURON WATERLOO PATHWAYS INITIATIVEgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +26%
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.
5 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. 5 of the 16 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.
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: Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Iron Belle Trail Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Iron Belle Trail Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Iron Belle Trail Fund?
Find your warmest path to Iron Belle Trail 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 Iron Belle Trail’s filings →