Skip to content

Michigan · Private foundation

James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation

Its FY2020 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$843k
Granted FY2020
2
Grants FY2020
2
Organizations funded FY2020
100%
First-time grantees FY2020
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2020
$832,938
Largest grant, FY2020
$832,938
Organizations funded a year
2 to 13
FY2017 to FY2020
States reached, FY2020
1
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2020, 100% of the organizations James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 100% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $843k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20
HealthHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY20202$843k100%
FY201913$44k38%
FY20189$40k11%
FY201711$38kn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Philanthropy$833kHealth$43kEducation$30kArts & Culture$19kEnvironment$15kFood & Nutrition$10kHousing & Shelter$6kReligion$4kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2020, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Grand Valley State University$30,0003n/a
West Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Dba Frederik Meijer Gardens$10,00020%
Feeding America West Michigan$10,00010%
Corewell Health Foundation West Michigan$4,0001n/a
Mel Trotter Ministries$3,00030%
Degage Ministries$2,50030%
Habitat for Humanity$2,00020%
Heartside Ministry Inc$1,5002n/a
Catholic Charities West Michigan$1,50030%
Da Blodgett - St John's$1,00010%
Show all 13 grantees
All grantees of James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Grand Valley State University$30,0003n/a
West Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Dba Frederik Meijer Gardens$10,00020%
Feeding America West Michigan$10,00010%
Corewell Health Foundation West Michigan$4,0001n/a
Mel Trotter Ministries$3,00030%
Degage Ministries$2,50030%
Habitat for Humanity$2,00020%
Heartside Ministry Inc$1,5002n/a
Catholic Charities West Michigan$1,50030%
Da Blodgett - St John's$1,00010%
Family Promise of Grand Rapids$1,00010%
Santa Claus Girls of Kent County$50010%
Salvation Army$5001n/a

Plus 6 recipients with no EIN on record ($897k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWest Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Dba Frederik Meijer Gardens: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America West Michigan: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMel Trotter Ministries: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDegage Ministries: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHabitat for Humanity: $2,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCatholic Charities West Michigan: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDa Blodgett - St John's: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFamily Promise of Grand Rapids: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSanta Claus Girls of Kent County: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 9.

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.

Heart of West Michigan United WayMI17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Heart of West Michigan United Way · Grand Rapids Community Foundation · The Meijer Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · Frey Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · The Sebastian Foundation · Cdv5 Foundation · Corewell Health Group Return · Douglas & Maria Devos Foundation · Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund

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.

Compare James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation?

Find your warmest path to James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation 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.

About James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation

How much does James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation give?
James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation reported 2 grants totaling $842,938 in its FY2020 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 13 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2020.
What does James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2020, its largest causes are Philanthropy (86%), Health (4%), Education (3%).
Who are James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2020: Grand Valley State University ($30k), West Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Dba Frederik Meijer Gardens ($10k), Feeding America West Michigan ($10k).
Does James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2020, 100% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Heart of West Michigan United Way, Grand Rapids Community Foundation, The Meijer Foundation.
Where is James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation based?
James & Almeda Vander Waals Foundation is based in MI.

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 19 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on James & Almeda Vander Waals’ filings →

More from the funding graph