Michigan · Private foundation
James and Shirley Balk Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $147k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 15
- Grants FY2024
- 16
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 31%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $3,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $60,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 16 to 33
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 3
- Total assets, FY2024
- $7.5M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 31% of the organizations James and Shirley Balk Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 13% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 14 | $144k | 21% |
| FY2023 | 16 | $141k | 31% |
| FY2022 | 18 | $1.8M | 33% |
| FY2021 | 17 | $128k | 29% |
| FY2020 | 29 | $446k | 34% |
| FY2019 | 29 | $674k | 28% |
| FY2018 | 33 | $416k | 73% |
| FY2017 | 29 | $301k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent County Parks Foundation | $1,350,000 | 1 | 81% |
| Hospice of Michigan Inc | $396,850 | 8 | 0% |
| Grand Rapids Christian Schools | $140,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Hope College | $101,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Grand Rapids Children's Museum | $92,000 | 3 | 4% |
| Marco Island Academy a Public Charter High School | $65,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Van Andel Institute | $63,700 | 5 | 0% |
| Camp Blodgett | $35,500 | 4 | 1% |
| Mission India | $25,500 | 2 | n/a |
| Marco Presbyterian Church | $17,500 | 3 | n/a |
Show all 40 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 50 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.6M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
James and Shirley Balk Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 32 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Grand Rapids Community Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · Frey Foundation · Douglas & Maria Devos Foundation · The Sebastian Foundation · The Wege Foundation · Heart of West Michigan United Way · The Mercantile Bank Foundation · Grand Haven Area Community Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area Inc · Barnabas Foundation · Wolverine World Wide Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to James and Shirley Balk Foundation?
Find your warmest path to James and Shirley Balk 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 and Shirley Balk Foundation
- How much does James and Shirley Balk Foundation give?
- James and Shirley Balk Foundation reported 15 grants totaling $146,700 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 16 and 33 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does James and Shirley Balk Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Recreation & Sports (34%), Health (30%), Education (18%).
- Who are James and Shirley Balk Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Kent County Parks Foundation ($1.4M), Hospice of Michigan Inc ($397k), Grand Rapids Christian Schools ($140k).
- Does James and Shirley Balk Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 31% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does James and Shirley Balk Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as James and Shirley Balk Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation, Frey Foundation.
- Where is James and Shirley Balk Foundation based?
- James and Shirley Balk Foundation is based in MI.
Play a game based on James and Shirley Balk’s filings →