· Private foundation
Jennifer Gordon Polan Foundation
Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS | $6,000 |
| CITY YEAR DETROIT | $6,000 |
| FOCUS HOPE | $4,000 |
| WYLIE GROVES HIGH SCHOOL | $3,490 |
| CENTER FOR AMERICAN INDIAN HEALTH JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH | $2,000 |
| SAY DETROIT | $2,000 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL | $2,000 |
| YAD EZRA | $1,000 |
| ST LEO'S SOUP KITCHEN | $1,000 |
| CARE INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK | $1,000 |
| BIRMINGHAM BLOOMFIELD ART CENTER | $1,000 |
| THE GREENINGS OF DETROIT | $500 |
| STUDENTS AGAINST DESTRUCTIVE DECISIONS | $500 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY21–21, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 21%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The organization was founded by a group of concerned citizens, working in cooperation with the detroit city council, to shape food policy and to work for a more localized, more just, and environmentally friendly food system. the…
Promotion of activities to spur economic growth and revitalization in the city of detroit
To inspire a community of active engagement, personal responsibility and hope by connecting people to opportunities and resources to transform the quality of life for all Detroiters.
Helping families and neighborhoods succeed by providing a place and support to assure kids ages 0-5 are school ready and families are healthy and stable.
To enable african americans and people in need to reach their full human potential
The organization is known as the leader in the movement and is seen as the "go to" experts on environmental justice and sustainable redevelopment because of its knowledge and its network.
The Detroit Justice Center works alongside communities to create economic opportunities, transform the justice system, and promote equitable and just cities.
Keep growing detroit exists to promote a food sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables detroiters consume are grown by residents within the city's limits.
To build the political and economic power of low and moderate-income detroiters of color through neighborhood-driven community organizing and civic engagement in order to change public policy and communities for the better.
Partner to alleviate hunger one meal at a time, to create a future where everyone has access to nourishing food.
Our mission is to assist our affiliates to increase capacity to build simple decent homes in partnership with people in need in the State of Michigan.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Alternatives for Girls and the most unlike its peers is Habitat for Humanity International Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
9 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 9 of the 13 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Community Foundation for Southeast · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Jennifer Gordon Polan Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
- City Year Inc — 11% of income from government
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.