Michigan · Private foundation
John and Melissa Besse Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $357k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 31
- Grants FY2025
- 23
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 57%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $110,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 4 to 23
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Total assets, FY2025
- $11M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 57% of the organizations John and Melissa Besse Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 90% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 10% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $464k 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 29 | $347k | 34% |
| FY2024 | 23 | $518k | 57% |
| FY2023 | 9 | $327k | 22% |
| FY2022 | 6 | $51k | 50% |
| FY2021 | 22 | $182k | 45% |
| FY2020 | 15 | $222k | 73% |
| FY2019 | 4 | $652k | 25% |
| FY2018 | 9 | $893k | 89% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan Tech Fund | $450,000 | 2 | 1% |
| City of Gladstone | $308,800 | 2 | n/a |
| Chassell Historical Organization Inc | $55,120 | 1 | n/a |
| Marquette City Band Inc | $45,000 | 1 | 10% |
| Pregnancy Services of Delta County | $43,000 | 5 | 4% |
| Tri-County Safe Harbor Inc | $27,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Hancock Trails Club | $25,000 | 1 | n/a |
| United Way of Delta County | $25,000 | 4 | 5% |
| Bay Cliff Health Camp | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Lakestate Industries | $16,000 | 4 | 0% |
Show all 21 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan Tech Fund | $450,000 | 2 | 1% |
| City of Gladstone | $308,800 | 2 | n/a |
| Chassell Historical Organization Inc | $55,120 | 1 | n/a |
| Marquette City Band Inc | $45,000 | 1 | 10% |
| Pregnancy Services of Delta County | $43,000 | 5 | 4% |
| Tri-County Safe Harbor Inc | $27,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Hancock Trails Club | $25,000 | 1 | n/a |
| United Way of Delta County | $25,000 | 4 | 5% |
| Bay Cliff Health Camp | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Lakestate Industries | $16,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Trees for Tomorrow Inc | $16,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Holy Name Catholic High School a Chesterton Academy | $15,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp Assoc Inc | $15,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Salvation Army | $15,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Northern Michigan University Foundation | $10,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Aquafest Inc | $7,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Superior Health Foundation | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Delta County Cancer Alliance Inc | $5,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Shepherds Watch Community Center Inc | $3,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Barron County Pro Rodeo Inc | $2,500 | 1 | 1% |
| Ice Age Trail Alliance Inc | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 40 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.4M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget John and Melissa Besse Foundation supplied at peak.
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: The Donald and Audrey Anderson Foundation · Edward J Sackerson Charitable Foundation · Robert & Jeanine Dagenais Foundation · Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula · Superior Health Foundation · The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation · Community Foundation of Marquette County · West End Health Foundation · Incrediblebank Foundation Inc · Flagstar Foundation Inc · Xcel Energy Foundation · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to John and Melissa Besse Foundation?
Find your warmest path to John and Melissa Besse 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 John and Melissa Besse Foundation
- How much does John and Melissa Besse Foundation give?
- John and Melissa Besse Foundation reported 31 grants totaling $356,850 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 23 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does John and Melissa Besse Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Recreation & Sports (36%), Education (21%), Public Safety & Disaster (10%).
- Who are John and Melissa Besse Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Michigan Tech Fund ($450k), City of Gladstone ($309k), Chassell Historical Organization Inc ($55k).
- Does John and Melissa Besse Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 57% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does John and Melissa Besse Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as John and Melissa Besse Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Donald and Audrey Anderson Foundation, Edward J Sackerson Charitable Foundation, Robert & Jeanine Dagenais Foundation.
- Where is John and Melissa Besse Foundation based?
- John and Melissa Besse Foundation is based in MI.
Play a game based on John and Melissa Besse’s filings →