· Private foundation
John and Melissa Besse Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k24 grants · $99k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $91k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $167k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MICHIGAN TECH FD | $110,000 |
| TREES FOR TOMORROW | $56,500 |
| MARQUETTE CITY BAND | $45,000 |
| GLADSTONE PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT | $13,200 |
| PREGNANCY SERVICES OF DELTA COUNTY | $13,000 |
| COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF DELTA COUNTY | $10,000 |
| BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP | $10,000 |
| LAKEVIEW CEMETERY | $8,000 |
| UP STATE FAIR AUTHORITY | $5,000 |
| TRI-COUNTY SAFE HARBOR | $5,000 |
| ST VINCENT DEPAUL OF ESCANABA | $5,000 |
| NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| HOLY NAME CATHOLIC SCHOOL | $5,000 |
| BONIFAS FINE ART CENTER | $5,000 |
| BAY COLLEGE FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $70k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those 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.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against +42% for those funded once.
30 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 10 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, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $90k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- PSPREGNANCY SERVICES OF DELTA COUNTY5× · 2020–2025 · $43k · revenue +210%
- TSTRI-COUNTY SAFE HARBOR INC5× · 2018–2025 · $27k · revenue +23%
- LILAKESTATE INDUSTRIES4× · 2018–2025 · $16k · revenue +57%
Funded once
- FPFIRE & PUBLIC SAFETY DEPTSone grant, 2018 · $300k
- CHCHASSELL HISTORICAL ORGANIZATION INCone grant, 2023 · $55k
- MTMI TECH ENTERPRISE CORP SMARTZONEone grant, 2022 · $30k
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.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
To promote business and economic development for eight towns in southwest michigan.
Organized to receive and administer funds raised for the purpose of supporting the County owned and operated Grand Traverse Pavilions
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…
Safeguard southern michigan's land and water to support diverse, resilient, and thriving communities - forever
To conserve the land, water and scenic character of leelanau county, and to provide educational programs to develop an understanding and appreciation of leelanau county's natural heritage.
To stimulate and sustain a vibrant regional economy by facilitating economic growth and prosperity.
To solicit and collect contributions for charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes to benefit the people of and around Tuscola County, Michigan
Receive and Administer funds for the public welfare of the people of Huron County, Michigan
Dedicated to facilitating economic development strategies that promote and secure opportunities for business retention, growth, and the attraction of new industries that create quality jobs for community residents.
Maintains snowmobile trails in houghton and ontonagon counties in the upper peninsula of michigan.
To support the development and maintenance of non-motorized pathways throughout the great lakes bay region.
Promote health through skiing
How this is measured
17 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. 17 of the 63 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.
- Who funds Michigan Tech Fund ↗
- Who funds MARQUETTE CITY BAND INC ↗
- Who funds PREGNANCY SERVICES OF DELTA COUNTY ↗
- Who funds TRI-COUNTY SAFE HARBOR INC ↗
- Who funds HANCOCK TRAILS CLUB ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF DELTA COUNTY ↗
- Who funds BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP ↗
- Who funds LAKESTATE INDUSTRIES ↗
- Who funds TREES FOR TOMORROW INC ↗
- Who funds BARAGA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MARQUETTE COUNTY ↗
- Who funds THE NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds AQUAFEST INC ↗
- Who funds SUPERIOR HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization John and Melissa Besse Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John and Melissa Besse Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
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.
Play a game based on John and Melissa Besse’s filings →