· Private foundation
Joseph G and Helen I Zimmerman Charitable Trust
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $25k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $80k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $168k
- $250k+1 grant · $1.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ALMA COLLEGE | $1,500,000 |
| ALMA COLLEGE | $100,000 |
| CITY OPERA HOUSE | $67,662 |
| WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER | $10,000 |
| CHERRYLAND HUMANE SOCIETY | $10,000 |
| ELK RAPIDS DISTRICT LIBRARY | $10,000 |
| OASIS FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER | $10,000 |
| TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC | $10,000 |
| LITTLE RASCALS CAT SANCTUARY INC | $10,000 |
| CADILLAC ROTARY CHARITIES | $10,000 |
| WCMU PUBLIC MEDIA | $10,000 |
| TC PAW CAT RESCUE | $5,000 |
| VOUGE THEATRE | $5,000 |
| VETERANS FOR PEACE CHAPTER 50 | $5,000 |
| LAKE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY | $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.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 62% of its 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 +147% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 11 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, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $148k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ACALMA COLLEGE5× · 2021–2025 · $2.4M · revenue -2%
- CHCHERRYLAND HUMANE SOCIETY5× · 2021–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +147%
- WRWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER2× · 2024–2025 · $20k
Funded once
- CFCHILD & FAMILY SERVICES OF NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN INCone grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue -4%
- LTLITTLE TRAVERSE BAY HUMANE SOCIETYone grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2024 · $5k
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 shelter and find forever homes for homeless dogs and cats.
Our mission is to save the lives of animals while enriching the lives of humans.
To operate an animal shelter.
Maintain and care for incoming animals.
Humane society of southwestern michigan exists to provide shelter and care for sick, homeless and unwanted animals. in addition, the organization provides adoption services for the animals in its care.
Rescue & find homes for cats; spay, nueter and adopt out as many cats as possible. Provice foster care homes for unadopted. Provide Vet care. Educate the public about over population available programs.
Prevention/treatment of cruelty to animals
Animal shelter - provide a safe haven for animals without homes.
To operate as an animal shelter by taking in stray or surrendered animals. We provide medical care and surgical care, including spaying and neutering of all animals if needed prior to adoption.
The organization is a no kill animal shelter which cares for homeless or abandoned dogs and cats and supervises their adoption and neutering when taken home by a commmunity member.
Rescue animals & provide vet services
To work for the humane treatment of all animals, to shelter adoptable animals until loving and caring homes can be found for them,and to educate the community about responsible pet ownership and the importance of spay/neuter.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 22 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 ALMA COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds CHERRYLAND HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Little Rascals Cat Sanctuary Inc ↗
- Who funds TRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA D/B/A TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC ↗
- Who funds CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES OF NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN INC ↗
- Who funds LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES AERIE 383 ↗
- Who funds LEELANAU CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds TC PAW CAT RESCUE ↗
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: Oleson Foundation · Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Joseph G and Helen I Zimmerman Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Joseph G and Helen I Zimmerman Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Joseph G and Helen I Zimmerman’s filings →