· Private foundation
Michigan First Foundation Inc
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, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k82 grants · $164k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| EASTERN MI UNIV ANDRE LAMON BUFORD | $10,000 |
| FORGOTTEN HARVEST | $5,000 |
| CENTRAL STATE UNIV ISIS JOHNSON | $5,000 |
| HAMPTON UNIVERSITY LANDON KENDRICK | $5,000 |
| MEALS ON WHEELS DETROIT | $5,000 |
| GLEANERS FOOD BANK | $5,000 |
| MOREHOUSE COLLEGE & DEVYN MYLES HARDWICK | $5,000 |
| CENTRAL MICH UNIVERSITY GAVIN ZACHA | $5,000 |
| HAMPTON UNIV MADISON MCKAI WILLIAMS | $4,500 |
| BROWN UNIVERSITY HENRY DAVID BUSS | $4,500 |
| LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY ELLA HALMA | $4,000 |
| WAYNE STATE U BRAYLEN D TARRANT | $4,000 |
| WAYNE STATE UNIV NNENNA ODOARU ONWU | $4,000 |
| HOWARD UNIVERSITY LENAH ALGHALI | $4,000 |
| FOCUS HOPE | $3,500 |
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 (FY20–25, $58k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 68% 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
Which US states its grants reach
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 +24% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.
87 repeat relationships: 59 still active in FY2025, 28 since wound down; 24 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, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $82k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
FORGOTTEN HARVEST INC6× · 2020–2025 · $26k · revenue +2%- FFOCUSHOPE6× · 2020–2025 · $21k · revenue +23%
- LTLAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY6× · 2020–2025 · $15k · revenue +29%
Funded once
- UOU OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR & ELIJAH GILLone grant, 2023 · $7k
- PUPURDUE U WEST LAFAYETTE & HECTOR G GOMEZone grant, 2024 · $7k
- GVGRAND VALLEY STATE U & CHELSEA E HARMONone grant, 2024 · $6k
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.
The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.
Informing and educating the public and decision makers about environmental issues.
To improve and save lives through compassionate care, community engagement and advocacy for animals.
Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…
To serve as an inclusive statewide voice to improve systems and support communities to prevent and end homelessness in a way that leaves no one behind.
Assisting the community mental health boards of michigan in developing methods for mental health planning, care and treatment.
The mission of the michigan health council is to facilitate the education, recruitment and retention of a diverse healthcare workforce by maximizing technology and partnerships.
Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…
Creating healthy communities - together
To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.
Creating healthy communities - together
We, trinity health-michigan and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities. trinity health-michigan is a member of trinity health.
How this is measured
38 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. 38 of the 214 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
Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.
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 FORGOTTEN HARVEST INC ↗
- Who funds GLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds FOCUSHOPE ↗
- Who funds LAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds DETROIT AREA AGENCY ON AGING ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY ↗
- Who funds DOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds ALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS ↗
- Who funds URBAN LEAGUE OF DETROIT AND SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds SPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC ↗
- Who funds THE HEAT AND WARMTH FUND ↗
- Who funds The Youth Connection Inc ↗
- Who funds ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds MICHIGAN CREDIT UNION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK ↗
- Who funds WORLD MEDICAL RELIEF INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds MICHIGAN SCIENCE CENTER ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY ↗
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: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Ford Philanthropy · DTE Energy Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · The Kresge Foundation · The Skillman Foundation · The Fred & Barbara Erb Family Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · The Marshall Mathers Foundation · Henry Ford Southeast Michigan Community Health · Henry Ford Health System · Fca Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Michigan First Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michigan First Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Michigan First Foundation Inc?
Find your warmest path to Michigan First Foundation Inc 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 Michigan First’s filings →