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Michigan Humanities Council at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Michigan Humanities Council

The MICHIGAN HUMANITIES COUNCIL connects people and communities by fostering and creating quality cultural programs

$396k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$2.7MEducation$1.7MHealth$201kCrime & Legal$127kHuman Services$115kCivil Rights$75kEnvironment$60kRecreation & Sports$59kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 17 grants below total $254,240, the rows itemized in this filing. The $396,380 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $142,140 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $245k
$15,815
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GRAND RAPIDS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$20,000
LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION$20,000
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN$20,000
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY$20,000
826MICHIGAN$20,000
PLOWSHARES THEATRE COMPANY$20,000
LAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY$20,000
NEXT$19,500
ALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS$15,815
THE CHARLES H MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY$10,000
MARYGROVE CONSERVANCY$10,000
AUTOMOTIVE HALL OF FAME$10,000
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY$10,000
ALMA COLLEGE$10,000
CAPITAL CITY FILM FESTIVAL$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $107k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 70% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NEXT: $20k → 8%SABLE POINTS LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER ASSOCIATION: $8k → 10%WOW OUTREACH INC: $15k → 16%SOAR LLI: $13k → 8%ACCESS (ARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES): $20k → 21%ACCESS (ARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES): $20k → 21%ACCESS (ARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES): $8k → 21%ACCESS (PARENT TO THE ARAB AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM): $5k → 21%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.3M · 91 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

91 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 79 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

91
183

Total granted

$3.3M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+27%

Still filing today

60%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $74k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • LO
    LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2025 · $115k · revenue +32%
  • UR
    UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY
    5× · 2018–2023 · $104k · revenue +52% · 28% of their budget
  • DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE
    6× · 2017–2023 · $95k · revenue +164%

Funded once

  • HS
    HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GREATER LANSING
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • TD
    THE DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY FRIENDS FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2018 · $24k · revenue -19%
  • RH
    Raven Hill Discovery Centergraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $23k · revenue +27%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Michigan City Historical Socie

To promote historical study and preserve the lighthouse museum

—
2
Manistee County Historical Society Inc

To educate the public on the history of Manistee County

—
3
Muskegon Heritage Association

Maintain historical museum

—
4
Grand River Historial Society Museum

Education the museum functions as a time capsule using everday object and images to tell stories collected from the daily lives of the men, women, and families who built our community. the museum allows visitors to re-connect with the…

Arts & Culture
5
Muskegon County Museum

Natural and cultural history interpretation and preservation

—
6
Historical Society of Saginaw County

The historical society of saginaw county is committed to serve the community by telling the continuing story of the people of the saginaw region through exploration, preservation and presentation of their historical and cultural heritage.

—
7
Cinema Detroit

Motion picture exhibition

Arts & Culture
8
Port Huron Museum of Arts & History

To provide a cultural center and museum for the city of port huron and environs, and to encourage and solicit the giving of objects of art, scientific, or historic interest for display and exhibitions.

Arts & Culture
9
Brockport Community Museum
Arts & Culture
10
Michigan Legacy Art Park

Inspire awareness, appreciation and passion for michigan's history and stories, culture and environment through the arts.

Arts & Culture
11
Great Lakes Center for the Arts

The Center's mission is to inspire, entertain, educate, and serve all in Northern Michigan year-round by presenting exceptional experiences across the full spectrum of the performing arts and offering impactful educational opportunities.

Arts & Culture
12
Michigan State Police Museum & Learning Center

Preserve and honor the history and traditions of the Michigan State Police (MSP).

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Templearts; the most unlike its peers is Genevieve and Donald S Gilmore Fdn. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

151 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 151 of the 281 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.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
54
Early backer (in before they grew)
142/151
Grantees still filing
104/151
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $209,237 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANMUSEUM OF OJIBWA CULTURE: $147,500 · OtherMUSEUM OF OJIBWA CULTUREMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $88,288 · Other+104 more: $1,823,740 · Other+104 moreUNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY: $104,000 · Arts & CultureUNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS CO…DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE: $94,550 · Arts & CultureDETROIT PUBLIC THEATREDetroit Historical Society: $59,500 · Arts & Culture+65 more: $1,410,428 · Arts & Culture+65 moreLIBRARY OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION: $115,000 · EducationLIBRARY OF …HOPE COLLEGE: $60,000 · EducationHOPE COLLEG…LAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY: $49,300 · EducationLAWRENCE TE…CALVIN UNIVERSITY: $40,500 · EducationCALVIN UNIV…ALMA COLLEGE: $39,975 · EducationALMA COLLEG…Real People Media Inc: $35,950 · EducationReal People…MARYGROVE CONSERVANCY: $25,000 · EducationTHE DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY FRIENDS FOUNDATION INC: $23,700 · EducationNORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EducationBURT LAKE BAND OF OTTAWA & CHIPPEWA INDIANS INC: $19,095 · EducationWRITERS SERIES OF TRAVERSE CITY: $17,690 · Education+4 more: $51,655 · Education+4 moreYOUTH ARTS UNLOCKED: $82,500 · Crime & LegalTHE CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Crime & LegalCEDAR TREE: $19,000 · Crime & LegalARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND S: $52,500 · Human ServicesBIRMINGHAM AREA SENIORS COORDINATING COUNCIL: $19,500 · Human ServicesWITHOUT WALLS OUTREACH: $15,000 · Human ServicesSOCIETY OF ACTIVE RETIREES: $12,500 · Human ServicesAFFIRMATIONS COMMUNITY CENTER: $30,000 · Civil RightsLGBT Detroit: $15,000 · Civil RightsMICHIGAN ENVIROMENTAL COUNCIL: $37,500 · Environment
Other$2,268,765Arts & Culture$1,668,478Education$497,865Crime & Legal$126,500Human Services$99,500Civil Rights$45,000Environment$37,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLIBRARY OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION: $115,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetUNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY: $104,000 over 5y, 28% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE: $94,550 over 6y, 2.3% of budgetYOUTH ARTS UNLOCKED: $82,500 over 4y, 31% of budgetTROY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $75,500 over 6y, 3.2% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE: $60,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDetroit Historical Society: $59,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND S: $52,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWILD SWAN THEATER: $50,000 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetLAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY: $49,300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLong Haul Productions Inc: $45,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetBEAVER ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN: $44,300 over 3y, 12% of budgetCALVIN UNIVERSITY: $40,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPLOWSHARES THEATRE COMPANY: $40,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetCAPITAL CITY FILM FESTIVAL: $40,000 over 3y, 7.1% of budget826 MICHIGAN INC: $40,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES: $40,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetKalamazoo Institute of Arts: $40,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetMUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: $40,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetDETROIT PUPPET COMPANY: $40,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetALMA COLLEGE: $39,975 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMICHIGAN ENVIROMENTAL COUNCIL: $37,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTEMPLEARTS: $37,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetReal People Media Inc: $35,950 over 3y, 10% of budgetGrandville Avenue Arts and Humanities Inc: $35,380 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCROOKED TREE ARTS COUNCIL INC: $35,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetHistorical Society of Michigan: $32,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF HISTORICAL HAMTRAMCK: $32,420 over 3y, 40% of budgetMATRIX THEATRE COMPANY: $30,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetDETROIT OPERA: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLowell Area Historical Museum: $30,000 over 3y, 7.4% of budgetAFFIRMATIONS COMMUNITY CENTER: $30,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetJEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN: $30,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetA Host of People Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetTHE DIATRIBE INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetPUPPETART: $29,909 over 3y, 27% of budgetMARQUETTE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $26,922 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM: $25,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMARYGROVE CONSERVANCY: $25,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY FRIENDS FOUNDATION INC: $23,700 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetRaven Hill Discovery Center: $22,500 over 1y, 12% of budgetMASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $22,500 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetMILFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $22,500 over 2y, 15% of budgetFRIENDS OF THUNDER BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY: $22,500 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetSAUGATUCK-DOUGLAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $20,750 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budget
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 LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH ARTS UNLOCKED ↗
  • Who funds TROY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds HOPE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Detroit Historical Society ↗
  • Who funds ARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND S ↗
  • Who funds WILD SWAN THEATER ↗
  • Who funds LAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds Long Haul Productions Inc ↗
  • Who funds BEAVER ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN ↗
  • Who funds CALVIN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PLOWSHARES THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds CAPITAL CITY FILM FESTIVAL ↗
  • Who funds 826 MICHIGAN INC ↗
  • Who funds GRAND RAPIDS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES ↗
  • Who funds Kalamazoo Institute of Arts ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds DETROIT PUPPET COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds ALMA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds MICHIGAN ENVIROMENTAL COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds TEMPLEARTS ↗
  • Who funds Real People Media Inc ↗
  • Who funds Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities Inc ↗
  • Who funds CROOKED TREE ARTS COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds Historical Society of Michigan ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF HISTORICAL HAMTRAMCK ↗
  • Who funds Friends of Theodore Roethke 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.

Community Foundation …The Fred & Barbara Er…DTE Energy FoundationCulturesourceHudson-Webber Foundat…The Skillman Foundati…The Kresge FoundationConsumers Energy Foun…Community Foundation …Kalamazoo Community F…The Meijer FoundationIrving S Gilmore Foun…
Community Foundation for Southeast MichiganMI51.4× affinity42 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Fred & Barbara Erb Family Foundation · DTE Energy Foundation · Culturesource · Hudson-Webber Foundation · The Skillman Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · Community Foundation for Muskegon County · Kalamazoo Community Foundation · The Meijer Foundation · Irving S Gilmore Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Michigan Humanities Council funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michigan Humanities Council. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    45report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 281 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Michigan Humanities Council’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home