Michigan · Public charity
Michigan State Bar Foundation
The MICHIGAN STATE BAR FOUNDATION provides leadership and grants to improve access for all to the justice system, including support for civil legal aid for low-income individuals, law-related education and conflict resolution.
- $22M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 55
- Grants FY2025
- 17
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 24%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $122,133
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $4,338,671
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 21
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Total assets, FY2025
- $57M
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 24% of the organizations Michigan State Bar Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 1% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $74k 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 | 17 | $22M | 18% |
| FY2024 | 17 | $12M | 24% |
| FY2023 | 16 | $13M | 19% |
| FY2022 | 11 | $12M | 0% |
| FY2021 | 16 | $11M | 19% |
| FY2020 | 15 | $4.8M | 13% |
| FY2019 | 17 | $2.9M | 24% |
| FY2018 | 21 | $2.4M | 14% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Legal Aid | $32,401,515 | 9 | 46% |
| Michigan Advocacy Program | $25,960,555 | 9 | 77% |
| Legal Aid of Western Michigan | $11,683,583 | 9 | 44% |
| Michigan Legal Services | $7,185,915 | 9 | 56% |
| Legal Services of Eastern Michigan | $5,384,171 | 8 | 33% |
| Legal Services of Northern Michigan | $3,149,226 | 9 | 33% |
| Michigan Community Resources | $1,641,736 | 9 | 50% |
| Genesee County Legal Aid Society DBA Center for Civil Justice | $920,357 | 8 | 62% |
| Michigan Indian Legal Services | $767,177 | 9 | 19% |
| The Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice | $610,509 | 4 | 15% |
Show all 43 grantees
Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($12k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Michigan State Bar Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 9 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 34 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
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: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Ford Philanthropy · McGregor Fund · WK Kellogg Foundation · Oakland County Bar Foundation · Michigan Health Endowment Fund · The Kresge Foundation · Safe & Just Michigan · The Skillman Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · Butzel Long Charitable Trust
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Michigan State Bar Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Michigan State Bar 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 Michigan State Bar Foundation
- How much does Michigan State Bar Foundation give?
- Michigan State Bar Foundation reported 55 grants totaling $22,176,612 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 21 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Michigan State Bar Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Crime & Legal (100%), Human Services (0%), Education (0%).
- Who are Michigan State Bar Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Lakeshore Legal Aid ($32M), Michigan Advocacy Program ($26M), Legal Aid of Western Michigan ($12M).
- Does Michigan State Bar Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 24% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Michigan State Bar Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Ford Philanthropy.
- Where is Michigan State Bar Foundation based?
- Michigan State Bar Foundation is based in MI.
Play a game based on Michigan State Bar’s filings →