Skip to content
Progress Michigan Education Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Progress Michigan Education Inc

Progress Michigan Education is a non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that promotes solutions for michigan through independent research, public education and the use of new media and internet outreach campaigns.

$15k
Granted FY2022
1
Grants FY2022
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2022.

Education$2.8MPublic Benefit$729kCivil Rights$197kArts & Culture$115kScience & Tech$41kCommunity Improvement$40kPhilanthropy$25kEnvironment$13kOther$0
02FY2022 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$14,884
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$14,884
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–22) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 84% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PROGRESS GEORGIA: $25k → 8%TIDES ADVOCACY: $469k → 10%CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY: $45k → 20%MICHIGAN COALITION ON: $84k → 8%FRESHWATER FUTURE: $13k → 9%EAST KENTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: $6k → 11%MICHIGAN PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN: $100k → 14%BURMESE AMERICAN INITIATIVE: $40k → 14%ST IGNACE VISITORS BUREAU: $6k → 14%TWO PENINSULAS RESEARCH GROUP: $41k → 16%METROPOLITAN ORGANIZING STRATEGY: $40k → 21%TIDES ADVOCACY: $30k → 10%DETROIT ACTION COMMONWEALTH: $75k → 21%RISING VOICES (RVAFF): $15k → 10%ALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS: $95k → 21%WE THE PEOPLE MICHIGAN: $2.7M → 21%ALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS: $14k → 21%MI STUDENT POWER ALLIANCE: $7k → 21%MOTHERING JUSTICE: $75k → 21%482 FORWARD: $75k → 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 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 Advocacy Program

To advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions.

Crime & Legal
2
Action for Liberation

Michigan Liberation is dedicated to the leadership development of community members and creation of effective campaigns to advance racial, gender and economic justice in Michigan

Civil Rights
3
Michigan Jobs Coalition

To promote job retention and creation in the State of Michigan

—
4
Clean Fuels Michigan

To accelerate the transition to clean transportation in michigan. we advocate for the suite of alternative fuels including biofuels, hydrogen, propane, natural gas, and electric vehicles.

Community Improvement
5
Progress Michigan Inc
Public Benefit
6
We the People Action Fund

To promote racial and economic justice throughout Michigan by training and organizing community leaders across the state; Engaging community members in the development of thoughtful public policy solutions through nonpartisan educational…

Civil Rights
7
Connect Detroit

To strategically solve problems through collaboratives with City of Detroit Departments, nonprofit organizations and local grant makers in order to secure the maximum federal, state, and national foundation dollars for the city Detroit.

Community Improvement
8
Michigan Voices

The organization seeks to build civic engagment capacity in progressive nonprofit groups that are led by and engage black, indigenous and people of color.

Civil Rights
9
Judicial Integrity Project

To improve Michigans judiciary through the evaluation, education promotion of judges committed to deciding cases based on the plain meaning of text stare decisis develop an education program for legislators general public to raise…

—
10
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
11
Detroit Jews for Justice

Djj advances racial and economic justice by developing metro detroit jews as community organizers who fight for transformative policy change in deep partnership with neighbors

Civil Rights
12
Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition

Works to end environmental injustice by empowering communities at the grassroots level.the corporation is organzied exclusively for charitable, religious, educational and scientific purposes, including for such purposes, the makeing of…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is We the People Mi; the most unlike its peers is St Ignace Visitors Bureau. 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

13 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. 13 of the 18 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

We the People MI: $2,724,929 · EducationWe the People MI+1 more: $75,000 · EducationTIDES ADVOCACY: $499,253 · OtherTIDES ADVOCACYMICHIGAN COALITION ON: $84,411 · OtherMICHIGAN COALITION …TWO PENINSULAS RESEARCH GROUP: $40,584 · OtherTWO PENINSULAS RESE…ACTBLUE CIVICS INC: $25,000 · Other+4 more: $33,884 · OtherMichigan Peoples Campaign: $100,000 · Civil RightsDETROIT ACTION COMMONWEALTH: $75,000 · Civil RightsMOTHERING JUSTICE: $75,000 · Civil RightsALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $109,000 · Arts & CultureBURMESE AMERICAN INITIATIVE INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $45,000 · Public BenefitMOSES (METROPOLITAN ORGANIZING STRATEGY ENABLING STRENGTH): $40,000 · Community ImprovementGreat Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund Inc: $13,000 · Environment
Education$2,799,929Other$683,132Civil Rights$250,000Arts & Culture$149,000Public Benefit$45,000Community Improvement$40,000Environment$13,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWe the People MI: $2,724,929 over 1y, 38% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $499,253 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $109,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMichigan Peoples Campaign: $100,000 over 1y, 38% of budget482 FORWARD: $75,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetDETROIT ACTION COMMONWEALTH: $75,000 over 1y, 99% of budgetMOTHERING JUSTICE: $75,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $45,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBURMESE AMERICAN INITIATIVE INC: $40,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetMOSES (METROPOLITAN ORGANIZING STRATEGY ENABLING STRENGTH): $40,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetACTBLUE CIVICS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreat Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund Inc: $13,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetST IGNACE VISITORS BUREAU: $6,000 over 1y, 1.3% 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.

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.

Tides FoundationThe Skillman Foundati…Amalgamated Charitabl…Michigan Civic Action…Michigan VoicesAll Hands on Deck Net…NEO Philanthropy IncNew Venture FundWK Kellogg FoundationThe Ford FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…Vanguard Charitable E…
Tides FoundationCA17× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tides Foundation · The Skillman Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Michigan Civic Action Fund · Michigan Voices · All Hands on Deck Network Inc · NEO Philanthropy Inc · New Venture Fund · WK Kellogg Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Progress Michigan Education Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Progress Michigan Education Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Progress Michigan Education Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Progress Michigan Education 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.

    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 18 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Progress Michigan Education’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