Skip to content
Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending

ProsperUs advances economic equity in under-resourced communities by supporting entrepreneurs with opportunities and capital needed to build businesses, generational wealth, and vibrant neighborhoods.

$470k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$120k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Community Improvement$577kFood & Nutrition$199kArts & Culture$143kHuman Services$128kCivil Rights$89kPublic Benefit$55kEducation$45kHealth$33kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $429,190, the rows itemized in this filing. The $469,929 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $40,739 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 · FY2024

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $139k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $291k
$54,445
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Ferris Wheel Innovation Center$120,019
Metro Detroit Black Business Chamber of Commerce$61,016
Detroit Future Opps$55,150
Grand Rapids Urban League$54,445
Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Inc$49,885
Global Detroit$40,000
Grabb Local Inc$37,213
Michigan Womens Foundation$11,462
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 (FY22–24, $94k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 17%. 42% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 17%Grand Rapids Urban League: $54k → 11%Dream of Detroit: $20k → 21%Cody Rouge Communtiy Action Alliance: $20k → 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
Greater Lansing Destination Development Foundation
Community Improvement
2
About Face Detroit
—
3
Greater Gratiot Development Inc

To retain, expand, and attract business & industry and to participate in activities which enhance the economic climate within the Gratiot Community.

Community Improvement
4
Detroit Cdfi Coalition

Detroit CDFI Coalition is organized for the purpose of furthering community economic development financing in the City of Detroit, Michigan, promoting and assisting growth and development of community development opportunities through the…

Community Improvement
5
New Hope Community Development

A neighborhood based housing and development Corporation with the purpose of revializing the detroit area, by providubg affordable housing to persons of low and moderate incomes and providing youth development and networking.

Housing & Shelter
6
Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit (D4) Coalition Inc

To build a diverse coalition of community, environmental, faith and organized labor organizations united to strengthen metro detroit through meaningful community engagement in the creation of sustainable "win-win" economic development…

Community Improvement
7
Detroit Land Bank Community Development Corporation

The detroit land bank community development corporation's mission is to serve the people of the city of detroit, michigan through the advancement of economic welfare, the promotion of community development, and the provision of affordable…

Community Improvement
8
Detroit Cultivator Community Land Trust

The maintenance and beautification of vacant land inside of a community

Food & Nutrition
9
Detroit Future City

Detroit Future City (DFC) was founded in 2015 to catalyze implementation of the Detroit Strategic Framework, a 50-year vision for the City of Detroit developed with input from over 100,000 Detroiters. See Schedule O.

Community Improvement
10
Northend Christian Community Development Corporation

North End CDC services the historic North End community of Detroit MI . The program specializes in providing workforce and youth development.

Community Improvement
11
Good Jobs Now Inc

To build the political and economic power of low and moderate-income detroiters of color through neighborhood-driven community organizing and civic engagement in order to change public policy and communities for the better.

—
12
Black Leaders Detroit

To provide financial support for diverse social and community impact projects originated and led by Detroiters of African descent.

Employment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Metro Detroit Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. 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

15 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. 15 of the 55 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
11/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

METRO DETROIT BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION: $61,016 · OtherMETRO DETROIT BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATIONDetroit Future Opps: $55,150 · OtherDetroit Future OppsMike's Fresh Market Inc: $50,000 · OtherGrand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Inc: $49,885 · OtherGRAND RAPIDS BLACK BUSINESS LEAGUE: $37,213 · Other+36 more: $691,500 · Other+36 moreFERRIS WHEEL INNOVATION CENTER: $120,019 · EducationFERRIS WHEEL…Metro Detroit Barber College: $25,000 · EducationMetro Detroi…GLOBAL DETROIT: $60,000 · Community ImprovementGLOBAL DET…GLOBAL AFRICAN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · Community ImprovementGLOBAL AFR…WARRENCONNER DEVELOPMENT COALITION: $20,000 · Community ImprovementWARRENCONN…THE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $11,462 · Community ImprovementTHE MICHIG…Osborn Neighborhood Alliance: $10,000 · Community ImprovementOsborn Nei…Accounting Aid Society: $10,000 · Community ImprovementAccounting…GRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE: $54,445 · Human ServicesDream of Detroit: $20,000 · Human ServicesCody Rouge Community Action Alliance: $20,000 · Human ServicesGRACE IN ACTION COLLECTIVES: $20,000 · Youth DevelopmentGRANDMONT ROSEDALE DEVELOPMENT CORP: $20,000 · Housing & ShelterNW GOLDBERG CARES INC: $7,500 · Arts & Culture
Other$944,764Education$145,019Community Improvement$131,462Human Services$94,445Youth Development$20,000Housing & Shelter$20,000Arts & Culture$7,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFERRIS WHEEL INNOVATION CENTER: $120,019 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetMETRO DETROIT BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION: $61,016 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetGLOBAL DETROIT: $60,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE: $54,445 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMetro Detroit Barber College: $25,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetCENTRAL DETROIT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGRACE IN ACTION COLLECTIVES: $20,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetDream of Detroit: $20,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetGRANDMONT ROSEDALE DEVELOPMENT CORP: $20,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCody Rouge Community Action Alliance: $20,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetWARRENCONNER DEVELOPMENT COALITION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $11,462 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOsborn Neighborhood Alliance: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetAccounting Aid Society: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNW GOLDBERG CARES INC: $7,500 over 1y, 1.6% 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 FERRIS WHEEL INNOVATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds METRO DETROIT BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GLOBAL DETROIT ↗
  • Who funds GRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds Metro Detroit Barber College ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL DETROIT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds GRACE IN ACTION COLLECTIVES ↗
  • Who funds Dream of Detroit ↗
  • Who funds GRANDMONT ROSEDALE DEVELOPMENT CORP ↗
  • Who funds Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance ↗
  • Who funds WARRENCONNER DEVELOPMENT COALITION ↗
  • Who funds THE MICHIGAN WOMEN'S 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 …Detroit Economic Grow…The Skillman Foundati…The Kresge FoundationUnited Way for Southe…Comerica Charitable F…WK Kellogg FoundationDTE Energy FoundationEnterprise Community …The Ford FoundationCommunity Development…The Gilbert Family Fo…
Community Foundation for Southeast MichiganMI25.9× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Detroit Economic Growth Association · The Skillman Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Comerica Charitable Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · DTE Energy Foundation · Enterprise Community Partners Inc · The Ford Foundation · Community Development Advocates of Detroit · The Gilbert Family 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 Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%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
    3report 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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending?

    Find your warmest path to Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending 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 55 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Prosperus Detroit Micro Lending’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