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Road to Michigan's Future at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Road to Michigan's Future

To conduct educational research and analysis to inform the public on public policies and issues of concern to and affecting the quality of life for Michigan residents; to provide an understanding of how current policy initiatives will affect the well-being of Michigan.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
10
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$450k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Public Benefit$13MPublic Safety & Disaster$865kPhilanthropy$800kEducation$400kEnvironment$200kCommunity Improvement$110kReligion$100kHealth$60kOther$0
02FY2024 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $714,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,431,900 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $717,400 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

  • Under $10k1 grant · $10k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $145k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $110k
  • $250k+1 grant · $450k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Story Network Foundation$450,000
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan$60,000
The Voting Project$50,000
Detroit Association of Black Associates$45,000
Freedom Institute for Economic Social Justice and People Empowerment$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
Metro Equity Action Fund$25,000
Detroit Unity Fund$15,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Michigan Deserves Better Fund$9,500
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 (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 96% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%AMERICA WORKS USA: $11.3M → 14%Metro Equity Action Fund: $25k → 10%GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: $15k → 11%PROSPERITY MICHIGAN: $40k → 13%21ST CENTURY FUND: $800k → 16%WORLD OUTREACH CAMPUS CHURCH: $10k → 18%VISUAL LION: $6k → 21%MOVING NC FORWARD: $10k → 8%THE VOTING PROJECT: $488k → 10%AMERICA WORKS USA: $200k → 14%METRO EQUITY ACTION FUND: $15k → 10%MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: $315k → 16%THE BLACK SLATE: $15k → 21%The Voting Project: $50k → 10%Story Network Foundation: $450k → 14%JUSTICE FOR ALL: $100k → 16%Detroit Association of Black Associates: $45k → 21%LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $50k → 14%CLEAN JOBS FOR MICHIGAN: $150k → 16%DETROIT ECUMENICAL MINISTERS ALLIANCE: $25k → 21%AMERICA WORKS USA: $20k → 14%Detroit Unity Fund: $15k → 21%DETROIT UNITY FUND: $10k → 21%Freedom Institute for Economic Social Justice and People Empowerment: $25k → 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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 7 repeat orgs$1.5M to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
11

Total granted

$14M
$906k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+20%

Still filing today

43%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 19% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $580k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsReligionEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • AW
    AMERICA WORKS USA
    3× · 2020–2023 · $11M · revenue +661% · 72% of their budget
  • MD
    MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $1.1M
  • KM
    KEEP MI SAFE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $865k

Funded once

  • MP
    Michigan Parent Alliance for Safer Schools
    one grant, 2023 · $400k
  • JF
    Jobs for Michigan
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • M2
    MILWAUKEE 2020
    one grant, 2023 · $110k · 69% of their budget
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
Elevated Voices Inc

Voter education around policy

—
2
Michigan Rising Action

Michigan Rising Action is focused on holding special interest networks accountable and advancing conservative principles. We're fighting for limited government, lowering taxes, fighting government over-regulation that stifles freedom, free…

—
3
Michigan Center of Accountability for Republicans

Social welfare and issue advocacy

Civil Rights
4
Defend Your Vote

To oppose a Michigan ballot measure

—
5
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.

Public Benefit
6
Promote the Vote 2022

A coalition of organizations and individuals committed to ensuring michigan has a voting system that works for all of us.

—
7
Lift Up Michigan

To promote the common good and general welfare of Michiganders through advocacy, research, and participation in public policy initiatives concerning the economy, health, safety, environment, civic engagement, and good governance.

Public Benefit
8
Bulding Michigans Future

Building Michigan's Future has been organized to develop and advocate for legislation, regulations and government programs to protect Michigan's environment and natural resources, promote the enforcement of civil and constitutional rights,…

—
9
Michigan Conservative Action Policies

Michigan conservative action policies (mcap) is an organization dedicated to educating michiganders on important policy issues. the organization conducts policy research and public polling in michigan to better understand current opinions…

—
10
Accountability for Government Fund Inc

To operate exclusively for the promotion of civic action and social welfare by promoting the common good and general welfare of the residents of and visitors to the State of Michigan; to support public policies on the Federal State and…

—
11
Promote the Vote

To advance proactive voting rights reforms.

—
12
Mcma Advocacy Fund

To advocate for the cannabis manufacturers in michigan

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Prosperity Michigan Inc; the most unlike its peers is Freedom Institute for Economic Social Justice & People Empowerment. 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 24 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
5/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICA WORKS USA: $11,470,000 · OtherAMERICA WORKS USAMICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE: $1,115,000 · OtherMICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEEKEEP MI SAFE: $865,000 · OtherKEEP MI SAFEVOTING PROJECT: $538,000 · Other+14 more: $1,351,000 · Other+14 moreJUSTICE FOR ALL INC: $100,000 · ReligionPLANNED PARENTHOOD ADVOCATES OF MI: $60,000 · Civil RightsFREEDOM INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC SOCIAL JUSTICE & PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT: $25,000 · Civil RightsMICHIGAN DESERVES BETTER: $9,500 · Civil RightsLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 · EnvironmentDETROIT UNITY FUND: $25,000 · Community Improvement
Other$15,339,000Religion$100,000Civil Rights$94,500Environment$50,000Community Improvement$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICA WORKS USA: $11,470,000 over 3y, 72% of budgetVOTING PROJECT: $538,000 over 2y, 40% of budgetStory Network Foundation: $450,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetJobs for Michigan: $150,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetMILWAUKEE 2020: $110,000 over 1y, 69% of budgetJUSTICE FOR ALL INC: $100,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD ADVOCATES OF MI: $60,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROSPERITY MICHIGAN INC: $40,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetDETROIT UNITY FUND: $25,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetMoving NC Forward: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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.

Sixteen Thirty FundMichigan Civic Action…
Sixteen Thirty FundDC17.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Michigan Civic Action Fund

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 Road to Michigan's Future funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Road to Michigan's Future. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%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
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 24 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

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    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