· Private foundation
Robert and Bess Cook Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CAPUCHIN SOUP KITCHEN | $4,000 |
| MEADOWBROOK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH | $3,500 |
| FORGOTTEN HARVEST | $3,200 |
| ST JOHN CATHOLIC CHURCH | $2,500 |
| CLEARY UNIVERSITY | $1,800 |
| DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION | $1,750 |
| ROYAL OAK HISTORICAL MUSEUM | $1,300 |
| METRO DETROIT POLICE & FIRE | $1,300 |
| DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS | $1,200 |
| OLIVET COLLEGE | $1,150 |
| YOUNGE DRADUL LING INC | $1,100 |
| GLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK | $1,000 |
| ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH | $800 |
| AMERICAN RED CROSS | $750 |
| MICHIGAN HUMANE SOCIETY | $325 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY25–25, $50) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
38 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $300 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
FORGOTTEN HARVEST INC9× · 2017–2025 · $25k · revenue +12%
DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION9× · 2017–2025 · $21k · revenue ×19- CUCLEARY UNIVERSITY9× · 2017–2025 · $19k · revenue +137%
Funded once
- SPSOUTHFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARYone grant, 2017 · $500
- SASALVATION ARMYone grant, 2017 · $500
- FLFISH & LOAVESone grant, 2017 · $400 · revenue -8%
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.
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.
Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…
Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…
Michigan farm bureau (mfb) is a member directed agricultural organization whose purpose is to represent, protect, and enhance the business, economic, social, and educational interests of our members located throughout the state of michigan.
Bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial application. partnering to de-risk, develop and scale-up discoveries into commercially-viable technology packages.
The chamber is the voice for business and works to power the economy for southeast michigan through public policy, advocacy and leading regional economic development and talent initiatives.
To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.
Informing and educating the public and decision makers about environmental issues.
The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.
The primary mission of the presidents council is to advocate higher education as a public good and to promote its collective value in serving the public interest and the state of michigan. the primary goal is to provide services to members…
The Association is an independent worldwide organization that nurtures lifelong relationships with and among current and future Michigan alumni. As a committed partner of the University the Association offers programs of relevance and…
Mifma supports the viability of all community-driven marketplaces so that they can connect all consumers to local farms and businesses.
The mission of the michigan health council is to facilitate the education, recruitment and retention of a diverse healthcare workforce by maximizing technology and partnerships.
How this is measured
26 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. 26 of the 58 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 FORGOTTEN HARVEST INC ↗
- Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CLEARY UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds OLIVET COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds GLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds MICHIGAN HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS OF MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds SPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC ↗
- Who funds THE OPPORTUNITY FUND ↗
- Who funds CHAMBER MUSIC DETROIT ↗
- Who funds HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC ↗
- Who funds FISH & LOAVES ↗
- Who funds University of Michigan ↗
- Who funds THE MICHIGAN HISPANIC COLLABORATIVE ↗
- Who funds PANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND ↗
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 · DTE Energy Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Robert and Bess Cook Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert and Bess Cook Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Robert and Bess Cook Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Robert and Bess Cook 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.
Play a game based on Robert and Bess Cook’s filings →