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Michigan · Private foundation

Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$985k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
13
Grants FY2025
7
Organizations funded FY2024
86%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$25,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$530,000
Organizations funded a year
2 to 7
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
3
Total assets, FY2025
$7.5M
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 86% of the organizations Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 92% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 8% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $368k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’23’24
Housing & ShelterCommunity ImprovementFood & NutritionCrime & LegalOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving12$960k33%
FY20247$398k86%
FY20233$1.0M100%
FY20212$501k100%
FY20207$617kn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$1.0MHuman Services$648kCommunity Improvement$568kEducation$526kRecreation & Sports$388kPublic Benefit$112kHousing & Shelter$95kArts & Culture$84kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Porter Hills Foundation$600,000143%
Woodson Center$567,50030%
Regents of the University of Michigan$500,0001n/a
Gerald R Ford Presidential Foundation$100,0001n/a
Childrens Museum of Branch County Inc$50,000118%
Meals on Wheels Western Michigan$47,50020%
Home Repair Services of Kent County Inc$47,50021%
Iccf Community Homes$47,50020%
Senior Neighbors Inc$47,50021%
Pacific Legal Foundation$15,00020%
Show all 14 grantees
All grantees of Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Porter Hills Foundation$600,000143%
Woodson Center$567,50030%
Regents of the University of Michigan$500,0001n/a
Gerald R Ford Presidential Foundation$100,0001n/a
Childrens Museum of Branch County Inc$50,000118%
Meals on Wheels Western Michigan$47,50020%
Home Repair Services of Kent County Inc$47,50021%
Iccf Community Homes$47,50020%
Senior Neighbors Inc$47,50021%
Pacific Legal Foundation$15,00020%
Mackinac Center$12,00020%
Tibbits Opera Foundation and Arts Council$5,00011%
DePauw University$1,00010%
Lost Tree Chapel Inc$5001n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 8 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.4M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 11 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPorter Hills Foundation: $600,000 over 1y, 43% of budgetWoodson Center: $567,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetChildrens Museum of Branch County Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetMeals on Wheels Western Michigan: $47,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHome Repair Services of Kent County Inc: $47,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetIccf Community Homes: $47,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSenior Neighbors Inc: $47,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPacific Legal Foundation: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMackinac Center: $12,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTibbits Opera Foundation and Arts Council: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDePauw University: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 11.

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.

Grand Rapids Community FoundationMI17.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Grand Rapids Community Foundation · The David and Carol Van Andel Family Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · The Mercantile Bank Foundation · The Sebastian Foundation · Steve & Amy Van Andel Foundation · Ufp Industries Foundation · The Meijer Foundation · Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation · Heart of West Michigan United Way · Frey Foundation · American Endowment 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.

Compare Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation with peer funders

About Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation

How much does Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation give?
Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation reported 13 grants totaling $985,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 7 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (29%), Human Services (18%), Community Improvement (16%).
Who are Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Porter Hills Foundation ($600k), Woodson Center ($568k), Regents of the University of Michigan ($500k).
Does Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 86% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Grand Rapids Community Foundation, The David and Carol Van Andel Family Foundation, Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation.
Where is Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation based?
Robert W and Lynn H Browne Foundation is based in MI.

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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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