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Rocket Giving Fund

The ROCKET GIVING FUND's mission is to host a world-class pga tour event while simultaneously benefiting the detroit community.

$866k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$350k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Philanthropy$4.3MRecreation & Sports$954kHealth$627kYouth Development$619kCommunity Improvement$391kEducation$285kArts & Culture$40kHuman Services$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $111k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $390k
  • $250k+1 grant · $350k
$50,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BLACK TECH SATURDAYS$350,000
UNITED WAY OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN$200,000
PEOPLE FOR PALMER PARK$75,000
FOLDS OF HONOR$65,000
DETROIT GOLF CLUB CADDIE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION$50,000
HUMAN-I-T$31,400
MIDNIGHT GOLF PROGRAM$30,000
DETROIT PAL$30,000
FIRST TEE OF GREATER DETROIT$20,000
JUSTIN THOMAS FOUNDATION CO HELFER AND COMPANY LLC$7,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $181k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 94% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CALVIN JOHNSON JR FOUNDATION: $10k → 6%BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK: $5k → 15%THE CHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF DETROIT: $13k → 21%DETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: $92k → 21%DETROIT PAL: $30k → 21%DETROIT PAL: $30k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

MI
CA
KY
VA
DC
OK
GA
FL
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.3M · 7 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +72% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
14

Total granted

$6.3M
$552k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+72%
+24%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $454k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesPhilanthropyPublic Safety & DisasterHealthOther
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

  • UNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN
    5× · 2020–2025 · $4.2M · revenue +72%
  • CH
    CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION
    4× · 2020–2023 · $627k · revenue +163%
  • PF
    PEOPLE FOR PALMER PARK
    4× · 2019–2025 · $550k · revenue +149% · 50% of their budget

Funded once

  • DC
    DETROIT CHILDREN'S FUND
    one grant, 2019 · $210k · revenue -33%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OFNORTHWEST ACTIVITIES CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $110k · revenue +50%
  • RF
    RICKIE FOWLER FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $100k · revenue +96% · 72% 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
Detroit Metro Sports Commissioninc
Recreation & Sports
2
Detroit Youth Golf

First tee is a youth development organization that enables kids to build the strength of character that empowers them through a lifetime of new challenges. by seamlessly integrating the game of golf with a life skills curriculum. we're…

Youth Development
3
Indianapolis Junior Golf Foundation
—
4
Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation

The mission of desc is to cultivate local workforce talent to align with the needs of the business community through partnerships with key workforce agencies, faith- and community- based organizations, education and training institutions,…

Employment
5
The Watson Youth Golf Foundation
Recreation & Sports
6
Dte Energy Foundation
Philanthropy
7
The Cfa Society of Detroit Inc

We are an association of local investment professionals consisting of portfolio managers, security analysts, investment advisors, and other financial professionals. we promote ethical and professional standards within the investment…

—
8
Delaware State Golf Association Scholarship Fund
—
9
Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation Inc

Detroit regional chamber foundation, inc. (the "foundation") is dedicated to growing programs or initiatives that are important to ensuring the detroit region's economy is one of the fastest growing in the u.s.

Community Improvement
10
About Face Detroit
—
11
Detroit Athletic Club Foundation

To raise and expend funds for the beautification, support of programs for public safety, and improvement of detroit, michigan and southeastern michigan. to raise and expend funds for the award of scholarships and the promotion of academic…

Education
12
Diploma Equity Project

The organization works with k-12, higher education and other community partners to design and implement programs to improve rates of college persistence and completion.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Detroit Children's Fund; the most unlike its peers is Golf My Future Mygame. 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

25 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
16/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $4,226,585 · Public Safety & DisasterUNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGANPEOPLE FOR PALMER PARK: $550,000 · Recreation & SportsPEOPLE FOR P…DETROIT GOLF FOUNDATION: $256,852 · Recreation & SportsDETROIT GOLF…+3 more: $26,132 · Recreation & SportsBLACK TECH SATURDAYS ALEXA TURNAGE: $350,000 · EducationBLACK TECH …DETROIT GOLF CLUB CADDIE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $192,460 · EducationDETROIT GOL…RICKIE FOWLER FOUNDATION: $100,000 · EducationRICKIE FOWL…FOLDS OF HONOR MICHIGAN INC: $65,000 · EducationFOLDS OF HO…+2 more: $17,500 · EducationCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION: $627,075 · HealthCHILDREN'…DETROIT CHILDREN'S FUND: $210,000 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OFNORTHWEST ACTIVITIES CENTER INC: $109,828 · Philanthropy+1 more: $7,500 · PhilanthropyTHE MIDNIGHT GOLF PROGRAM: $285,000 · Youth DevelopmentDETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INCORPORATED: $152,340 · Human ServicesTHE CHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF DETROIT: $13,354 · Human ServicesCalvin Johnson Jr Foundation Inc: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesHuman-I-T: $31,400 · OtherPGA TOUR INC: $10,000 · OtherGOLF MY FUTURE MYGAME: $40,000 · OtherDETROIT ECONOMIC GROWTH ASSOCIATION: $10,000 · Other
Public Safety & Disaster$4,226,585Recreation & Sports$832,984Education$724,960Health$627,075Philanthropy$327,328Youth Development$285,000Human Services$180,694Other$91,400

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 budgetUNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $4,226,585 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATION: $627,075 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetPEOPLE FOR PALMER PARK: $550,000 over 4y, 50% of budgetTHE MIDNIGHT GOLF PROGRAM: $285,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetDETROIT GOLF FOUNDATION: $256,852 over 5y, 57% of budgetDETROIT CHILDREN'S FUND: $210,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetDETROIT GOLF CLUB CADDIE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $192,460 over 2y, 98% of budgetDETROIT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INCORPORATED: $152,340 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetRICKIE FOWLER FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 72% of budgetGOLF MY FUTURE MYGAME: $40,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetTHE CHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF DETROIT: $13,354 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCalvin Johnson Jr Foundation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetPGA TOUR INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT ECONOMIC GROWTH ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT RIVERFRONT CONSERVANCY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINCLUSIVELY FIT FOUNDATION: $9,056 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC SAFETY FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHORATIO WILLIAMS FOUNDATION: $7,076 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetBLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

DTE Energy FoundationMI19.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: DTE Energy Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · Ford Philanthropy · Comerica Charitable Foundation · Pga Tour Inc · The Kresge Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc

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 Rocket Giving Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rocket Giving Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Pga Tour Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 25 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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