· Public charity
Southwest Michigan First Corp
Increase prosperity for all in Southwest Michigan.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k1 grant · $9k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $117k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $554k
- $250k+4 grants · $3.3M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| City of Kalamazoo | $1,391,155 |
| Village of Lawton | $811,341 |
| City of Sturgis | $769,092 |
| Kalamazoo Institute of Arts | $331,171 |
| Battle Creek Unlimited Inc | $249,461 |
| Village of Marcellus | $170,501 |
| Covert Township | $134,002 |
| Spencer Manufacturing Inc | $25,000 |
| One Well Brewing LLC | $25,000 |
| JCR Offroad Inc | $25,000 |
| Research Consultants International FDI Inc | $20,000 |
| Market One | $11,000 |
| Cornerstone Alliance | $11,000 |
| Hibshman Screw Machine Products Inc | $8,765 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
40 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 6 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, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $421k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
BATTLE CREEK UNLIMITED INC2× · 2023–2025 · $2.6M · revenue -74%- COCity of Kalamazoo2× · 2024–2025 · $1.4M
- VOVillage of Lawton2× · 2024–2025 · $850k
Funded once
- 2E215 EM PARTNERS LLCone grant, 2024 · $550k
- COCity of Marshallone grant, 2024 · $327k
- 2M266 MICHIGAN AVE KALAMAZOO LLC (CONEY ISLAND)one grant, 2024 · $325k
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.
To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.
To equip young people with the skills to overcome barriers and success in education, employment, and in life.
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.
To cultivate a thriving and connected startup ecosystem in nw lower michigan.
The mission of kalamazoo college is to prepare its graduates to better understand, live sucessfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world. as a highly selective, nationally renowened…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
To promote business and economic development for eight towns in southwest michigan.
The small business association of michigan's mission is to help michigan small businesses succeed by promoting entrepreneurship, leveraging buying power and engaging in political advocacy.
To provide education, training, and related benefits to eligible participants of the fund, through a taft hartley collectively barganined agreement.
A voice of the building industry in Michigan. The primary purpose is to positively influence the legislative, regulatory and legal issues that affect the industry.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 283 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
Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.
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.
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 loosely connected circle, clustered around a few shared anchors.
Open a dossier: Small Business Association of Michigan · Battle Creek Community Foundation · Michigan College Access Network
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Southwest Michigan First Corp funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Southwest Michigan First Corp. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Southwest Michigan First’s filings →