· Public charity
Sparrow Foundation
The mission of the foundation is to operate for the benefit of and to carry out the purposes of the nonprofit and tax-exempt subsidiaries of umh- sparrow health system, a michigan nonprofit corporation ("sole member"), and its mission to improve the health of the people in our community by providing quality, compassionate care to…
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.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k1 grant · $42k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $305k
- $250k+1 grant · $1.2M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| EDWARD W SPARROW HOSPITAL | $1,161,945 |
| SPARROW EATON HOSPITAL | $110,342 |
| SPARROW CARSON HOSPITAL | $108,399 |
| SPARROW CLINTON HOSPITAL | $86,485 |
| SPARROW IONIA HOSPITAL | $42,420 |
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% 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.
6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- EWEDWARD W SPARROW HOSPITAL9× · 2017–2025 · $25M · revenue +40%
- SESPARROW EATON HOSPITAL4× · 2022–2025 · $489k · revenue +28%
- SCSPARROW CLINTON HOSPITAL4× · 2021–2025 · $193k · revenue +41%
Funded once
- ELEAST LANSING ATHLETIC CLUBone grant, 2017 · $14k
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.
6 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. 6 of the 7 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.
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: Michigan Health & Hospital Association Dba Mha · Michigan Center for Rural Health
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Sparrow Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sparrow Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Sparrow’s filings →