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Michigan · Private foundation

The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$569k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
18
Grants FY2025
15
Organizations funded FY2024
13%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$25,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$201,000
Organizations funded a year
10 to 17
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
2
Total assets, FY2025
$727k
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 13% of the organizations The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 1% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
PhilanthropyHealthEducationArts & CultureOther
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 arriving17$368k24%
FY202415$269k13%
FY202315$268k20%
FY202212$161k8%
FY202111$157k9%
FY202010$160k30%
FY201911$138k0%
FY201817$189k24%
98% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$632kYouth Development$414kReligion$289kEducation$202kHuman Services$189kHealth$127kHousing & Shelter$90kArts & Culture$55kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
St Mary Church$241,0006n/a
United Way of Genesee County$200,00081%
United Way of Saginaw County$178,00082%
Flint Public Library$111,0005n/a
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan$52,00030%
The Arc Shiawassee County Inc$45,20094%
Mott Community College$40,0001n/a
Mymichigan Medical Center Saginaw$29,50030%
Whaley Children's Center Inc$25,0001n/a
Flint Institute of Arts$17,00040%
Show all 17 grantees
All grantees of The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
St Mary Church$241,0006n/a
United Way of Genesee County$200,00081%
United Way of Saginaw County$178,00082%
Flint Public Library$111,0005n/a
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan$52,00030%
The Arc Shiawassee County Inc$45,20094%
Mott Community College$40,0001n/a
Mymichigan Medical Center Saginaw$29,50030%
Whaley Children's Center Inc$25,0001n/a
Flint Institute of Arts$17,00040%
Mymichigan Medical Center Saginaw Founda$17,00040%
Nrityanjali$15,0001n/a
Foundation for Mott Community College$15,00021%
Back to the Bricks Inc$11,50023%
Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan$7,00030%
Salvation Army$5,0001n/a
Michigan Arts Access$3,00021%

Plus 21 recipients with no EIN on record ($876k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUnited Way of Genesee County: $200,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetUnited Way of Saginaw County: $178,000 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $52,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Arc Shiawassee County Inc: $45,200 over 9y, 4.3% of budgetMymichigan Medical Center Saginaw: $29,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFlint Institute of Arts: $17,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMymichigan Medical Center Saginaw Founda: $17,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetFoundation for Mott Community College: $15,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetBack to the Bricks Inc: $11,500 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetGirl Scouts Heart of Michigan: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMichigan Arts Access: $3,000 over 2y, 1.1% 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.

Consumers Energy FoundationMI19.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Consumers Energy Foundation · Anna Paulina Foundation · Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust · Wallace & Irene Bronner Family Charitable Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · The Whiting Foundation · Tummala Charitable Foundation · The Hagerman Foundation · Saginaw Community Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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.

Compare The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation with peer funders

About The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation

How much does The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation give?
The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation reported 18 grants totaling $568,600 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 10 and 17 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Philanthropy (30%), Youth Development (20%), Religion (14%).
Who are The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: St Mary Church ($241k), United Way of Genesee County ($200k), United Way of Saginaw County ($178k).
Does The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 13% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Consumers Energy Foundation, Anna Paulina Foundation, Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust.
Where is The Big John Steak and Onion Foundation based?
The Big John Steak and Onion 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 40 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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