How much does The Henry Ford II Fund give?

The Henry Ford II Fund reported 15 grants totaling $1,630,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 18 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does The Henry Ford II Fund fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Health (29%), Arts & Culture (20%), Science & Tech (12%).

Who are The Henry Ford II Fund's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Detroit Zoological Society ($1.4M), Henry Ford Health System ($1.4M), The Empowerment Plan ($935k).

Does The Henry Ford II Fund fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 33% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does The Henry Ford II Fund accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.

Which funders back the same organizations as The Henry Ford II Fund?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, The Skillman Foundation, DTE Energy Foundation.

Where is The Henry Ford II Fund based?

The Henry Ford II Fund is based in MI.

The Henry Ford II Fund

The Henry Ford II Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Henry Ford II Fund

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.6M

Granted FY2024still arriving

Grants FY2024still arriving

States reached

$1.0M

Largest

01What it funds

0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$3.5MArts & Culture$2.5MScience & Tech$1.5MAnimals$1.4MHousing & Shelter$935kHuman Services$710kFood & Nutrition$675kReligion$275kOther$0

02FY2024 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

$10k–50k6 grants · $120k
$50k–250k8 grants · $510k
$250k+1 grant · $1.0M

$50,000

Median grant

States reached

$33M

Total assets

Largest grants
Recipient	Amount
HENRY FORD HEALTH	$1,000,000
THE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION	$100,000
GROSSE POINTE MEMORIAL CHURCH	$100,000
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL	$60,000
BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER	$50,000
DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS	$50,000
ACLU FUND OF MICHIGAN	$50,000
JDRF	$50,000
NEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN	$50,000
Individual grant recipient	$40,000
HENRY FORD ESTATE	$25,000
FORGOTTEN HARVEST	$25,000
DETROIT PUBLIC TELEVISION	$10,000
DETROIT ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY	$10,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN	$10,000

02The need

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 (FY17–23, $1.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 21%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

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

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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.

$10M · 22 repeat orgs$2.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$10M

$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%

Still filing today

68%

77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $250k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

HealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesAnimalsEducationHousing & ShelterOther

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

DZ
DETROIT ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
6× · 2017–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +39%
HF
HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM
4× · 2020–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +48%
TE
THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN
6× · 2018–2023 · $935k · revenue +120%

Funded once

HF
HENRY FORD ESTATE FAIR LANE
one grant, 2017 · $575k
JD
JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION
one grant, 2023 · $500k
MS
METRO SOLUTIONS INCgraduated
one grant, 2022 · $165k · revenue +26%

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.

Delta Dental Fund

Delta dental fund's mission is to improve the oral health of the public and to advance dental science and the dental profession through research and education.

—

Metropolitan Jewish Health System Inc

Mjhs health system is a charitable not-for-profit established to support the activities of affiliated organizations. mjhs is built on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, first established by the four brooklyn ladies in…

Health

Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—

Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health

United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—

University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—

Highmark Health

As the parent entity of a blended health organization, highmark health seeks to improve the health and well-being of the people and communities it serves by providing affordable, accessible and high-quality healthcare.

Health

Mymichigan Medical Center Midland

Creating healthy communities - together

Health

Michigan Biotechnology Institute

Bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial application. partnering to de-risk, develop and scale-up discoveries into commercially-viable technology packages.

Education

The Greater Detroit Health Transition Company

Gdahc mission: together with our partners, we empower and improve the health and economic vitality of individuals, organizations and communities by catalyzing the power of collaboration. gdahc vision: healthy people. healthy community.…

—

Michigan Enviromental Council

Informing and educating the public and decision makers about environmental issues.

Environment

National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture

How this is measured

The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan; the most unlike its peers is Idaho Base Camp Inc. 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

27 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. 27 of the 41 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.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

27/27

Grantees still filing

19/27

Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other$5,320,890Health$2,274,740Animals$1,441,666Arts & Culture$1,312,000Human Services$1,010,000Food & Nutrition$625,000Recreation & Sports$119,663

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.

Community Foundation for Southeast MichiganMI17.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Skillman Foundation · DTE Energy Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Hudson-Webber Foundation · The Fred & Barbara Erb Family Foundation · Ford Philanthropy · WK Kellogg Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 The Henry Ford II Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Henry Ford II Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024

’20’21’22’23’24’25

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

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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Henry Ford II Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Henry Ford II Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

Play a game based on Henry Ford II’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The endowment market

who holds foundation money, and what just moved

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home