· Private foundation
The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k97 grants · $141k
- $10k–50k61 grants · $1.2M
- $50k–250k140 grants · $16M
- $250k+115 grants · $124M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo | $10,000,000 |
| Southeast Michigan Foundation for Public Spaces | $7,500,000 |
| Detroit Riverfront Conservancy | $6,532,800 |
| Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo | $5,000,000 |
| Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan | $5,000,000 |
| BUDC | $4,000,000 |
| Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan | $3,750,000 |
| Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo | $3,750,000 |
| Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Inc | $2,625,000 |
| BUDC | $2,500,000 |
| The Boston Foundation Inc (dba The Philanthropic Initiative) | $2,402,463 |
| Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy | $2,000,000 |
| Greater Rochester Chamber Foundation (ROC2025 Fund) | $2,000,000 |
| BUDC | $2,000,000 |
| Invest Detroit Foundation | $2,000,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $28.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 15% of The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 42% of the giving stays in MI; by stated purpose, 38%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.
406 repeat relationships: 193 still active in FY2024, 213 since wound down; 74 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
DETROIT RIVERFRONT CONSERVANCY INC5× · 2020–2024 · $34M · revenue +51% · 67% of their budget- LCLAKESHORE CONNECTIONS INC5× · 2020–2024 · $11M · revenue +151% · 88% of their budget
BUFFALO NIAGARA WATERKEEPER INC5× · 2020–2024 · $9.4M · revenue +44% · 76% of their budget
Funded once
DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $2.0M · revenue +73%- YMYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF OLEAN NY AND BRADFORD PAone grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue -13%
- IFINSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENTone grant, 2023 · $1.0M · revenue +10%
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.
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.…
The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.
The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.
Promotion of activities to spur economic growth and revitalization in the city of detroit
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.
Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…
To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.
The corporation is organized and shall be operated exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes by conducting or supporting activites exclusively for the benefit of, to perform the functions of, or to carry out the…
Bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial application. partnering to de-risk, develop and scale-up discoveries into commercially-viable technology packages.
To hold title and perform related functions in connection with a research park and innovation center in support of michigan state university research foundation.
We empower directors and transform boards to be future ready.
How this is measured
588 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 588 of the 809 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.
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds DETROIT RIVERFRONT CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds NATURAL HERITAGE TRUST ↗
- Who funds INVEST DETROIT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY PARK IN THE CITY OF DETROIT ↗
- Who funds LAKESHORE CONNECTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO NIAGARA WATERKEEPER INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC SPACES ↗
- Who funds DETROIT ECONOMIC GROWTH ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds ROSALYNN CARTER INSTITUTE FOR CAREGIVERS ↗
- Who funds COUNCIL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATIONS ↗
- Who funds SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds MARGARET WOODBURY STRONG MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds MOTOWN HISTORICAL MUSUEM INC ↗
- Who funds PEDALS MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds THE CENTER FOR REGIONAL STRATEGIES INC ↗
- Who funds MONROE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds HURON WATERLOO PATHWAYS INITIATIVE ↗
- Who funds ROCHESTER AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit ↗
- Who funds DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ST CLAIR COUNTY ↗
- Who funds MICHIGAN MUNICIPAL LEAGUE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds RALPH WILSON PARK CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds DETROIT REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds The Rand Corporation ↗
- Who funds 43NORTH BPC INC ↗
- Who funds HENRY FORD COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
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: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · DTE Energy Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Skillman Foundation · The John R Oishei Foundation · Ford Philanthropy · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · The Kresge Foundation · First Niagara Foundation · Hudson-Webber Foundation · McGregor Fund · The Western New York Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Inc: 6% of income from government
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation?
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