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The S L Hickman Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The S L Hickman Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$3.9MHealth$2.7MPhilanthropy$1.1MYouth Development$1.1MAnimals$552kPublic Benefit$507kCommunity Improvement$218kArts & Culture$185kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.5M
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$29M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$1,000,000
ADRIAN COLLEGE$500,000
MACKINAC CENTER$100,000
LENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION - IMAGINATION LIBRARY$100,000
TUNNELS TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$30,000
MONTESSORI CHILDREN'S HOUSE$15,000
HOPE COMMUNITY CENTER$10,000
UNITED WAY - LOWCOUNTRY$10,000
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION$5,000
ADRIAN KIWANIS FOUNDATION$5,000
LENAWEE JUVENILE COUNTY COURT$3,000
ADRIAN ARMORY COMMUNITY CENTER$1,000
K-1 ACTIVITY$41
02The need
03

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 (FY19–24, $32k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MONTESSORI CHILDREN'S HOUSE: $15k → 12%MONTESSORI CHILDREN'S HOUSE: $10k → 12%ASSOCIATED CHARITIES OF LENAWEE COUNTY: $5k → 12%ADRIAN ARMORY COMMUNITY CENTER: $1k → 12%ADRIAN ARMORY COMMUNITY CENTER: $1k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
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

IL
MI
NY
WY
OH
CA
SC
GA
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.9M · 25 repeat orgs$529k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +50% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
29

Total granted

$9.9M
$386k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+50%
+30%

Still filing today

52%
34%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $143k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentAnimalsArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther
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

  • AC
    ADRIAN COLLEGE
    6× · 2019–2024 · $2.4M · revenue +6%
  • SH
    SIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2017–2023 · $1.3M · revenue +8%
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF LENAWEE INC
    6× · 2017–2023 · $1.0M · revenue +100% · 41% of their budget

Funded once

  • HO
    HOSPICE OF LENAWEE
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +3%
  • LP
    LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +30%
  • CI
    COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOOLS OF NORTHWEST MICHIGAN INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +41%
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.

1
Visit Lenawee

To promote lenawee county as a destination providing contemporary amenities to transient guests in a historical and cultural setting for the economic benefit of the community.

—
2
Leelanau Conservancy

To conserve the land, water and scenic character of leelanau county, and to provide educational programs to develop an understanding and appreciation of leelanau county's natural heritage.

Environment
3
Lenawee Symphony Orchestra Inc

The aso is dedicated to the advancement of classical music appreciation by providing a variety of presentations including classical, pops, and family concerts.

—
4
Lake Leelanau Lake Association

The lake leelanau lake association is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality and beauty of lake leelanau and its surrounding watershed for current and future generations.

Environment
5
Lansing Art Gallery & Education Center

The lansing art gallery & education center provides public awareness, education and enjoyment of the visual arts by promoting the work of michigan artists.

Arts & Culture
6
Lenawee Emergency and Affordable Housing Corp

to advance housing stability and affordable opportunities for low income people especially those in crisis or at risk individuals and families within Lenawee County

Housing & Shelter
7
Tecumseh Chamber of Commerce

To promote lenawee area businesses

—
8
Land Conservancy of West Michigan

Our mission is conserving West Michigans ecologically critical land. We protect land by creating public nature preserves, providing support to communities and local governments in creating natural areas, and helping private landowners…

Environment
9
Michigan Enviromental Council

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

Environment
10
Lenawee Christian School

Lenawee christian school is an educational organization which maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of students in attendance at the school facility. lenawee christian schools exist in…

Education
11
Business Leaders for Michigan

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.…

—
12
Business Leaders for Michigan Foundation

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.…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lenawee Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Grand Teton National Park Foundation. 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 60 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
21/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PROMEDICA: $2,500,000 · OtherPROMEDICAIndividual grant recipient: $1,020,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+43 more: $878,379 · Other+43 moreADRIAN COLLEGE: $2,415,000 · EducationADRIAN COLLEGESIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY: $1,270,000 · EducationSIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY+3 more: $65,000 · EducationLENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,072,000 · PhilanthropyLENAWEE CO…+2 more: $23,000 · PhilanthropyBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF LENAWEE INC: $1,041,428 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIR…+1 more: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentLenawee Humane Society: $502,000 · AnimalsLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $50,000 · AnimalsMACKINAC CENTER: $501,000 · Public BenefitCROSWELL OPERA HOUSE & FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION: $110,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $2,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$4,398,379Education$3,750,000Philanthropy$1,095,000Youth Development$1,051,428Animals$552,000Public Benefit$501,000Arts & Culture$112,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetADRIAN COLLEGE: $2,415,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetSIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY: $1,270,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetLENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,072,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF LENAWEE INC: $1,041,428 over 6y, 41% of budgetLenawee Humane Society: $502,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetMACKINAC CENTER: $501,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetCROSWELL OPERA HOUSE & FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION: $110,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetHOSPICE OF LENAWEE: $100,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $30,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetMONTESSORI CHILDRENS HOUSE OF LENAWEE INC: $25,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOOLS OF NORTHWEST MICHIGAN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetGRASS RIVER NATURAL AREA INC: $20,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE LOWCOUNTRY INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetLENAWEE CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $18,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetTORCH LAKE PROTECTION ALLIANCE: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREE2PLAY ACADEMY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetSigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetADRIAN KIWANIS FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetASSOCIATED CHARITIES OF LENAWEE COUNTY: $5,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEAUMONT HEALTH FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetADRIAN ARMORY COMMUNITY CENTER: $2,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTELFAIR MUSEUM OF ART INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
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 ADRIAN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds LENAWEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF LENAWEE INC ↗
  • Who funds Lenawee Humane Society ↗
  • Who funds MACKINAC CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CROSWELL OPERA HOUSE & FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds HOSPICE OF LENAWEE ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HOPE COMMUNITY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds MONTESSORI CHILDRENS HOUSE OF LENAWEE INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOOLS OF NORTHWEST MICHIGAN INC ↗
  • Who funds ADRIAN SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GRASS RIVER NATURAL AREA INC ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE LOWCOUNTRY INC ↗
  • Who funds LENAWEE CHAMBER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TORCH LAKE PROTECTION ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM ↗
  • Who funds FREE2PLAY ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds Sigma Alpha Epsilon 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.

Farver FoundationLenawee Community Fou…Bell TrustDouglas and Mary Kapn…Premier Bank Foundati…Maurice&Dorothy Stubn…Sage FoundationThe Murray Family Fou…Tlc Community Credit …Consumers Energy Foun…The Robert E & Rosema…Elizabeth Ruthruff Wi…
Farver FoundationMI28.5× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Farver Foundation · Lenawee Community Foundation · Bell Trust · Douglas and Mary Kapnick Family Foundation · Premier Bank Foundation · Maurice&Dorothy Stubnitz Foundation · Sage Foundation · The Murray Family Foundation · Tlc Community Credit Union · Consumers Energy Foundation · The Robert E & Rosemary Price Foundation · Elizabeth Ruthruff Wilson Foundation

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 S L Hickman Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The S L Hickman Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report 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 S L Hickman Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The S L Hickman Family Foundation 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.

    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 60 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on S L Hickman Family’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