· Private foundation
The Samuel L Westerman Foundation
Its FY2025 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 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k130 grants · $335k
- $10k–50k14 grants · $199k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY | $30,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $22,000 |
| HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEMS | $17,000 |
| OHIO WESLEYEN UNIVERSITY | $15,000 |
| EASTER SEALS OF MI | $15,000 |
| GRAND RAPIDS CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS | $15,000 |
| ORCHARD LAKE COMMUNITY CHURCH PRESBYTERIAN | $12,500 |
| DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF WEST MICHIGAN | $12,000 |
| NOORTHOEK ACADEMY - GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $10,000 |
| THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME | $10,000 |
| VAN ANDEL INSITUTE | $10,000 |
| NEW ERA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL | $10,000 |
| ALLENDALE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL | $10,000 |
| WAYBIRDS OF GLORY MUSEUM | $9,500 |
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 (FY20–25, $105k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 40% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
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 +36% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.
162 repeat relationships: 125 still active in FY2025, 37 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $36k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- HFHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM6× · 2020–2025 · $81k · revenue +48%
- VAVAN ANDEL INSTITUTE6× · 2020–2025 · $75k · revenue +25%
- OWOHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY5× · 2021–2025 · $75k · revenue +46%
Funded once
- FUFINLANDIA UNIVERSITYone grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +6%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $5k
- WIWAYCROSS INCone grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
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.
The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.
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.
Engages, equips and empowers learners to explore their vocations, fulfill their potential and serve the world.
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
Evangel is a comprehensive christian university that is committed to excellence in educating and equipping students to become spirit empowered servants of god who will impact the church and society globally.
The mission of madonna university, a catholic and franciscan institution of higher learning, is to instill in its students christain humanistic values, intellectual inquiry, a respect for university and a committment to serving others…
To serve our communities by provding innovative and compassionate healthcare.
The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…
The mission of kalamazoo college is to prepare its graduates to better understand, live sucessfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world. as a highly selective, nationally renowened…
Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…
Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…
Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…
How this is measured
109 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. 109 of the 216 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 HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM ↗
- Who funds VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds GRAND RAPIDS CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS ↗
- Who funds Indiana University Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NEW ERA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds THE SOCIETY FOR CHRISTIAN INSTRUCT ALLENDALE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF WEST MICHIGAN ↗
- Who funds CALVIN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds DePauw University ↗
- Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
- Who funds HOPE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Culver Educational Foundation ↗
- Who funds Spring Arbor University ↗
- Who funds DETROIT OPERA ↗
- Who funds JUDICIAL WATCH INC ↗
- Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Cedarville University ↗
- Who funds WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY ↗
- Who funds Westside Christian Academy ↗
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: Grand Haven Area Community Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area Inc · Grand Rapids Community Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation · Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · Frey Foundation · Community Foundation for Muskegon County · Michigan Health Endowment Fund · Jim and Ginger Jurries Foundation · Barnabas Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Samuel L Westerman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Samuel L Westerman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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