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The Serra Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Serra Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
53
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Education$7.7MHealth$1.3MRecreation & Sports$637kReligion$555kCivil Rights$505kPhilanthropy$200kHuman Services$144kArts & Culture$118kOther$0
02FY2025 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k35 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $240k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $479k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.6M
$2,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$9.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
McLaren Flint Foundation$1,202,000
Loyola University Chicago$420,000
Albion College$205,000
Play Right Sports Academy$153,602
Michigan State University$60,000
Friends of Berston Field House$60,000
The Ally Challenge Presented by McL$45,000
Miami University Foundation$30,000
Northwestern University$25,000
Community Foundation of Greater Rochester$25,000
Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan$25,000
Holy Family$20,000
Grand Blanc Community School$20,000
Community Partners for Affordable Housing$10,000
Flint Institute of Music$10,000
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 (FY17–25, $82k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 4% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Harbor Springs Chamber Foundation: $500 → 9%FAMILY PROMISE OF GENESEE COUNTY: $250 → 13%INTER-FAITH FOOD SHUTTLE: $250 → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $25k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $18k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $15k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $10k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $3k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $3k → 8%ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $3k → 8%XCEPTIONAL HEROS: $1k → 16%Leader Dogs for the Blind: $2k → 8%Xceptional Heroes: $300 → 16%Fish of Grand Blanc: $100 → 16%Fish of Grand Blanc: $100 → 16%FAMILY PROMISE OF GENESEE COUNTY: $250 → 16%FAMILY PROMISE OF GENESEE COUNTY: $250 → 16%FAMILY PROMISE OF GENESEE COUNTY: $250 → 16%FAMILY PROMISE OF GENESEE COUNTY: $250 → 16%ENNIS CTR FOR CHILDREN INC: $250 → 16%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
OH
PA
UT
VA
NC
DC
TX
FL
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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.5M · 83 repeat orgs$694k to everyone else

83 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2025, 47 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

83
91

Total granted

$5.5M
$600k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+7%
+20%

Still filing today

51%
31%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $94k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesHealthArts & 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

  • MF
    MCLAREN FLINT FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +18% · 39% of their budget
  • LU
    LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
    8× · 2017–2025 · $990k · revenue +39%
  • MU
    Miami University Foundation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $230k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $105k
  • TF
    TOURNAMENTS FOR CHARITY
    one grant, 2018 · $100k
  • KG
    KIRK GIBSON GOLD CLASSIC
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
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
Flint Center for Educational Excellence

The flint center for educational excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all flint kids by providing programs. research, and advocacy that ensure flint kids, their families, schools, and communities thrive.

Education
2
The Flint Children's Museum

To inspire a love for learning in science, technology, engineering, math, and art, and awaken imagination through hands-on play.

Arts & Culture
3
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
4
Greater Flint Health Coalition Inc

Improve the health of genesee county residents. improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the health care system in our community.

Health
5
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.…

—
6
Michigan Farm Bureau

Michigan farm bureau (mfb) is a member directed agricultural organization whose purpose is to represent, protect, and enhance the business, economic, social, and educational interests of our members located throughout the state of michigan.

—
7
Ferris Wheel Innovation Center

Housed in flint, michigan, we are a non-profit with a mission to relieve the innovator of the entrepreneurial burden. we know entrepreneurship can be difficult, and that's why we're here to help. as a community of student professionals,…

Education
8
Foundation for Flint

To support and benefit the community foundation of greater flint. the organization will address a wide variety of community needs in greater flint, and its immediate priority is to provide aid to those affected by the flint water crisis.

Philanthropy
9
Michigan Chamber of Commerce

To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.

—
10
Genesee Area Focus Fund

The Genesee Area Focus Fund's purpose is to receive and administer funds dedicated to improving the economy and quality of life of the people of Genesee County, Michigan. The Focus Fund provides support to publicly supported organizations…

—
11
Center for Family Health

The mission of the Center for Family Health is opening the door to health care for all.

Health
12
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundation of Greater Flint; the most unlike its peers is The Gibson Foundation Gibson. 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

78 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. 78 of the 192 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
76/78
Grantees still filing
50/78
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALBION COLLEGE: $5,445,000 · EducationALBION COLLEGELOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $990,000 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOMiami University Foundation: $230,000 · Education+8 more: $59,000 · EducationMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $790,000 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYHOLY FAMILY CHURCH: $500,000 · OtherHOLY FAMILY CHURCHTHE ALLY CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY MCL: $491,800 · OtherTHE ALLY CHALLENGE PRESENTED …Individual grant recipient: $105,000 · OtherTHE SLOAN MUSEUM: $104,500 · Other+141 more: $1,013,756 · Other+141 moreMCLAREN FLINT FOUNDATION: $1,238,000 · HealthMCLAREN FLIN…+5 more: $32,665 · HealthPLAY RIGHT SPORTS ACADEMY INC: $170,940 · Recreation & SportsNorthwestern University: $105,000 · Recreation & SportsLong Island Falcons Travel Baseball Inc: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports+5 more: $6,250 · Recreation & SportsTHE GIBSON FOUNDATION GIBSON: $90,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER ROCHESTER: $50,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF GENESEE COUNTY: $40,000 · Philanthropy+4 more: $8,850 · PhilanthropyFlint Institute of Music: $71,000 · Arts & CultureFlint Institute of Arts: $27,000 · Arts & CultureGRAND BLANC YOUTH ARTS: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $2,000 · Arts & CultureORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $77,000 · Human Services+7 more: $5,250 · Human Services
Education$6,724,000Other$3,005,056Health$1,270,665Recreation & Sports$292,190Philanthropy$188,850Arts & Culture$110,000Human Services$82,250

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetALBION COLLEGE: $5,445,000 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetMCLAREN FLINT FOUNDATION: $1,238,000 over 9y, 39% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $990,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMiami University Foundation: $230,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetPLAY RIGHT SPORTS ACADEMY INC: $170,940 over 6y, 41% of budgetNorthwestern University: $105,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GIBSON FOUNDATION GIBSON: $90,000 over 5y, 95% of budgetORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $77,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetFlint Institute of Music: $71,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER ROCHESTER: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GENESEE COUNTY: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFlint Institute of Arts: $27,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH GENESYS FOUNDATION: $25,965 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetFlint & Genesee Group: $23,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetVILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCommunities First Inc: $10,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetGRAND BLANC YOUTH ARTS: $10,000 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetLong Island Falcons Travel Baseball Inc: $10,000 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetNorthwood University: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFlint and Genesee Group Foundation: $7,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CRIM FITNESS FOUNDATION INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $6,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYMCA of Greater Flint: $6,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DISABILITY NETWORK: $6,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $5,600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFlint Rotary Charitable Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetELE'S PLACE INC: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHURLEY FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FLINT DIAPER BANK INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FLINT: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOLD NEWSBOYS OF FLINT INC: $2,700 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFLINT JEWISH FEDERATION: $2,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGenesee County Habitat for Humanity: $1,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetXCEPTIONAL HEROES: $1,300 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFamily Promise of Mid Michigan: $1,250 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetEton Academy: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN ADVOCACY: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIWANIS HEALTH CAMP FOUNDATION INC: $1,200 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetKNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS: $1,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPULMONARY FIBROSIS FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMICHIGAN BALLET ACADEMY: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT COUNCIL GREAT LAKES BAY REGION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFIRST BOOK: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetELGA CREDIT UNION FOUNDATION FOR IMPACT: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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 ALBION COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds MCLAREN FLINT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds Miami University Foundation ↗
  • Who funds PLAY RIGHT SPORTS ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds THE GIBSON FOUNDATION GIBSON ↗
  • Who funds ORCHARDS CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds Flint Institute of Music ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER ROCHESTER ↗
  • Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF GENESEE COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds Flint Institute of Arts ↗
  • Who funds HENRY FORD HEALTH GENESYS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Flint & Genesee Group ↗
  • Who funds VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds GRAND BLANC ATHLETIC 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.

Community Foundation …Charles Stewart Mott …Consumers Energy Foun…The Hagerman Foundati…Nartel Family Foundat…Anna Paulina Foundati…Stella & Frederick Lo…Ruth Mott FoundationMerkley Charitable Tr…The Whiting FoundationThe Williamson Founda…Tournaments for Chari…
Community Foundation of Greater FlintMI65.3× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Greater Flint · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · Consumers Energy Foundation · The Hagerman Foundation · Nartel Family Foundation · Anna Paulina Foundation · Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust · Ruth Mott Foundation · Merkley Charitable Trust · The Whiting Foundation · The Williamson Foundation Inc · Tournaments for Charity

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Food for the Poor Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
24report 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.

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 192 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

Play a game based on Serra’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