· Private foundation
The Thelen Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Camp Fish Tales | $5,000 |
| Midland Street Merchants Association | $2,500 |
| Good Sumaritan Rescue Mission of Bay City | $2,059 |
| Corpus Christi Parish | $2,000 |
| New Beginnings Christian Church | $2,000 |
| All Saints Central High School | $2,000 |
| Bangor Central Elementary School | $2,000 |
| Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church | $2,000 |
| Resurrection of the Lord Parish | $1,500 |
| St Stanislaus Church | $1,500 |
| ARC of Bay County | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $615 |
| Pullen Elementary School | $500 |
| McGuire PTO | $500 |
| Essexville-Hampton Public Schools | $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.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 94% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
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 +40% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 6 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, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FTFISH TALES9× · 2017–2025 · $61k · revenue +150%
- BABAY AREA WOMEN'S CENTER6× · 2018–2023 · $13k · revenue +69%
- BHBRIAN'S HOUSE COMMUNITY GROUP INC4× · 2019–2023 · $6k · revenue +13%
Funded once
- EGEWTN Global Catholic Networkone grant, 2020 · $1k
- XDXAVIER DEGROAT AUTISM FOUNDATIONone grant, 2024 · $1k · revenue 0%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2017 · $1k
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.
Our goal is to encourage full-citizenship and personal growth for all people, especially those with disabilities who live in the nine county area that comprises the eastern shore of maryland.
To provide specialized residential services to mentally ill and disabled individuals in order to assist each person to meet personal goals by providing the highest quality services that are unique to each person's wishes, needs, and…
Care of developmentally disabled adults.
Bayside community network, inc. provides rehabilitative care, room and board, and vocational training to individuals with developmental disabilities.
To provide residential community based supports to individuals with developmental challenges.
Aiding the developmentally disabled.
Brian's House specializes in the care and treatment of people with disabilities. Brian's House provides a broad range of human services to people with special needs and challenges. The primary goal is to maximize each individual's…
The mission of the susan mast als foundation is to provide excellent support to als patients, families and caregivers living in west michigan. our services focus on all areas of need for the regional als community.
The arc of columbia county shall exist to work for the well-being of all persons with developmental and related disabilities, regardless of race, creed or color, by promoting quality of life through the advocacy for education of people…
To enrich the lives of adults with autism and developmental disabilities
To discover treatments and a cure for als, and to serve, advocate for, and empower people affected by als to live their lives to the fullest.
Baywater animal rescue is a no-kill shelter dedicated to improving the lives of people and pets
How this is measured
11 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. 11 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
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 FISH TALES ↗
- Who funds BAY AREA WOMEN'S CENTER ↗
- Who funds BRIAN'S HOUSE COMMUNITY GROUP INC ↗
- Who funds MIDLAND STREET MERCHANTS ↗
- Who funds BAY COUNTY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC ↗
- Who funds PARKINSON'S FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds SAGINAW VALLEY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds THE ARC OF BAY COUNTY ↗
- Who funds XAVIER DEGROAT AUTISM FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN ↗
- Who funds CHOSEN VISION INC ↗
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: Bay Area Community Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Thelen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Thelen Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Thelen Family’s filings →