Skip to content
Van Elslander Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Van Elslander Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$355k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$110k
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.

Religion$362kHuman Services$281kHealth$192kYouth Development$165kHousing & Shelter$100kEnvironment$65kCommunity Improvement$25kArts & Culture$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $85k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $270k
$60,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$7.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ANGEL'S PLACE$110,000
EMPOWERMENT PLAN$100,000
DETROIT FOOD ACADEMY$60,000
MCHS FAMILY OF SERVICES$40,000
ST JOSEPH'S HELPERS$25,000
PEACEFUL HUGS$20,000
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, $577k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 56% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%BENJAMIN'S HOPE: $117k → 8%PEACEFUL HUGS: $20k → 10%STARFISH FAMILY SERVICES: $65k → 21%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $100k → 21%LEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND: $200 → 8%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $100k → 21%ANGEL'S PLACE: $110k → 8%ANGEL'S PLACE: $25k → 8%MCHS FAMILY OF SERVICES: $40k → 21%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.
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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$690k · 4 repeat orgs$899k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
13

Total granted

$690k
$754k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+5%
+19%

Still filing today

75%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $145k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthHousing & ShelterArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentOther
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

  • TE
    THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN
    2× · 2024–2025 · $200k · revenue +5%
  • GH
    GIANNA HOUSE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $190k
  • EXPERIENCE CAMPS
    2× · 2023–2024 · $165k · revenue +124%

Funded once

  • PO
    PROVINCE OF ST JOSEPH OF THE CAPUCHIN ORDER INC
    one grant, 2017 · $350k
  • BH
    BENJAMIN'S HOPEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $117k · revenue +212%
  • SF
    STARFISH FAMILY SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2023 · $65k · revenue -4%
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
Brilliant Detroit

Helping families and neighborhoods succeed by providing a place and support to assure kids ages 0-5 are school ready and families are healthy and stable.

Youth Development
2
Lincoln Behavioral Services

To provide comprehensive outpatient mental health services to over 5400 individuals and their families in a consumer driven person centered delivery system. Approximately 15% of our staff members are our clients who are involved in a…

Health
3
Detroit Historical Society

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.

Arts & Culture
4
Montessori Childrens House of Lenawee Inc

Education of young people in the Montessori method

Human Services
5
Michigan Family Resources

Michigan Family Resources mission is to deliver holistic family-centered services to children that promote their well-being and development.

Education
6
St Johns Community Center

to provide food and shelter for the homeless of Detroit

—
7
Detroit Parent Network

To be a champion for parents of children in the community.

Human Services
8
Ele's Place Inc

Ele's place is a nonprofit, community based organization with a mission to create awareness of and support for grieving children and their families. through peer support group programs, ele's place helps children to cope with the death of…

Youth Development
9
Family Promise of the Chippewa Valley Inc

Advocate for and support families who are homeless in our community by providing temporary housing and support services, and by fostering independence.

Human Services
10
Michigan Assoc of Community Mental Health Boards

Assisting the community mental health boards of michigan in developing methods for mental health planning, care and treatment.

—
11
The New Foster Care

The new foster care will show the love of jesus christ by making a measurable, meaningful, and transformative change in the michigan foster care system and in the lives of those who have experienced foster care by: 1) providing direct…

Human Services
12
Residential Opportunities Inc

We partner with children and adults with disabilities and their families so they may live more meaningful, healthy, and independent lives in their homes and communities.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fisher House Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is St Joseph Helpers. 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

16 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. 16 of the 21 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
10/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PROVINCE OF ST JOSEPH OF THE CAPUCHIN ORDER INC: $350,000 · OtherPROVINCE OF ST JOSEPH OF THE CAPUCHIN ORDE…GIANNA HOUSE: $190,000 · OtherGIANNA HOUSEBOLDLI: $40,000 · OtherBOLDLI+3 more: $12,000 · OtherTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $200,000 · Human ServicesTHE EMPOWERMENT PLANANGELS' PLACE: $135,000 · Human ServicesANGELS' PLACEBENJAMIN'S HOPE: $116,667 · Human ServicesBENJAMIN'S HOPESTARFISH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $65,000 · Human ServicesSTARFISH FAMILY SERVICES INCMethodist Children's Home Society: $40,000 · Human ServicesMethodist Children's Home SocietyPeaceful Hugs: $20,000 · Human Services+1 more: $200 · Human ServicesEXPERIENCE CAMPS: $165,000 · Youth DevelopmentEXPERIENCE …DETROIT INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN: $65,000 · HealthROSE HILL CENTER INC: $10,000 · HealthLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $65,000 · EnvironmentDETROIT FOOD & ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACADEMY: $60,000 · EducationSAY DETROIT: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterST JOSEPH HELPERS: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterDETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$592,000Human Services$576,867Youth Development$165,000Health$75,000Environment$65,000Education$60,000Housing & Shelter$50,000Arts & Culture$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $200,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetEXPERIENCE CAMPS: $165,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetANGELS' PLACE: $135,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetBENJAMIN'S HOPE: $116,667 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetSTARFISH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $65,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDETROIT INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN: $65,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $65,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSAY DETROIT: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetST JOSEPH HELPERS: $25,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetPeaceful Hugs: $20,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetROSE HILL CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND: $200 over 1y, 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.

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.

Aa Van Elslander Foun…Community Foundation …United Way for Southe…Raymond James Charita…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Aa Van Elslander FoundationMI15.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Aa Van Elslander Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile 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 Van Elslander Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Van Elslander Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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 Van Elslander Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Van Elslander 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 21 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 Van Elslander 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