Michigan · Nonprofit
BELLWETHER FOUNDATION
BELLWETHER FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $296,834 to it, the largest being Fremont Area Community Foundation ($185,689). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
BELLWETHER FOUNDATION's revenue fell 69% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,857 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- United Way of the Lakeshoreshared funderslocal
- DMBradley II Family Foundationportfolio match
- Friends For Pets Foundationportfolio match
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $4k → $72k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BELLWETHER FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BELLWETHER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BELLWETHER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 85% · 2019 67% · 2020 67% · 2021 69% · 2022 72% · 2023 61% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
63% of BELLWETHER FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $111k that is directly attributable, 78% of it comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $186k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 stateis excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 4 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- United Way of the Lakeshoreshared funderslocalMI · backs 10 organizations that share your funders · funds 8 organizations near you
- DMBradley II Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Friends For Pets Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Animal Resource Foundation of Iowa Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Binky Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Frances Curran Foundation Agency Co Ceteraportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Humane Society of Monroe Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Jason Debus Heigl Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Anthony & Trissa Napoleon Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Ginny Millner Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Martha Morse Beck Von Peccoz Animal Plcportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like BELLWETHER FOUNDATION
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BELLWETHER FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BELLWETHER FOUNDATION?
- BELLWETHER FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $296,834 to it, the largest being Fremont Area Community Foundation ($185,689). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BELLWETHER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $296,834 in grants to BELLWETHER FOUNDATION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BELLWETHER FOUNDATION?
- Fremont Area Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $185,689 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BELLWETHER FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 4funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing