Michigan · Nonprofit
BETTER WAY DETROIT
BETTER WAY DETROIT (Michigan) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $297,735 to it, the largest being Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty ($180,235). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
BETTER WAY DETROIT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 21,584 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,584 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
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.
- Detroit Economic Growth Associationlocalportfolio match
- Wayne-Metropolitan Community Action Agency Inclocalportfolio match
- United Way for Southeastern Michiganshared funderslocalportfolio match
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of BETTER WAY DETROIT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income rose $32k → $89k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 BETTER WAY DETROIT’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
BETTER WAY DETROIT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 BETTER WAY DETROIT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 78% · 2021 88% · 2022 60% · 2023 90% — growing more concentrated.
“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
95% of BETTER WAY DETROIT's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 statesis 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 7 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Detroit Economic Growth Associationlocalportfolio matchMI · funds 961 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Wayne-Metropolitan Community Action Agency Inclocalportfolio matchMI · funds 248 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- United Way for Southeastern Michiganshared funderslocalportfolio matchMI · backs 62 organizations that share your funders · funds 380 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation Inclocalportfolio matchMI · funds 96 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Priority Health Total Health Foundationlocalportfolio matchMI · funds 64 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Forgotten Harvest Inclocalportfolio matchMI · funds 39 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- American Council of Learned Societiesshared fundersNY · backs 47 organizations that share your funders
- Say Detroitportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Christian Financial Outreach and Impact Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Jenkins Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Detroit Industrial Schoolportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Community Christian Ministriesportfolio 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 BETTER WAY DETROIT
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.
Where the money goes
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTER WAY DETROIT: 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 BETTER WAY DETROIT?
- BETTER WAY DETROIT (Michigan) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $297,735 to it, the largest being Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty ($180,235). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BETTER WAY DETROIT have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $297,735 in grants to BETTER WAY DETROIT, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTER WAY DETROIT?
- Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is the largest funder on record, with $180,235 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTER WAY DETROIT 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 7funders 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