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Michigan · Nonprofit

Detroit Bar Association Foundation

Detroit Bar Association Foundation (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $306,464 to it, the largest being MEDIATION TRIBUNAL ASSOCIATION INC ($194,886). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$192k
Funders on record
9
Grants received
$306k
Net assets
$524k
6/9 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 32%
01What it does

What Detroit Bar Association Foundation does

Mission

The foundation facilitates programs that improve the quality of life and that help meet the needs of the underserved community in the Detroit Metropolitan area, and providing educational opportunities for the community and legal profession through partnerships with members of the legal community and related professions.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Events and programs to provide educational opportunities for the legal profession and the general public's awareness of the opportunities in the legal profession.

    $128,312 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $128,312.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($144k) Expenses 100 ($121k) Net assets 100 ($216k)2019 Revenue 116 ($166k) Expenses 140 ($169k) Net assets 99 ($215k)2020 Revenue 125 ($180k) Expenses 121 ($147k) Net assets 115 ($247k)2021 Revenue 169 ($244k) Expenses 117 ($142k) Net assets 161 ($349k)2022 Revenue 153 ($220k) Expenses 136 ($165k) Net assets 187 ($403k)2023 Revenue 105 ($150k) Expenses 108 ($131k) Net assets 198 ($428k)2024 Revenue 133 ($192k) Expenses 87 ($106k) Net assets 243 ($524k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (133)Expenses (87)Net assets (243)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $428k to $531k (+24%).

$216k
$215k
$262k
$349k
$406k
$428k
$531k
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

110% of Detroit Bar Association Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$22k
’18
−$3k
’19
$32k
’20
$101k
’21
$55k
’22
$20k
’23
$86k
’24
44
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Tracey Cooley

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed32333431323435
Joined·+1+9+6+13+9+9
No longer listed·0891278
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income rose $24k → $29k.

Left out of every figure on this page: $10k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan). These are real filings, and they are not money Detroit Bar Association Foundation raised.

From the IRS filings of Detroit Bar Association 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

Detroit Bar Association Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

84% 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 Detroit Bar Association Foundation.

64%
largest funder
90%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 39% · 2019 100% · 2020 87% · 2021 67% · 2022 86% · 2023 68% — 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.

How long its funders stay

43% of Detroit Bar Association Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

99% of Detroit Bar Association Foundation's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

MN
MI

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Detroit Bar Association Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin45% · top quartile
Months of reserve43.6mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Detroit Bar Association Foundation

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Michigan

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 9%Fundraising 6%

Governance

29
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Detroit Bar Association · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Detroit Bar Association 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.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Detroit Bar Association Foundation?
Detroit Bar Association Foundation (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $306,464 to it, the largest being MEDIATION TRIBUNAL ASSOCIATION INC ($194,886). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Detroit Bar Association Foundation have?
IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $306,464 in grants to Detroit Bar Association Foundation, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Detroit Bar Association Foundation?
MEDIATION TRIBUNAL ASSOCIATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $194,886 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Detroit Bar Association 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.

Play a game about who funds Detroit Bar Association →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 9 funders 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 October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing