Michigan · Nonprofit
DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES
DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES (Michigan) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,463,391 to it, the largest being GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC ($325,425). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 501 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 501 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, 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.
- The Julius H and Barbara B Beers Family Foundationlocalportfolio match
- Cdv5 Foundationshared funders
- Steven and Kathryn Bandstra 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.
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 12% · 2022 5% · 2023 11% · 2024 12% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $10k → $149k.
2 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $4.7M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Rotary Camps & Services of Traverse City). These are real filings, and they are not money DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES raised.
From the IRS filings of DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES’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
DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
36% 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 DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 95% · 2021 30% · 2022 19% · 2023 34% — 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.
How long its funders stay
29% of DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 27% give in more than one year at all.
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
84% of DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $180k 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 22 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- The Julius H and Barbara B Beers Family Foundationlocalportfolio matchMI · funds 16 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Cdv5 Foundationshared fundersMI · backs 57 organizations that share your funders
- Steven and Kathryn Bandstra Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- United Way of Bay Countyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Weinlander Fitzhugh Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Klopcic Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Herbert H & Grace a Dow Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Alden and Vada Dow Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Russell H & Maxine E Smith Charitable Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Leelanau Township Community FoundationlocalMI · funds 27 organizations near you
- The Sebastian Foundationshared fundersMI · backs 29 organizations that share your funders
- Krw Foundationshared fundersMI · backs 30 organizations that share your funders
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.
Government funding DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$1.6M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
44%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Rotary Camps and Services of Traverse City · exempt
- Rotary Charities of Traverse City · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES: 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 DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES?
- DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES (Michigan) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,463,391 to it, the largest being GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC ($325,425). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,463,391 in grants to DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES?
- GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC is the largest funder on record, with $325,425 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DISCOVERY CENTER GREAT LAKES 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 22funders 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