Michigan · Nonprofit
GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION
GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,042,608 to it, the largest being GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC ($907,592). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $80M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $98M
What Great Lakes Fishery Commission does
Mission
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is an international treaty organization established in 1955 by the Canadian/U.S. Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The commission coordinates fisheries research, controls the invasive sea lamprey, and facilitates cooperative fishery management among the state, provincial, tribal, and federal agencies.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research Program - Research contracts, workshops, and task forces were elements of a coordinated program of the Great Lakes Research Program designed to recommend to the U.S. and Canadian federal governments the measures needed to permit maximum sustained productivity of fish stocks.
$16,146,253 spent25% of program spendingSea Lamprey Management Program - Great Lakes Fishery Commission contracts annually with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conduct a program that eradicates or minimizes sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes. This is a current and long-term goal. Lampricides are chemicals used as the major means of controlling sea lamprey in the commission's ongoing program of sea lamprey management in the Great Lakes. These chemicals are purchased annually.
$21,700,728 spent34% of program spendingInfrastructure - The Great Lakes Fishery Commission relies on physical infrastructure in its programs including 1) sea lamprey barriers, 2) sea lamprey traps, 3) biological stations, 4) workspace, and 5) researcher accommodations. Sea lamprey barriers are extremely cost-effective and provide an assumed 50-year life span. Barriers are used as a means of controlling sea lamprey by blocking streams and rivers in which they migrate to spawn. These are current and long-term projects.
$9,050,031 spent14% of program spendingProfessional development, memberships, sponsorships, along with Lake Champlain and CARES Act II expenditures. Lake Champlain is explained on Schedule O. All other functional expenses related to running programs.
$17,745,279 spent27% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $64,642,291.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $61M to $82M (+33%).
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 94% · 2022 85% · 2023 87% · 2024 91% · 2025 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $37k → $200k.
From the IRS filings of GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION’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
GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 87% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
87% of GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 119 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $515.1M on record.
- Department of State$437.6M
- Environmental Protection Agency$52.6M
- Department of Commerce$22.5M
- Department of the Interior$2.4M
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 GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Great Lakes Fishery Commission IRRV Trust Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION: 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION?
- GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,042,608 to it, the largest being GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC ($907,592). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $1,042,608 in grants to GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION?
- GREAT LAKES FISHERY TRUST INC is the largest funder on record, with $907,592 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION 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 Great Lakes Fishery Commission →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 3 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