Michigan · Nonprofit
GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE
GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $139,861 to it, the largest being PETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($79,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $585k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $140k
- Net assets
- $341k
What Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative does
Mission
GLSI is a network of regional service hubs that develop knowledgeable and active stewards of the Great Lakes region through place-based education and explorations in local communities. GLSIs model for teaching and learning results in vibrant, hands-on experiences that increase student achievement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
GLSI began planning, marketing and organizing the Nov. 2025 Nat. Place-based Educ. Conference. The National Place-Based Education Conference is the largest conference and gathering point for the field of place-based education. The 3-day conference brings together hundreds of K-12 educators, administrators and students, scholars, non-formal educators, natural resource professionals, community and business leaders, policy makers, and funders from across the U.S. and beyond. Through field experiences in the host community, traditional presentations, and innovative networking structures, the conference is designed to inspire, support, and celebrate the exchange of resources, research, teaching practices, and partnership strategies around the power of place-based learning.
$15,988 spent$103,008 earned by the program4% of program spendingGLSI continued to develop and deploy a platform for movement-building and related infrastructure through which educators, community-based organizations, and supporters of place-based education from pre-K through college can network, support one another, and coordinate efforts to lift the visability of place-based learning and spread the practice.
$86,209 spent$50,000 earned by the program21% of program spendingGLSI provides programmatic services and technical assistance to schools, school districts, community organizations, and other partners via its central organization and its network of six regional hubs. In 2024-25, GLSI provided educators with professional development, implementation support, and technical assistance in place-based teaching and learning. GLSI also continued development and delivery of virtual programs of professional development and project support using GLSIs model of Place-Based Stewardship Education and the associated Place-Based Education Institute. In this fiscal year, the GLSI began to scale its programs and services to teachers and community partners throughout Michigan and in the broader Great Lakes region. Hubs similarly supported educators in their regions with professional development and implementation support, using a predominantly face-to-face model.
$300,020 spentof which $17,477 as grants$245,259 earned by the program73% of program spendingThe GLSI coordinated a network of six hubs, providing opportunities for hub representatives to access peer-to-peer learning, growth, and exchange of ideas and information related to supporting place-based education in Michigan communities.
$9,629 spent$17,500 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $411,846.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $459k to $284k (−38%).
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: 2019 47% · 2020 66% · 2021 71% · 2022 59% · 2023 6% · 2024 4% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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.
Chief executive
Caleb Carlton
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $25k → $82k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE’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 STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
68% 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 STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2021 55% · 2022 99% · 2023 82% — 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
68% of GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE'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 $45k that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from funders outside Michigan, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $95k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is 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.
Against its field
GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $200k on record.
- Department of Commerce$200k
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 STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE: 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 STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE?
- GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $139,861 to it, the largest being PETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($79,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $139,861 in grants to GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE?
- PETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $79,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT LAKES STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 6 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