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Michigan · Nonprofit

HENRY FORD ESTATE

HENRY FORD ESTATE (Michigan) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,419,563 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$7.3M
Funders on record
16
Grants received
$13M
Net assets
$44M
7/16 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Henry Ford Estate does

Mission

Our mission is to illuminate the lives and legacy of clara and henry ford for our visitors through the preservation and reimagination of their beloved estate.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. To reimagine the role and relevance of an iconic american home. Inspired by the great impact of clara and henry ford, still relevant today, visitors to fair lane will engage and connect in a personal and immersive way that inspires curiosity, creativity, innovation and action.

    $662,269 spent
    29% of program spending
  2. To restore the estate of clara and henry ford: fair lane.

    $1,189,688 spent
    51% of program spending
  3. To provide enrichment opportunities to the community through the maintenance and operation of fair lane's historic gardens & grounds.

    $459,804 spent
    20% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,311,761.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($13M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 100 ($30M)2018 Revenue 20 ($2.6M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 103 ($31M)2019 Revenue 13 ($1.8M) Expenses 115 ($1.7M) Net assets 105 ($31M)2020 Revenue 7 ($967k) Expenses 116 ($1.7M) Net assets 106 ($32M)2021 Revenue 11 ($1.4M) Expenses 147 ($2.2M) Net assets 108 ($32M)2022 Revenue 28 ($3.7M) Expenses 160 ($2.4M) Net assets 105 ($31M)2023 Revenue 68 ($9.0M) Expenses 204 ($3.0M) Net assets 130 ($39M)2024 Revenue 56 ($7.3M) Expenses 222 ($3.3M) Net assets 148 ($44M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (56)Expenses (222)Net assets (148)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 2022 to 2023, from $32M to $40M (+28%).

$31M
$32M
$32M
$32M
$33M
$32M
$40M
$45M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 9% · 2022 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

94% of HENRY FORD ESTATE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$12M
’17
$1.2M
’18
$50k
’19
−$747k
’20
−$727k
’21
$1.3M
’22
$6.0M
’23
$4.0M
’24
11
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

Robert Bury

President & CEO

Board chair

Edsel B Ford Ii

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed101199981111
Joined·+1+1+1+0+0+4+0
No longer listed·0310110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $2.4M → $350k.

4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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: $824k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Benson & Edith Ford Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money HENRY FORD ESTATE raised.

From the IRS filings of HENRY FORD ESTATE’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

HENRY FORD ESTATE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

75%
largest funder
97%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 85% · 2019 73% · 2020 91% · 2021 84% · 2022 59% · 2023 100% — 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

33% of HENRY FORD ESTATE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

HENRY FORD ESTATE draws 77% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 4 states in all.

MI
NY
NJ
NC

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. $69k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

HENRY FORD ESTATE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin55% · top quartile
Months of reserve11.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−8% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like HENRY FORD ESTATE

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

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 15%Fundraising 10%

Governance

12
board members
92%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

34%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HENRY FORD ESTATE: 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 HENRY FORD ESTATE?
HENRY FORD ESTATE (Michigan) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,419,563 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does HENRY FORD ESTATE have?
IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $13,419,563 in grants to HENRY FORD ESTATE, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HENRY FORD ESTATE?
THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HENRY FORD ESTATE 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 Henry Ford Estate →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 16 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