Michigan · Nonprofit
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,331,630 to it, the largest being MCLAREN GREATER LANSING ($4,000,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $45M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $6.3M
- Net assets
- $603M
What Michigan State University Research Foundation does
Mission
To provide support for the board of trustees of michigan state university and to promote, sponsor, assist, and carry out educational, scientific, charitable and related activities and objectives of michigan state university.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Granting funds to advance research and the university's scholarly infrastructure of teaching and dissemination of new knowledge, underwriting msu's work in technology commercialization, developing, scaling and de-risking technologies fostering the creation of startup enterprises originating from msu through the foundation's spartan innovations and investment holdings subsidiaries, and providing facilities and building sites at the university corporate research park and foundation park I for technology enterprises, university technology-development initiatives, and university/industry collaborations.
$17,322,654 spentof which $12,798,255 as grants$972,944 earned by the program85% of program spendingSpartan innovations provides the educational and financial support necessary to turn msu research technologies into successful michigan businesses - and spur entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships in the michigan economy.
$3,048,730 spent15% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $20,371,384.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $407M to $535M (+31%).
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 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 6% · 2022 8% · 2023 23% · 2024 37% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
20% of MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Randolph Cowen
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 12 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $723k → $1.2M.
13 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 funders by total. 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
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 32% · 2019 27% · 2020 78% · 2021 90% · 2022 99% · 2023 83% — 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
20% of MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
86% of MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.2M on record.
- Agency for International Development$4.8M
- National Science Foundation$1000k
- Department of Commerce$400k
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 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 11 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Spartan Innovations · disregarded
- Investment Holdings LLC · disregarded
- Foundation Park I LLC · disregarded
- Michigan Rise Pre-Seed Fund III LLC · disregarded
- Technology Investments I LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH 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.
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 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,331,630 to it, the largest being MCLAREN GREATER LANSING ($4,000,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $6,331,630 in grants to MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- MCLAREN GREATER LANSING is the largest funder on record, with $4,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH 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.
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 33 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