Besser Foundation
Alpena, MI · EIN 38-6071938. Reported 96 grants totalling $4,893,979 to 33 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Besser Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,717 and $45,982; the smallest was $2,000 and the largest $343,554. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besser Museum | Alpena, MI | $1,913,899 | 11 | 5 | 2025 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Alpena | Alpena, MI | $1,165,000 | 17 | 5 | 2025 |
| Alpena Public Schools | Alpena, MI | $449,862 | 11 | 5 | 2025 |
| My Michigan Medical Center - Alpen | Alpena, MI | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Child & Family Services | Alpena, MI | $165,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Hope Shores Alliance | Alpena, MI | $140,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Habitat for Humanity | Alpena, MI | $128,990 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Alpena Comm College | Alpena, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Thunder Bay Theatre | Alpena, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| All Saints Catholic Church | Alpena, MI | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Child Advocacy Center | Alpena, MI | $75,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| City of Alpena | Alpena, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Pace Northeast Michigan | Alpena, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Thunder Bay Arts Council | Alpena, MI | $43,456 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| Alpena Community College | Alpena, MI | $30,440 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Ama Educational Service District | Alpena, MI | $27,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Friends of Alpena Courts | Alpena, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Friends of Hubbard Lake Comm Center | Hubbard Lake, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Council | Gaylord, MI | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Alpena County Pool | Alpena, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Girl Scouts of America | Alpena, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Boy Scouts of America | Alpena, MI | $12,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Friends Together | Alpena, MI | $8,432 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Council of Michigan Foundations | Grand Haven, MI | $7,900 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Thunder Bay Art Council | Alpena, MI | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hospice of Michigan | Alpena, MI | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Case Township | Millersburg, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Aplex Courts | Alpena, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Harrisville Depot | Harrisville, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| United Way of Northeast Michigan | Alpena, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Asrt in the Loft | Alpena, MI | $4,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Alpena Figure Skating Club | Alpena, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Target Alpena Development Corporati | Alpena, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
14 of 33 (42%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 65%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Besser Museum
BLDG PROJ INCL HANDICAP ACCESS - Hope Shores Alliance
DV VICTIM SHELTER RENOVATION - City of Alpena
NORTHEAST MI MATERIALS MGMT - Friends of Hubbard Lake Comm Center
COMMUNITY CENTER IMPROVEMENTS - Girl Scouts of America
WOODLAND FACILITY UPGRADE - United Way of Northeast Michigan
DOLLY PARTON LIBRARY GRANT
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 20 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | $950,337 | $20,000 |
| 2022 | 22 | $1,091,160 | $19,500 |
| 2023 | 20 | $906,056 | $18,521 |
| 2024 | 16 | $1,178,199 | $21,000 |
| 2025 | 17 | $768,227 | $25,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Michigan.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Besser Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 350 N Second Ave 701, Alpena, MI, 49707. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 38-6071938 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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