Funders › Michigan

Cozad Family Foundation

Auburn, MI · EIN 83-4403008. Reported 76 grants totalling $233,159 to 32 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,775median grant
$233,159granted, 2021-2025
32recipients, as named on its returns
78%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,547,079assets, latest filing

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. Cozad Family 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.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $1,775. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $20,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
12 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
45 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
14 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
University Music SocietyAnn Arbor, MI$56,000552025
Alma CollegeAlma, MI$38,000552025
Ruth Ellis CenterHighland Park, MI$18,000552025
Bay Veterans FoundationBay City, MI$12,000222025
Can Washtenaw CountyAnn Arbor, MI$9,000332023
Michigan Trout UnlimitedBay City, MI$8,800332025
Hidden HarvestSaginaw, MI$8,250332025
Headwaters Land ConservancyGaylord, MI$7,500552025
House N2 HomeAnn Arbor, MI$7,500112024
Saginaw Basin Land ConservancyBay City, MI$7,500552025
Community Dental CenterAnn Arbor, MI$5,000112022
Postpartum Support InternationalPortland, OR$5,000112022
Rip Medical DebtLong Island City, NY$5,000222023
Sleep in Heavenly PeacePhoenix, AZ$5,000112025
Clarke Historical LibraryMount Pleasant, MI$4,500552025
Cmu Biological StationMt Pleasant, MI$4,000332023
St Jude Children's HospitalMemphis, TN$4,000222025
Saginaw My MichiganSaginaw, MI$3,359112025
Michigan TuBay City, MI$3,000222022
Little Traverse ConservancyHarbor Springs, MI$2,500332025
Stand With TransFarmington, MI$2,500112025
University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$2,500112021
Food Bank of Eastern MichiganFlint, MI$2,250222025
Can Council Bay CountyBay City, MI$2,000112025
My Michigan Medical Center FoundationSaginaw, MI$2,000112025
Saginaw Community FoundationSaginaw, MI$2,000222025
Center for Michigan BridgeLansing, MI$1,500332025
Lovells Township Historical SocietyGrayling, MI$1,500332025
Catholic Family ServicesBay City, MI$1,000112025
Lutheran Campus MinistriesAnn Arbor, MI$1,000112025
Amazing Grace Animal RescueSaginaw, MI$500112023
Anglers of the AusableTroy, MI$500112025

19 of 32 (59%) 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 78%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 43 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.

Environment
13 grants
Education
5 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Human Services
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Animal Welfare
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202111$29,000$2,000
202212$34,500$2,000
202316$50,300$1,625
202414$53,000$1,750
202523$66,359$1,500

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

92% of its giving went to organizations in Michigan. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Michigan
$214K
New York
$5K
Oregon
$5K
Arizona
$5K
Tennessee
$4K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund11 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation for Southeast7 shared recipientsRaymond James Charitable Endowment Fund7 shared recipientsConsumers Energy Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,775. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Michigan.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in MichiganEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Cozad Family 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: Po Box 96, Auburn, MI, 48611. 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 83-4403008 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.