Russell H & Maxine E Smith Charitable
Bay City, MI · EIN 38-2978504. Reported 50 grants totalling $683,963 to 30 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. Russell H & Maxine E Smith Charitable 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 $11,606. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $2,375 and the largest $30,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Area Community Foundation | Bay City, MI | $60,000 | 7 | 5 | 2025 |
| Bay Area Soccer Association | Bay City, MI | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Hidden Harvest | Saginaw, MI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Svsu Foundation | University Center, MI | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Antique Toy and Firetruck Museum | Bay City, MI | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Good Samaritan Rescue Mission | Bay City, MI | $35,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| City of Bay City | Bay City, MI | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Friends of Pinconning Community Center | Pinconning, MI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Boys and Girls Club of Bay County | Bay City, MI | $28,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Foster Families Navigation & Resource Center | Bay City, MI | $28,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum | Bay City, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Dow Bay Area Family YMCA | Bay City, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| State Theatre | Bay City, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Linwood Civic Improvement Club Inc | Linwood, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Studio 23 | Bay City, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of the Historic Masonic Temple | Bay City, MI | $16,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Bay County Historical Society | Bay City, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Great Lakes Bay Health Centers | Bay City, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Jefferson Project | Bay City, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Toni & Trish House for the Care of the Terminally Ill | Auburn, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Camp Fish Tales Inc | Pinconning, MI | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Leadership Bay County Class Project | Bay City, MI | $11,213 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Disability Services Resource Center | Bay City, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Self Love Beauty | Midland, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Self Love Beauty Dba Lead | Midland, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bay City in Bloom | Bay City, MI | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Bay Area Women's Center | Bay City, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum | Bay City, MI | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| United We Go | Bay City, MI | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance | Freeland, MI | $4,750 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
11 of 30 (37%) 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 39%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. 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.
- Bay Area Soccer Association
GRANT FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO MAPLEWOOD PARK - Friends of Pinconning Community Center
GRANT FOR PINCONNING COMMUNITY CENTER RENOVATIONS - Hidden Harvest
HUNGER SOLUTION CENTER EXPANSION PROJECT - Dow Bay Area Family YMCA
GRANT TO CONSTRUCT A NEW PARK ON SAGINAW STREET ACROSS FROM THE DOW BAY AREA FAMILY YMCCA - State Theatre
GRANT FOR PAVILION AND ANCILLARY BUILDING IN WENONAH PARK - Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum
REIGNITING HISTORY THE RENOVATION OF FIRE STATION NO 3
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 29 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 | 11 | $159,375 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 13 | $177,088 | $12,000 |
| 2023 | 10 | $134,500 | $11,250 |
| 2024 | 9 | $119,500 | $10,000 |
| 2025 | 7 | $93,500 | $10,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Russell H & Maxine E Smith Charitable has 1 of them, worth $3,200. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Can Council Great Lakes Bay Region | Saginaw, MI | $3,200 |
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 $11,606. 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 Russell H & Maxine E Smith Charitable'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: 1000 Adams 200, Bay City, MI, 48708. 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 38-2978504 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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