The Michelson Foundation
Scottsdale, AZ · EIN 46-4978561. Reported 63 grants totalling $3,783,972 to 40 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. The Michelson 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 $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $7,500 and $50,000; the smallest was $200 and the largest $900,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayo Clinic | Rochester, MN | $1,050,000 | 2 | 1 | 2022 |
| Better Angels Society - the American Revolution | Washington, DC | $499,999 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Vanderbilt University Blair Community Scholars Pr | Nashville, TN | $453,140 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Better Angels Society Inc | Washington, DC | $333,333 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc | Memphis, TN | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Metropolitan Opera | New York, NY | $200,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Enterprise Institute | Washington, DC | $140,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Book Book Go | St Louis, MO | $125,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Eagles Autism Foundation | Philadelphia, PA | $90,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Bryn Mawr College | Bryn Mawr, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Child Mind Institute Inc | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| City Year Inc | Boston, MA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Ertz Family Foundation | Alpharetta, GA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Teach for America (annual Benefit) | New York City, NY | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York | New York, NY | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Conquer Cancer | Alexandria, VA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hawaii Community Foundation | Honolulu, HI | $27,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| City Year Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Impact Philanthropy Group | Long Beach, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Michael J Fox Foundation | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Teach for America | New York City, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Be Kind People Project | Scottsdale, AZ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music | Nashville, TN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| International Churchill Society | Washington, DC | $22,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Kukio Ho'omana Fund | Kailua Kona, HI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Libertas College Prep | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Alzheimer's Association | San Jose, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Descanso Gardens Foundation | La Canada Flintridge, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Grants Central Station (maui Rapid Response) | Kihei, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Libertas College Preparatory | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| San Francisco First Tee | San Francisco, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Good Tidings Foundation | Burlingame, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hypopara Research Foundation | San Mateo, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jones-Gordon Foundation | Paradise Valley, AZ | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Navy Seal Foundation | Virginia Beach, VA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Smithsonian Institute | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Team Impact | Quincy, MA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Semper Fi & America's Fund (in Memory of Dan Mcqu | Oceanside, CA | $2,400 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Truman Library Institution | Kansas City, MO | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Harvard Magazine | Cambridge, MA | $600 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
12 of 40 (30%) 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 35%, 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.
- Mayo Clinic
Treatment of Lymphocytic Leukemia
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 40 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 | 12 | $225,200 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 17 | $1,500,366 | $25,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $725,266 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | 8 | $371,667 | $32,500 |
| 2025 | 8 | $961,473 | $40,000 |
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
28% of its giving went to organizations in Minnesota. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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 $25,000. 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 Minnesota.
- 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Michelson 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: 10105 E Via Linda Ste 103PMB 2799, Scottsdale, AZ, 85258. 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 46-4978561 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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