Trapp Family Foundation Inc
Empire, MI · EIN 38-3558679. Reported 122 grants totalling $680,000 to 61 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. Trapp Family Foundation Inc 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 $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $50,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lighthouse of Oakland County | Pontiac, MI | $153,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Planned Parenthood of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $55,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Revive & Thrive Project | Grand Rapids, MI | $51,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Huntington's Disease Society of America | New York, NY | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine | Washington, DC | $49,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Habitat for Humanity | Pontiac, MI | $41,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way for Southeastern Michigan | Detroit, MI | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Red Cross | Detroit, MI | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Tam High Foundation | Mill Valley, CA | $29,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Farmington Family YMCA | Farmington Hills, MI | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Land and Sea for All Foundation | Fairfax, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan | Detroit, MI | $9,750 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Enviromental Defense Fund | New York, NY | $7,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Sf Marian Food Bank | San Rafael, CA | $7,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| 10000 Degrees | San Rafael, CA | $6,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Fruit Tree Plant Foundation | Pittsburgh, PA | $6,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Growth Circles | Oakland, CA | $6,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Gary Burnstein Community Health Clinic | Pontiac, MI | $5,080 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Alternative for Girls | Detroit, MI | $5,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Canal Alliance | San Rafael, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Nutritionfacts Org | Takoma Park, MD | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| YMCA Metro Detroit | Detroit, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Farmington Community Chorus | Farmington Hills, MI | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Redford Interfaith Relief | Redford Twp, MI | $4,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Jewish Senior Life Foundation | Southfield, MI | $3,420 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bridge the Gap College Prep | Sausalito, CA | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Cass Community Social Services | Detroit, MI | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Equal Justice Initiative | Montgomery, AL | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Healing With Horses | Northville Twp, MI | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Hrdc | Bozeman, MT | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Humanity & Inclusion | Silver Spring, MD | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| P-Pod | Yonkers, NY | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan | Grand Rapids, MI | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Plant Based Nutrition Support | Auburn Hills, MI | $2,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| West Shore Family Support | Ludington, MI | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| ACLU of Michigan | Detroit, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Farmingtonfarmington Hills Education Foundation | Farmington, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Friends of Marshyangdi School | Aspen, CO | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| George Crockett Academy | Detroit, MI | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Great Lakes Environmental | Detroit, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Jeannette Rankin Foundation | Athens, GA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Pow Protect Our Winters | Boulder, CO | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| P-Pod Plant-Based Prevention of Disease | Asheville, NC | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Immigrant Legal Resource Center | San Francisco, CA | $1,250 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Cares of Farmington Hills | Farmington Hills, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Chickpea & Bean Inc | Clinton Twp, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Children's Foundation of Michigan | Detroit, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Conservation Resource Alliance | Traverse City, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Empire Area Community Center | Empire, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Empire Area Food Pantry | Glen Arbor, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Everytown for Gun Safety | New York, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Glen Arbor Arts Center | Glen Arbor, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Glen Lake Library | Empire, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| International Fund for Animal Welfare | Yarmouth Port, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Medecins Sans Frontieres (doctors Without Borders) USA Inc | New York, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Michigan Immigrant Rights Center | Ypsilanti, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Redford Goodfellows | Redford, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Veg Mi | Livonia, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wemu | Ypsilanti, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fare (food Allergy Research & Education | Mclean, VA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jewish Hospice | West Bloomfield, MI | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
26 of 61 (43%) 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 64%, 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.
- Lighthouse of Oakland County
GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES - Healing With Horses
GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSESGENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 52 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 | $155,000 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 22 | $160,500 | $3,750 |
| 2023 | 27 | $160,000 | $2,000 |
| 2024 | 21 | $100,000 | $1,580 |
| 2025 | 31 | $104,500 | $1,000 |
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
68% 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.
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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 $2,000. 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Trapp Family Foundation Inc'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: 11499 S Lake Michigan Drive Box 1, Empire, MI, 49630. 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 38-3558679 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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