Gratiot County Community Foundation
Ithaca, MI · EIN 38-3087756. Reported 141 grants totalling $1,862,296 to 53 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Gratiot County Community Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a community foundation (NTEE T31).
- How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 14% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 58% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 56% median for grantmaking charities -- lower than the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $12,000. Half of what it reported fell between $7,500 and $15,050; the smallest was $5,033 and the largest $175,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alma | Alma, MI | $257,826 | 9 | 4 | 2024 |
| Eugene M Nikkari Elementary | St Louis, MI | $211,544 | 14 | 5 | 2024 |
| Ithaca South Elementary School | Ithaca, MI | $191,919 | 14 | 5 | 2024 |
| Ashley Community Schools | Ashley, MI | $125,534 | 7 | 5 | 2024 |
| Breckenridge Elementary School | Breckenridge, MI | $93,256 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Gratiot County Sheriff Department | Ithaca, MI | $86,225 | 10 | 5 | 2024 |
| Fulton Elementary | Middleton, MI | $85,113 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Senior Activity Building Board Inc | Ithaca, MI | $60,550 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| St Louis Area Fire Department | St Louis, MI | $45,087 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Gratiot County Child Advocacy Association | Alma, MI | $42,428 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Gratiot Emergency Housing Corporation | Alma, MI | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way of Gratiot & Isabella Counties | Mt Pleasant, MI | $40,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Gratiot County Historical Society | Ithaca, MI | $39,985 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Gratiot County Fair for Youth | Alma, MI | $31,849 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Ashley Rescue | Ashley, MI | $30,917 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Forest Hill Nature Area | Alma, MI | $28,387 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Village of Breckenridge | Breckenridge, MI | $26,150 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ithica Seventh Day Adventist School | Ithaca, MI | $23,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Mymichigan Health Foundation | Midland, MI | $21,300 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Gratiot County Players Inc | Alma, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Washington Township | Ashley, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| St Louis Sharks Sports Boosters | Saint Louis, MI | $18,560 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Breckenridge-Wheeler Area Historical Society Inc | Breckenridge, MI | $18,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Womens Resource Center of Mid Michigan | Alma, MI | $16,200 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mid-Michigan District Health Department | Stanton, MI | $15,735 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Alma Church of God | Alma, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Gratiot County Hope House | St Louis, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Heroes Center | Saint Louis, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Gratiot Emergency Services Authorit Y | Ithaca, MI | $14,834 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wings of Mercy East Michigan Inc | Bay City, MI | $14,530 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Youth for Christ USA Inc | Alma, MI | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Alma Public Schools | Alma, MI | $13,240 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Healthy Pine River | Alma, MI | $12,533 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ithaca Fire Department | Ithaca, MI | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Michigan Arts Access | Detroit, MI | $12,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ashley Area Fire Authority | Ashley, MI | $11,600 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mentors in the Mitten | Clare, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Perrinton Fire Department | Perrinton, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Childrens Discovery Academy | Alma, MI | $9,823 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Office of Human Services | Saint Louis, MI | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Womens Aid Service Inc | Mt Pleasant, MI | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Alma Community Art Center Inc | Alma, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Little League Baseball Inc | Alma, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Breckenridge Wheeler Township Volunteer Rescue Fire Department | Breckenridge, MI | $7,117 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan | Saginaw, MI | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lumberjacks & Rivermens Park Association | Riverdale, MI | $6,518 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Louis Police Department | St Louis, MI | $6,205 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Gratiot County Hope House | Saint Louis, MI | $6,105 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pardee Cancer Treatment Fund of Gratiot County | Alma, MI | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Day Dreams Inc | Ithaca, MI | $5,975 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Gratiot String Association | Alma, MI | $5,820 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| City of Ithaca | Ithaca, MI | $5,373 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maple View Assisted Living Inc | Ithaca, MI | $5,058 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
23 of 53 (43%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Mid-Michigan Big Brothers Big Sisters
Donor Advised - Food Program - Ashley Community Schools
Donor Advised - Student Support
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 24 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 26 | $326,102 | $12,000 |
| 2021 | 25 | $341,838 | $14,880 |
| 2022 | 26 | $457,578 | $12,417 |
| 2023 | 31 | $395,379 | $11,600 |
| 2024 | 33 | $341,399 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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 grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $12,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Michigan.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Gratiot County Community Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 16 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 15 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 168 E Center St, Ithaca, MI, 48847.
EIN 38-3087756 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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