Michigan Civic Education Fund
Madison Heights, MI · EIN 82-4762045. Reported 98 grants totalling $16.8M to 61 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, 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 Michigan Civic Education Fund, the IRS classifies it under civil rights rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE R40) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 61 distinct organizations, with 21% 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. 56% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $46,250. Half of what it reported fell between $20,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $3,590,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voter Project Fund | Philadelphia, PA | $3,590,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Progress Michigan Education | Lansing, MI | $3,126,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Michigan Voices | Detroit, MI | $3,025,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Promote the Vote Fund | Lansing, MI | $1,045,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Equality Michigan | Detroit, MI | $804,500 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Venture Fund | Washington, DC | $610,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ohio Progressive Collaborative Education Fund | Columbus, OH | $415,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pa Alliance Foundation | Philadelphia, PA | $415,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| 482FORWARD | Detroit, MI | $288,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Michigan Organizing Project | Oshtemo, MI | $246,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Miigwech Inc | Alanson, MI | $246,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Organizing Empowerment Fund Inc | Mcfarland, WI | $230,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Michigan Disability Rights Coalition | East Lansing, MI | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Committee to Protect Medicare Education Fund | Chicago, IL | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jcg Michigan Inc | Ann Arbor, MI | $135,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Access | Dearborn, MI | $120,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Greater Flint Health Coalition Inc | Flint, MI | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community AIDS Resource & Education Services of Southwest Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Count Mi Vote Education Fund | Lansing, MI | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Courier Newsroom Inc | New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Freedom Institute for Economic Social Justice & People Empowermen | Detroit, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Public Democracy America | Great Falls, VA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Detroit Change Initiative | Detroit, MI | $90,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Berrien Connection | Benton Harbor, MI | $82,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Michigan Center for Civic Education | Lansing, MI | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Promote the Vote | Lansing, MI | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Urban Core Collective | Grand Rapids, MI | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| State Voices | Washington, DC | $66,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Healthy House | Kalamazoo, MI | $64,200 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation | Detroit, MI | $58,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy and Action in the Community | Kalamazoo, MI | $55,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Affirmations Community Center | Ferndale, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund | Oakland, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Emgage Foundation Inc | Lakeland, FL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Local First Educational Foundation | Grand Rapids, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund | Ann Arbor, MI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| We the People - Mi | Detroit, MI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| National Association for the Advancement of Colored People | Baltimore, MD | $45,300 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Diatribe Inc | Grand Rapids, MI | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hispanic Center of Western Michigan Inc | Grand Rapids, MI | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mothers of Hope | Kalamazoo, MI | $36,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Community Partners | Los Angeles, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Red Wine & Blue Education Fund | Cleveland, OH | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund | Lansing, MI | $33,314 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| People First Economy | Grand Rapids, MI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs | Detroit, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Inc | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Great Lakes Political Academy Leadership Education and Developme | Dexter, MI | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Social Good Fund Inc | Richmond, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $23,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote - Michigan | Detroit, MI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Kalamazoo Gay-Lesbian Resource Center | Kalamazoo, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ufw Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Clean Water Fund | Washington, DC | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lansing News Fund for Community Journalism | Lansing, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Burmese American Initiative Inc | Springfield, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Southwestern Michigan Urban League Inc | Battle Creek, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Voces | Battle Creek, MI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pinsky Smith Fayette & Kennedy Llp | Grand Rapids, MI | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
24 of 61 (39%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 48 of 61 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | $921,000 | $27,500 |
| 2022 | 31 | $2,978,814 | $30,500 |
| 2023 | 12 | $787,500 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | 39 | $12.1M | $75,000 |
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
64% of its giving went to organizations in Michigan. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
Find more funders like Michigan Civic Education Fund
We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.
No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.
Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
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 $46,250 -- 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Michigan Civic Education Fund's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 38 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 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: 28342 Dartmouth St, Madison Heights, MI, 48071.
EIN 82-4762045 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.