FundersMichigan

John Stites Jazz Artist Organizatio

Marshall, MI · EIN 82-4459237. Reported 33 grants totalling $659,982 to 23 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$7,650median grant
$659,982granted, 2021-2024
23organizations funded
50%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,445,991assets, latest filing

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. John Stites Jazz Artist Organizatio did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $7,650. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $960 and the largest $170,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
6 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
13 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Gilmore FestivalKalamazoo, MI$240,000222023
The GilmoreKalamazoo, MI$130,545112024
Kalamazoo Nfp Advocacy CoalitionKalamazoo, MI$27,000332023
Allen Chapel AME ChurchKalamazoo, MI$25,000112024
Edison Neighborhood AssnKalamazoo, MI$25,000112022
Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy CoalatKalamazoo, MI$25,000112024
Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, MI$21,127112024
Southside Jazz Coalition IncChicago, IL$18,000222024
Citymusic ClevelandCleveland, OH$15,000112023
Gilmore Piano FestivalKalamazoo, MI$15,000112021
Kalamazoo Symphony OrchKalamazoo, MI$15,000112021
Jazz on WheelsFlint, MI$13,000332024
Jazz Inspired IncSag Harbor, NY$12,610222024
Twin Cities Jazz FestivalMaplewood, MN$12,500222023
Kalamazoo Symphony OrchestraKalamazoo, MI$10,000222023
Tuba Bach IncBig Rapids, MI$10,000112023
Lake Effect Jazz Big BandSaint Joseph, MI$9,000112023
Mi Festival of Sacred MusicKalamazoo, MI$9,000112023
Hart Performing Arts AssocHart, MI$7,650112022
JazzbostonBoston, MA$6,800112022
Foundry HallSouth Haven, MI$6,400222022
Jazz Education NetworkChicago, IL$5,000112024
Hart Performing Arts AssociHart, MI$1,350112023

8 of 23 (35%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 50%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 15 grants to individuals totalling $109,370 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 21 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
17 grants
Community Improvement
3 grants
Education
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20214$50,440$15,000
20229$240,710$7,500
202312$154,016$8,283
20248$214,816$13,085

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 89% of this one's giving went to organizations in Michigan. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Michigan
$590K
Illinois
$23K
Ohio
$15K
New York
$13K
Minnesota
$12K
Massachusetts
$7K

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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 the strongest available signal 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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund5 shared recipientsKalamazoo Community Foundation5 shared recipientsIrving S Gilmore Foundation4 shared recipientsHarold and Grace Upjohn Foundation4 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsWk Kellogg Foundation2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $7,650. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Michigan.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

Foundations funding education in MichiganEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from John Stites Jazz Artist Organizatio's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2022-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 343 N Marshall Ave, Marshall, MI, 49068. 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 82-4459237 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.