Nickless Family Charitable
Saginaw, MI · EIN 38-3501091. Reported 90 grants totalling $1,887,516 to 54 recipients across tax years 2023-2025. 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. Nickless Family Charitable 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $4,000 and $29,876; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $150,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian Group | Bend, OR | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Bay Area Soccer Association | Bay City, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Can Council | Saginaw, MI | $150,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Munson Healthcare Foundation | Traverse City, MI | $95,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Bay City Central High School | Bay City, MI | $85,226 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe | Kings Beach, CA | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hope Community Services | New Rochelle, NY | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Underground Railroad Inc | Saginaw, MI | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Alternatives | Chicago, IL | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Rye Youth Council | Rye, NY | $70,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Mclaren Bay Medical Foundation | Bay City, MI | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bay Area Community Foundation | Bay City, MI | $63,500 | 5 | 3 | 2025 |
| Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy | Saginaw, MI | $58,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of the Great Lakes Bay Region | Bay City, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Tri-Star Charitable Foundation | Saginaw, MI | $50,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Nouvel Catholic Central High School | Saginaw, MI | $46,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Childrens Cabinet Inc | Reno, NV | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| YWCA Evanstonnorthshore | Evanston, IL | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Assistance League of Reno-Sparks | Reno, NV | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Boys and Girls Club of the Great Lakes Bay Region | Bay City, MI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Foster Families Navigation and Resource Center | Bay City, MI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Endex | Forest, VA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Helen Nickless Volunteer Clinic Mclaren Bay Medical Foundation | Bay City, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hidden Harvest | Saginaw, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Eddy House | Reno, NV | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Women of Quail Creek | Green Valley, AZ | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Tri-County Community Adjucation Program | Saginaw, MI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| John Glenn High School | Bay City, MI | $18,000 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| Food Bank of Northern Nevada | Sparks, NV | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Women of Qual Creek | Green Valley, AZ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Herbert Henry Dow High School | Midland, MI | $14,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Midland High School | Midland, MI | $13,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $12,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Lakeside Club of Manistee County | Manistee, MI | $10,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mustard Seed Shelter | Saginaw, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Bullock Creek High School | Midland, MI | $7,290 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Michigan Office of Financial Aid-Scholarship Unit | Ann Arbor, MI | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Central Michigan University | Mount Pleasant, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Disability Services Resource Center | Bay City, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Eddys House | Reno, NV | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Freeland High School | Freeland, MI | $5,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Madonna University | Livonia, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Michigan Technological University | Houghton, MI | $5,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Saginaw Valley State University | Saginaw, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Service and Learning Together | Highland Park, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| U of M Office of Financial Aid | Ann Arbor, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Delta College Office of Financial Aid | University Center, MI | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Northwestern Michigan College Cashier's Office | Traverse City, MI | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Purdue University | West Lafayette, IN | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Frankenmuth High School | Frankenmuth, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Umass Amherst Bursar's Office | Amherst, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
19 of 54 (35%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 45%, across 2 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.
- Bay Area Soccer Association
BASA MAPLEWOOD PARK SPORTS COMPLEX PROJECT - Can Council
BUILDING RENOVATIONS IN BAY CITY - Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe
IN SUPPORT OF STAFF NEEDS, FOOD OVERAGES, AND TRANSPORTATION - Alternatives
PEACE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM EXPANSION - Mclaren Bay Medical Foundation
REMODEL OF EXISTING SPACE IN FACILITY FOR NICKLESS VOLUNTEER CLINIC - Boys & Girls Clubs of the Great Lakes Bay Region
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FOR BAY CITY KITCHEN UPGRADES
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 29 | $624,350 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 32 | $641,290 | $8,000 |
| 2025 | 29 | $621,876 | $15,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Nickless Family Charitable has 1 of them, worth $45,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Hope Community Services | New Rochelle, NY | $45,000 |
Where its money goes
61% 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 $10,000. 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Nickless Family Charitable'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: 1004 N Michigan Avenue, Saginaw, MI, 48602. 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 38-3501091 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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