The Henry Ford II Fund
Detroit, MI · EIN 38-6066332. Reported 72 grants totalling $5,065,840 to 34 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. 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. The Henry Ford II Fund 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 $29,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $60,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $1,000,000. 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. 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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Ford Health | Detroit, MI | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Detroit Zoological Society | Royal Oak, MI | $510,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation | Southfield, MI | $500,100 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Forgotten Harvest | Oak Park, MI | $400,000 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Detroit Institute of Arts | Detroit, MI | $398,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Empowerment Plan | Detroit, MI | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Salvation Army | Southfield, MI | $184,000 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Metro Solutions | Southfield, MI | $164,740 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Detroit Public Television | Wixom, MI | $160,000 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Motown Museum | Detroit, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan | Detroit, MI | $110,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center | Charlestown, MA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Grosse Pointe Memorial Church | Grosse Pointe Farms, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Henry Ford Health System | Detroit, MI | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Children's Foundation | Detroit, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New York-Presbyterian | New York, NY | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Rogosin Institute | New York, NY | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Say Detroit | Southfield, MI | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Wayne State University Law School | Detroit, MI | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Henry Ford Estates | Dearborn, MI | $59,000 | 3 | 2 | 2022 |
| ACLU Fund of Michigan | Detroit, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Detroit Symphony Orchestra | Detroit, MI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Henry Ford Estate | Dearborn, MI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Jdrf | Hagerstown, MD | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jdrf | Southfield, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Detroit PBS | Wixom, MI | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bob Woodruff Foundation | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Capuchin Soup Kitchen | Detroit, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Columbia University Irving Medical Center | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New York-Presbyterian Fund Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Weill Cornell Medicine | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Catch | Detroit, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Jude Childrens Research Hospital | Memphis, TN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Planned Parenthood | Ann Arbor, MI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
15 of 34 (44%) 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 44%, 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.
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.
- Detroit Zoological Society
Ron Kagan Endowment for Animal Welfare - Detroit Institute of Arts
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ENDOWMENT - The Empowerment Plan
WORKFORCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR - Henry Ford Health System
NURSING EMERGENCY NEED FUND - The Salvation Army
DETROIT CONNER CREEK CAPITAL CAMPAIGN - Detroit Public Television
SMITH LEADERSHIP CIRCLE FOR JOURNALISM AT DETROIT PUBLIC TV
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 57 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | $1,023,000 | $25,000 |
| 2022 | 20 | $1,187,740 | $32,500 |
| 2023 | 14 | $1,225,100 | $45,000 |
| 2024 | 15 | $1,630,000 | $50,000 |
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. The Henry Ford II Fund has 1 of them, worth $500,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit Zoological Society | Royal Oak, MI | $500,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 92% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $29,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- 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 The Henry Ford II Fund's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 1901 St Antoine Street 6TH Floor, Detroit, MI, 48226. 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 38-6066332 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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