Funders › Michigan

The Holley Foundation

Birmingham, MI · EIN 38-6055168. Reported 43 grants totalling $802,915 to 16 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$20,000median grant
$802,915granted, 2021-2024
16recipients, as named on its returns
78%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,588,223assets, 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. The Holley Foundation 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 $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $515 and the largest $45,000. 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
5 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
3 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
19 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Macc DevelopmentDetroit, MI$235,000742024
Gleaners Comm Food Bank of Se MichDetroit, MI$94,000442024
Beyond BasicsSouthfield, MI$90,000422022
Downtown Boxing Gym Youth ProgramDetroit, MI$85,000332024
Insideout Literary ArtsDetroit, MI$59,000442024
Lawrence Technological UniversitySouthfield, MI$42,500222022
Central Detroit Christian CommunityDetroit, MI$40,000222024
Detroit Creativity ProjectVenice, CA$37,700442024
Read to a ChildWellesley, MA$36,000112024
Autism Alliance of MiSouthfield, MI$20,000112024
Michigan Crossroads Council Boy Scouts of AmericaEagle, MI$20,000222023
The Salvation ArmySouthfield, MI$16,200112021
Great Lakes Field Service Council Boy Scouts of AmericaDetroit, MI$10,000112021
Community Foundation for Se MichDetroit, MI$9,000542024
Detroit Public Schools FoundationDetroit, MI$8,000112022
Nat'l Assocchildren of AddictionBel Air, MD$515112023

10 of 16 (62%) 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 78%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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.

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.

Education
8 grants
Community Improvement
7 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202112$214,400$20,600
202212$213,000$18,750
202310$177,515$18,500
20249$198,000$20,000

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.

Where its money goes

91% 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.

Michigan
$729K
California
$38K
Massachusetts
$36K
Maryland
$515

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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.

Community Foundation for Southeast10 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsUnited Way for Southeastern Michigan7 shared recipientsThe Skillman Foundation7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  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

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Holley Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: 34901 Woodward Ave Ste 200, Birmingham, MI, 48009. 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 38-6055168 · 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.

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