Funders › Ontario

The Stephanie and Barry Zekelman

Windsor, ON · EIN 35-2815005. Reported 22 grants totalling $3,887,316 to 21 recipients across tax years 2023-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$50,000median grant
$3,887,316granted, 2023-2025
21recipients, as named on its returns
0%of grantees funded again the next year
$8,246,855assets, 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 Stephanie and Barry Zekelman 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 $50,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $1,333,333. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
3 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
1 grant
$50,000 - $100,000
5 grants
$100,000 and Up
8 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
Holocaust MemorialFarmington Hills, MI$1,333,333112024
Holocaust Memorial CenterFarmington Hills, MI$1,333,333112025
Funds of Israel TomorrowWashington, DC$250,000112024
Yud FoundationNew York, NY$250,000112024
Mayo ClinicRochester, MN$200,000222025
South Bend Youth HockeySouth Bend, IN$100,000112024
The University of Alabama at BirminghamBirmingham, AL$100,000112025
American Friends of Bar IlNew York, NY$50,000112024
American Friends of Galilee Medical CenterPhiladelphia, PA$50,000112024
American Heart Association IncDallas, TX$50,000112025
John Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD$50,000112025
United HatzalahNew York, NY$50,000112024
Spina Bifida Association of North TexasArlington, TX$25,000112025
Kids Kicking Cancer IncSouthfield, MI$10,350112025
Lower East Side Print ShopNew York, NY$10,000112025
Lower East Side PrintshopNew York, NY$10,000112024
National Ms SocietyNew York, NY$5,300112025
Childhood Leukemia Warriors FoundationNaperville, IL$5,000112024
Eanes Education FoundationAustin, TX$3,000112025
Challenge to Conquer CancerGreenville, SC$1,000112024
Challenge to Conquer Cancer - C3Greensville, SC$1,000112025

1 of 21 (5%) 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 0%, across 1 year-to-year transition. 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 11 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.

Health Care
3 grants
Arts & Culture
2 grants
Medical Research
2 grants
Religion
1 grant
Recreation & Sports
1 grant
Diseases & Disorders
1 grant
Education
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20231$100,000$100,000
202410$2,099,333$50,000
202511$1,687,983$25,000

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 Stephanie and Barry Zekelman has 2 of them, worth $800,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Mayo ClinicRochester, MN$400,000
The University of Alabama at BirminghamBirmingham, AL$400,000

Where its money goes

69% 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
$2.7M
New York
$375K
District of Columbia
$250K
Minnesota
$200K
Indiana
$100K
Alabama
$100K
Texas
$78K
Pennsylvania
$50K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust4 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program4 shared recipientsGs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund3 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $50,000. 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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Stephanie and Barry Zekelman's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2023-2025). 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: 2600 Airport Road Unit 101, Windsor, ON, N8V 1. 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 35-2815005 · 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.