Funders › Michigan

Trapp Family Foundation Inc

Empire, MI · EIN 38-3558679. Reported 122 grants totalling $680,000 to 61 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$680,000granted, 2021-2025
61recipients, as named on its returns
64%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,234,997assets, 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. Trapp Family Foundation Inc 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 $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
72 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
33 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 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
Lighthouse of Oakland CountyPontiac, MI$153,500442025
Planned Parenthood of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$55,500552025
Revive & Thrive ProjectGrand Rapids, MI$51,000552025
Huntington's Disease Society of AmericaNew York, NY$50,000552025
Physicians Committee for Responsible MedicineWashington, DC$49,000552025
Habitat for HumanityPontiac, MI$41,000442024
United Way for Southeastern MichiganDetroit, MI$40,000442024
American Red CrossDetroit, MI$30,000332023
Tam High FoundationMill Valley, CA$29,000332023
Farmington Family YMCAFarmington Hills, MI$20,000442024
Land and Sea for All FoundationFairfax, CA$20,000222025
American Civil Liberties Union of MichiganDetroit, MI$9,750112025
Enviromental Defense FundNew York, NY$7,000332023
Sf Marian Food BankSan Rafael, CA$7,000332023
10000 DegreesSan Rafael, CA$6,500332024
Fruit Tree Plant FoundationPittsburgh, PA$6,500332025
Growth CirclesOakland, CA$6,000332023
Gary Burnstein Community Health ClinicPontiac, MI$5,080332025
Alternative for GirlsDetroit, MI$5,000442025
Canal AllianceSan Rafael, CA$5,000112025
Nutritionfacts OrgTakoma Park, MD$5,000112021
YMCA Metro DetroitDetroit, MI$5,000112025
Farmington Community ChorusFarmington Hills, MI$4,000442025
Redford Interfaith ReliefRedford Twp, MI$4,000332025
Jewish Senior Life FoundationSouthfield, MI$3,420112024
Bridge the Gap College PrepSausalito, CA$3,000332023
Cass Community Social ServicesDetroit, MI$3,000332025
Equal Justice InitiativeMontgomery, AL$3,000112025
Healing With HorsesNorthville Twp, MI$3,000222024
HrdcBozeman, MT$3,000112025
Humanity & InclusionSilver Spring, MD$3,000112022
P-PodYonkers, NY$3,000112021
The Mental Health Foundation of West MichiganGrand Rapids, MI$3,000112025
Plant Based Nutrition SupportAuburn Hills, MI$2,500222022
West Shore Family SupportLudington, MI$2,500112025
ACLU of MichiganDetroit, MI$2,000112022
Farmingtonfarmington Hills Education FoundationFarmington, MI$2,000112025
Friends of Marshyangdi SchoolAspen, CO$2,000112023
George Crockett AcademyDetroit, MI$2,000222024
Great Lakes EnvironmentalDetroit, MI$2,000112021
Jeannette Rankin FoundationAthens, GA$2,000222025
Pow Protect Our WintersBoulder, CO$2,000112023
P-Pod Plant-Based Prevention of DiseaseAsheville, NC$1,500112023
The Immigrant Legal Resource CenterSan Francisco, CA$1,250112025
Cares of Farmington HillsFarmington Hills, MI$1,000112025
Chickpea & Bean IncClinton Twp, MI$1,000112024
Children's Foundation of MichiganDetroit, MI$1,000112025
Conservation Resource AllianceTraverse City, MI$1,000112023
Empire Area Community CenterEmpire, MI$1,000112025
Empire Area Food PantryGlen Arbor, MI$1,000112025
Everytown for Gun SafetyNew York, NY$1,000112025
Glen Arbor Arts CenterGlen Arbor, MI$1,000112023
Glen Lake LibraryEmpire, MI$1,000112025
International Fund for Animal WelfareYarmouth Port, MA$1,000112023
Medecins Sans Frontieres (doctors Without Borders) USA IncNew York, NY$1,000112024
Michigan Immigrant Rights CenterYpsilanti, MI$1,000112025
Redford GoodfellowsRedford, MI$1,000112025
Veg MiLivonia, MI$1,000112021
WemuYpsilanti, MI$1,000112024
Fare (food Allergy Research & EducationMclean, VA$500112025
Jewish HospiceWest Bloomfield, MI$500112022

26 of 61 (43%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 64%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 52 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
15 grants
Education
8 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Food & Nutrition
6 grants
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
4 grants
Youth Development
3 grants
Arts & Culture
2 grants
Religion
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$155,000$5,000
202222$160,500$3,750
202327$160,000$2,000
202421$100,000$1,580
202531$104,500$1,000

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

68% 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
$462K
California
$78K
New York
$62K
District of Columbia
$49K
Maryland
$8K
Pennsylvania
$6K
Colorado
$4K
Alabama
$3K

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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 Fund27 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc23 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc19 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program19 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust19 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc16 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. 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 groupFoundations funding health care in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Trapp Family Foundation Inc'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: 11499 S Lake Michigan Drive Box 1, Empire, MI, 49630. 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 38-3558679 · 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.