Great Lakes Fishery Trust Inc
Lansing, MI · EIN 38-3331471. Reported 58 grants totalling $8,937,098 to 37 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Great Lakes Fishery Trust Inc, by its IRS classification it raises and distributes funds for animal welfare (NTEE D123).
- How spread out its giving is. 37 distinct organizations, with 11% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 27% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $138,635. Half of what it reported fell between $57,676 and $200,000; the smallest was $16,080 and the largest $750,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI | $939,601 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Conservation Resource Alliance | Traverse City, MI | $765,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Michigan Department of Natural Resources | Lansing, MI | $750,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lake Superior State University | Marie, MI | $453,787 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Carleton University | Canada, Ontario | $423,340 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Research Foundation for the State University of New York | Albany, NY | $403,982 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Huron Pines Resource Conservation and Development Council Inc | Gaylord, MI | $397,009 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Central Michigan University | Mt Pleasant, MI | $341,115 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Council of Great Lakes Governors Inc | Rolling Mdws, IL | $340,656 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation | Grand Rapids, MI | $328,620 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| University of Wisconsin | Stevens Point, WI | $324,531 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pere Marquette Charter Township | Ludington, MI | $317,400 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Notre Dame Du Lac | Notre Dame, IN | $313,108 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Trout Unlimited Inc | Arlington, VA | $265,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians | Harbor Springs, MI | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Grand Valley State University | Allendale, MI | $220,355 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Great Lakes Fishery Commission | Ann Arbor, MI | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| St Joseph Charter Township | Saint Joseph, MI | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council | Petoskey, MI | $184,190 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan | Alpena, MI | $161,578 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| City of Albion | Albion, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians | Dowagiac, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Wyoming | Laramie, WY | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Inland Seas Education Association | Suttons Bay, MI | $133,103 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Bay Mills Indian Community | Brimley, MI | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| City of Niles | Niles, MI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Huron River Watershed Council | Ann Arbor, MI | $93,723 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| St Joseph County Conservation District | Centreville, MI | $84,934 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| National Wildlife Federation | Reston, VA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Homestead Township (honor) | Honor, MI | $71,880 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| West Michigan Environmental Action Council Education Foundation | Grand Rapids, MI | $43,584 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hope College | Holland, MI | $43,544 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Seeds | Traverse City, MI | $33,988 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Muskegon Conservation District | Twin Lake, MI | $31,614 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Discovery Center Great Lakes | Traverse City, MI | $30,278 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science Math and Environmental Educ | Hancock, MI | $21,180 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Michigan United Conservation Clubs | Lansing, MI | $19,998 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
13 of 37 (35%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Michigan Department of Natural Resources
RENOVATE SNUG HARBOR SHORELINE FISHING SITE AT MUSKEGON STATE PARK - Carleton University
CHARACTERIZE NEEDS, MOTIVATION AND VALUES OF FISHERMAN AND CHARACTERISTICS THE RISK, BENEFITS AND BARRIERS FACED AROUND LAKE MICHIGAN - The Research Foundation for SUNY at Brockport
PROJECT TO EVALUATE WHETHER THIAMINE DEFICIENCY COULD AFFECT LAKE WHITEFISH RECRUITMENT IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION - Conservation Resource Alliance
CONSTRUCTION OF THREE BRIDGES AND INSTALL HABITAT STRUCTURES ON THE CRYSTAL RIVER IN LEELANAU COUNTY - Michigan State University Extension
TEACHING GREAT LAKES LITERACY: CONNECTING SCIENTISTS, EDUCATORS, AND YOUTH THROUGH RESEARCH AND DATA EXPLORATIONS - Lake Superior State University
MORE THAN WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE: INVENTORY AND VIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF FISH SPAWNING AND NURSERY HABITATS IN THE STRAITS OF MACKINAC
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 17 of 37 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | $1,476,812 | $76,810 |
| 2022 | 13 | $2,150,186 | $194,739 |
| 2023 | 18 | $2,166,780 | $106,102 |
| 2024 | 11 | $3,143,320 | $250,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
74% of its giving went to organizations in Michigan. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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 grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $138,635 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Michigan.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
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Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Great Lakes Fishery Trust Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 11 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 230 North Washington Square Ste 3, Lansing, MI, 48933.
EIN 38-3331471 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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