GrantmakersMichigan

Michigan Civic Action Fund

Madison Heights, MI · EIN 82-3995979. Reported 112 grants totalling $26.8M to 64 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

64organizations funded
$100,000median reported grant
$26.8Mgranted, 2021-2024
79%of grantees funded again the next year
19%of dollars to its largest recipient

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:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Michigan Civic Action Fund, the IRS classifies it under civil rights rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE R40) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 64 distinct organizations, with 19% 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.
  3. How much its list changes. 79% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $100,000. Half of what it reported fell between $50,000 and $250,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $5,040,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
14 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
28 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
33 grants
$250,000 Or More
30 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
For MichiganLincoln Park, MI$5,040,000112024
Progress MichiganLansing, MI$2,831,500442024
Equality Michigan Action NetworkKalamazoo, MI$1,114,000332024
Justice for All- MichiganLansing, MI$950,000112024
Michigan Civic Education FundMadison Hts, MI$815,000112024
Justice for All - MichiganLansing, MI$800,000112022
Mi Democratic State Central CommittLansing, MI$770,000442024
Planned Parenthood Advocates of MichiganLansing, MI$765,000442024
Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education FundAnn Arbor, MI$761,000442024
Clean Water ActionMount Clemens, MI$700,000332024
Promote the VoteDiamondhead, MS$660,000442024
Berrien ForwardBenton Harbor, MI$647,750332024
Michigan Center of Accountability for RepublicansPortland, MI$615,000112022
Michigan Peoples CampaignDetroit, MI$615,000432024
Murray Street Services LLCAlbany, NY$550,000112022
Mi PoderDetroit, MI$517,000222024
Beyond ImpactW Hollywood, CA$516,000442024
Mi PoderDetroit, MI$510,000112022
In Union USA ActionWashington, DC$500,000112022
Committee to Protect Medicare & the Aca IncDetroit, MI$495,000112024
Pontiac Policy Action FundPontiac, MI$491,000332023
Civic Empowerment CoalitionBakersfield, CA$487,000332024
Prosperity MichiganSault Sainte Marie, MI$455,000222024
Rising VoicesSan Francisco, CA$450,000112022
For Our Future Action FundWashington, DC$400,000112022
In Union USA ActionWashington, DC$350,000112024
Actblue Civics IncBoston, MA$280,000222024
Arab Americans for ProgressDetroit, MI$269,000222024
Mothering JusticeDetroit, MI$260,000222024
Center for Empowered Politics Rising VoicesSan Francisco, CA$225,000112024
Count Mi VoteLansing, MI$225,000332024
American Civil Liberties UnionDetroit, MI$200,000112024
Distill SocialRoyal Oak, MI$195,000332024
Detroit ActionDetroit, MI$175,000112024
We the People Action FundDetroit, MI$175,000222024
People First PolicyGrand Rapids, MI$166,000112024
Elevated Voices IncChicago, IL$160,000112024
Glpa-LeadBrighton, MI$152,000442024
Action for LiberationDetroit, MI$150,000112022
Emgage Foundation IncLakeland, FL$114,000332024
Fems for DemocracyRoyal Oak, MI$100,000112022
Michigan Center of Accountability for RepublicansLansing, MI$100,000112024
Planned Parenthood of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$100,000112022
Aapi Victory Power FundChicago, IL$95,000112024
Michigan Democratic PartyLansing, MI$95,000222022
Emgage Action IncLakeland, FL$85,000112024
Michigan VoicesDetroit, MI$85,000112024
National Assoc for the Advancement of Colored PeopleBaltimore, MD$75,000112022
Metro Equity Action FundMount Clemens, MI$50,000112022
Mi Rural AdvocatesManistee, MI$50,000112022
Promote the Vote FundLansing, MI$50,000112021
Red Wine & BlueCleveland, OH$50,000112024
Working Families Party PacBrooklyn, NY$50,000112024
Demcast USAFranklin, TN$35,000112022
41ST District Service Office IncKalamazoo, MI$31,000222023
Farough & Associates LLCBrighton, MI$30,000112024
RuralorganizingorgColumbus, OH$30,000112024
Center for Change Northern Michgan AdvocacyMarie, MI$25,000112023
Citizens for a Better MiLansing, MI$25,000112023
Michigan Association for JusticeLansing, MI$25,000112022
One Voice MichiganBingham Farms, MI$25,000112024
The Michigan Environmental Council Action FundLansing, MI$25,000112024
Arab Americans for ProgressDearborn, MI$15,000112022
Michigan Deserves BetterLansing, MI$6,000112022

24 of 64 (38%) 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 kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 28 of 64 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.

Civil Rights
20 orgs
Health Care
2 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
2 orgs
Community Improvement
2 orgs
Environment
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202112$2,012,000$88,000
202239$9,093,500$135,000
202319$1,285,000$65,000
202442$14.4M$155,000

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

81% 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.

Michigan
$21.7M
California
$1.7M
District of Columbia
$1.2M
Mississippi
$660K
New York
$600K
Massachusetts
$280K
Illinois
$255K
Florida
$199K

Down to the city

Lansing, MI
$6.7M
Lincoln Park, MI
$5.0M
Detroit, MI
$3.5M
Washington, DC
$1.2M
Kalamazoo, MI
$1.1M
Ann Arbor, MI
$861K

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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.

Tides Foundation18 shared recipientsSixteen Thirty Fund17 shared recipientsAll Hands on Deck Network Inc10 shared recipientsNew Venture Fund8 shared recipientsHopewell Fund8 shared recipientsAmerica Votes8 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. 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.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $100,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Michigan.
  4. 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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Michigan Civic Action Fund'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 14 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 30 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: 28342 Dartmouth St, Madison Heights, MI, 48071.

EIN 82-3995979 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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