United Way of Southwest Michigan
St Joseph, MI · EIN 38-1358411. Reported 177 grants totalling $7,907,330 to 48 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 United Way of Southwest Michigan, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
- How spread out its giving is. 48 distinct organizations, with 8% 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. 100% 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 $31,850. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $65,000; the smallest was $6,067 and the largest $215,670. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region IV Area Agency on Aging Inc | Saint Joseph, MI | $614,670 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Salvation Army - Benton Harbor | Benton Harbor, MI | $597,550 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Berrien-Cass-Vanburen Workforce Development Board Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $514,250 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Berrien County Health Department | Benton Harbor, MI | $447,876 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Young Mens Christian Association of Greater Michiana Inc | Niles, MI | $368,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Benton Harbor Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $347,400 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Berrien County Cancer Service Inc | St Joseph, MI | $309,400 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Avenue Family Network Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $291,160 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Samaritan Counseling Center of Southwestern Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $288,640 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Berrien Resa | Berrien Springs, MI | $286,800 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Logan Community Resources Inc | South Bend, IN | $266,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Berrien County Council for Children | Saint Joseph, MI | $265,550 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Kinexus Youth Solutions Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $238,530 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Emergency Shelter Services Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $237,350 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lake Michigan College Foundation | Benton Harbor, MI | $215,750 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters | Niles, MI | $174,362 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Benton Harbor Community Development Corporation | Benton Harbor, MI | $172,855 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Feeding America | Chicago, IL | $164,150 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Center for Growth and Independence | Benton Harbor, MI | $144,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Heritage Southwest Isd | Cassopolis, MI | $139,950 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Senior Nutrition Services Region IV Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $138,550 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Mosaic Christian Community Development Association | Benton Harbor, MI | $135,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Out Center | Benton Harbor, MI | $96,850 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Van Burencass District Health Department | Hartford, MI | $95,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| American Red Cross County Chapter | Benton Harbor, MI | $87,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Girls on the Run International | Saint Joseph, MI | $87,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency | Benton Harbor, MI | $83,850 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Southwestern Michigan College Foundation | Dowagiac, MI | $78,480 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana | Fort Wayne, IN | $78,200 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Christian Services of Eastern Van Buren County | Paw Paw, MI | $77,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Court Appointed Special Advocates CASA of Southwest Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $76,400 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Camp Fire River Bend Inc | Granger, IN | $72,750 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Woodlands | Cassopolis, MI | $72,750 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Disability Network Southwest Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI | $70,160 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Legal Aid of Western Michigan | Grand Rapids, MI | $68,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence | Okemos, MI | $67,750 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Safe Harbor Childrens Advocacy Cent | Allegan, MI | $57,300 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Community AIDS Resource & Education Services of Southwest Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI | $51,880 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Corewell Health | Grand Rapids, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Neighbor By Neighbor | Union Pier, MI | $47,750 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Senior Services of Van Buren County Inc | South Haven, MI | $38,650 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Well of Grace Ministries Incorporated | Stevensville, MI | $38,650 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Heights Christian Community Development Association | St Joseph, MI | $38,200 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association | Seattle, WA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| We Care Inc | South Haven, MI | $28,650 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Van Buren Community Mental Health Authority | Paw Paw, MI | $26,067 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Domestic and Sexual Abuse Services | Three Rivers, MI | $19,100 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Michiana Family Center | Edwardsburg, MI | $9,100 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
45 of 48 (94%) 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 29 of 48 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 | 40 | $2,400,700 | $44,500 |
| 2022 | 45 | $1,452,750 | $25,000 |
| 2023 | 45 | $1,450,250 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | 47 | $2,603,630 | $40,950 |
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
92% 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 $31,850 -- 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from United Way of Southwest Michigan'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.
Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 288, St Joseph, MI, 49085.
EIN 38-1358411 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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