United Way of Southwest Michigan
St Joseph, MI · EIN 38-1358411. Reported 223 grants totalling $9,399,488 to 48 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, 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. 98% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $27,655. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $54,000; the smallest was $5,531 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 | St Joseph, MI | $745,755 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Salvation Army - Benton Harbor | Benton Harbor, MI | $710,936 | 10 | 5 | 2025 |
| Berrien-Cass-Vanburen Workforce Development Board Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $561,300 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Berrien County Health Department | Benton Harbor, MI | $543,599 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Young Mens Christian Association of Greater Michiana Inc | Niles, MI | $440,203 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Benton Harbor Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $410,988 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Berrien County Cancer Service Inc | St Joseph, MI | $361,157 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Avenue Family Network Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $349,789 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Berrien Resa | Berrien Springs, MI | $331,048 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Berrien County Council for Children | Saint Joseph, MI | $323,626 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Samaritan Counseling Center of Southwestern Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $323,306 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Logan Community Resources Inc | South Bend, IN | $321,347 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Emergency Shelter Services Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $284,400 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Kinexus Youth Solutions Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $283,119 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Lake Michigan College Foundation | Benton Harbor, MI | $254,455 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Benton Harbor Community Development Corporation | Benton Harbor, MI | $209,614 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Feeding America | Chicago, IL | $200,102 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters | Niles, MI | $196,028 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Center for Growth and Independence | Benton Harbor, MI | $172,155 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Senior Nutrition Services Region IV Inc | Benton Harbor, MI | $164,978 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Heritage Southwest Isd | Cassopolis, MI | $164,840 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Mosaic Christian Community Development Association | Benton Harbor, MI | $163,155 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Van Burencass District Health Department | Hartford, MI | $123,155 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Out Center | Benton Harbor, MI | $116,209 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| American Red Cross County Chapter | Benton Harbor, MI | $103,893 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Girls on the Run International | Saint Joseph, MI | $103,893 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency | Benton Harbor, MI | $103,209 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Southwestern Michigan College Foundation | Dowagiac, MI | $93,967 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| United Christian Services of Eastern Van Buren County | Paw Paw, MI | $93,893 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana | Fort Wayne, IN | $89,262 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Camp Fire River Bend Inc | Granger, IN | $86,578 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Woodlands | Cassopolis, MI | $86,578 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Disability Network Southwest Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI | $83,222 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Legal Aid of Western Michigan | Grand Rapids, MI | $82,328 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence | Okemos, MI | $81,578 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Court Appointed Special Advocates CASA of Southwest Michigan | Benton Harbor, MI | $76,400 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Safe Harbor Childrens Advocacy Cent | Allegan, MI | $73,893 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Community AIDS Resource & Education Services of Southwest Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI | $61,836 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Neighbor By Neighbor | Union Pier, MI | $61,578 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association | Seattle, WA | $52,124 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Corewell Health | Grand Rapids, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Heights Christian Community Development Association | Saint Joseph, MI | $49,262 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Van Buren Community Mental Health Authority | Paw Paw, MI | $48,924 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Senior Services of Van Buren County Inc | South Haven, MI | $46,947 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Well of Grace Ministries Incorporated | Stevensville, MI | $38,650 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| We Care Inc | South Haven, MI | $36,947 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Domestic and Sexual Abuse Services | Three Rivers, MI | $24,631 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Michiana Family Center | Edwardsburg, MI | $14,631 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
47 of 48 (98%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 29 of 48 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- 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 |
| 2025 | 46 | $1,492,158 | $23,873 |
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.
Down to the city
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
10 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 42 grants totalling $525,734 to United Way of Southwest Michigan. That is 29% of the 34 funders we can see giving to it. Those 10 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a federated giving programme.
8 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Electric Power Foundation | Delaware | $198,662 | 11 | 4 | 2025 |
| Degroot Family Foundation | Michigan | $129,500 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| David and Barbara Whitwam Foundation | Illinois | $100,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Mcloughlin Family Foundation | Michigan | $52,500 | 5 | 4 | 2025 |
| 1ST Source Bank Foundation Inc Xxx-Xx-Xxxx | Indiana | $36,135 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Trittschuh Family Charitable | Michigan | $5,100 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| The Pfizer Foundation Inc | New York | $2,255 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Amazonsmile Foundation | Washington | $1,072 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Lion Rock Charitable Trust | Michigan | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jpmorgan Chase Foundation | New York | $10 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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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 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.
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 $27,655 -- 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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
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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