Most Efficient Charities in Michigan
21 nonprofits ranked by Efficiency Score. 1 earn an A grade for excellent financial stewardship.
Below: Michigan's most efficient nonprofits, ranked by the NonprofitTruth nonprofit efficiency rubric. The rubric combines financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and officer compensation relative to revenue (25%).
Efficiency rankings do not necessarily favor large or small organizations — the rubric rewards organizations that hold healthy reserves, run on stable funding, and pay officers in line with sector norms regardless of scale. Efficiency scores are recomputed each time we ingest new Form 990 filings; small movements year-to-year are normal as filing data updates.
| # | Organization | Category | Score | Officer Pay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henry Ford Health System Health | 83 | $21.0M | A | |
| 2 | Great Lakes Fishery Commission Environment & Animals | 79 | $272K | B | |
| 3 | Trinity Health Michigan Health | 75 | $12.5M | B | |
| 4 | Corewell Health Health | 74 | — | B | |
| 5 | Corewell Health Health | 74 | $28.1M | B | |
| 6 | Detroit Zoological Society Environment & Animals | 72 | $1.9M | B | |
| 7 | Michigan Humane Society Environment & Animals | 71 | $918K | B | |
| 8 | University Of Detroit Mercy Education | 70 | $4.6M | B | |
| 9 | John Ball Zoo Environment & Animals | 70 | $1.1M | B | |
| 10 | Hope College Education | 63 | $2.0M | C | |
| 11 | Hillsdale College Education | 58 | $3.1M | C | |
| 12 | Calvin University Education | 58 | $1.6M | C | |
| 13 | Kalamazoo College Education | 57 | $2.0M | C | |
| 14 | Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy Environment & Animals | 57 | $264K | C | |
| 15 | Trinity Health Corporation Health | 56 | $19.7M | C | |
| 16 | Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance Environment & Animals | 54 | — | C | |
| 17 | Interlochen Center For The Arts Arts, Culture & Humanities | 54 | $2.5M | C | |
| 18 | Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall Inc Arts, Culture & Humanities | 53 | $2.6M | C | |
| 19 | The Edison Institute Inc Arts, Culture & Humanities | 50 | $1.4M | C | |
| 20 | The Detroit Institute Of Arts Arts, Culture & Humanities | 49 | $2.1M | D | |
| 21 | West Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Environment & Animals | 41 | $690K | D |
See highest paid CEOs in Michigan or browse all Michigan nonprofits.
Frequently Asked Questions
The most efficient charities in Michigan are ranked above by our Efficiency Score. The top-ranked organization scores 83/100.
The Efficiency Score weighs three factors from IRS Form 990 data: financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and current-officer compensation relative to revenue (25%). It does not include a program-spending ratio, which our data source does not provide. Scores range from 0 to 100.