The Tua Otto & Margaret Zack Charitable Trust is strongly focused on supporting animal welfare organizations in the Michiana/LaPorte-Southwest Michigan region, providing mostly unrestricted general operating support to local humane societies and small-animal shelters. Their grants are sizable and targeted to a small set of repeat grantees, indicating a preference for sustaining shelter operations and capacity rather than funding many disparate projects.
Concentrated, relatively large grants to a small number of repeat local grantees; majority of funding is unrestricted general support for animal welfare organizations.
Tua Otto & Margaret Zack Char Tr has built a narrow grantmaking pattern around animal-welfare operations in the Michiana and LaPorte-Southwest Michigan area. The trust’s recent grants go to humane societies, a small-animal shelter, and a zoological society, with repeated unrestricted support spread across multiple years. That pattern points to funding that is meant to help local organizations cover core operating needs rather than one-time projects. The largest recent grants were $120,000 each to Humane Society Laporte & Berrien Cnty and Humane Society of Sw Michigan in 2023. In the years that followed, those same organizations continued to receive substantial general support, alongside other regional recipients such as Michiana Humane Society, Michigan City Zoological Society, and Laporte County Small Animal Shelter. The grant list shows a small set of organizations receiving most of the dollars, which suggests a sustained relationship with a limited group of animal-care providers. The trust’s giving is regional rather than broad-based, and every recent grant listed went to a U.S. recipient. Its public pattern is defined less by programmatic variety than by repeated, flexible support for animal organizations serving a specific local corridor in Indiana and southwest Michigan.
In animal welfare, the trust has backed humane-society operations with repeated unrestricted grants. Humane Society of Sw Michigan received $120,000 in 2023, $110,000 in 2024, and $105,000 in 2025. The same pattern appears with Michiana Humane Society, which received $110,000 in 2024 and $105,000 in 2025. Those awards point to continuing operational support rather than short-term project funding. The trust also supports shelter infrastructure. Laporte County Small Animal Shelter received $50,000 in 2023, $45,000 in 2024, and $35,000 in 2025. Beyond shelters and humane societies, the grant list includes zoo-related support. Michigan City Zoological Society received $79,000 in 2023, $70,000 in 2024, and $80,000 in 2025, again as unrestricted general support.
Typical grant sizes are sizable: the 25th percentile is $46,250, the median is $79,500, and the 75th percentile is $108,750. Recent awards cluster around a small set of repeat recipients, which indicates recurring support rather than one-off grants. The trust appears to give as a charitable trust rather than a private foundation with an application-heavy public program, and the recent awards are all unrestricted general support. It also does not make program-related investments and does not fund individuals.
$360K
$6.7M
$349K
$487K
Most grants fall between $46K and $109K, with a median of $80K.
25th Percentile
$46K
Median
$80K
75th Percentile
$109K
About 0% of grants go to recipients in IN.
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Notable grantees: Humane Society of SW Michigan, Michigan City Zoological Society, Michiana Humane Society, Humane Society LaPorte & Berrien County, LaPorte County Small Animal Shelter
Grantmaking is concentrated in a compact regional corridor in Indiana and southwest Michigan. Michigan City, IN appears repeatedly, along with St. Joseph, MI, La Porte, IN, and Saint Joseph, MI. The top state by grant count is Indiana, while 0% of grants went to recipients in Texas. All recent grants in the dataset were awarded to U.S. organizations.
The trust supports animal-welfare organizations, especially humane societies, a small-animal shelter, and a zoological society. The recent grant list shows repeated unrestricted general support to organizations in Michiana, LaPorte, and southwest Michigan.
Yes. Every recent grant listed is marked unrestricted general or unrestricted general support, including awards in 2023, 2024, and 2025. That pattern suggests flexible operating support is central to its giving.
Yes. Several organizations appear multiple times across years, including Humane Society of Sw Michigan, Michiana Humane Society, Michigan City Zoological Society, and Laporte County Small Animal Shelter. The repeated awards point to ongoing relationships rather than a broad one-time grantmaking approach.
Typical awards are relatively large for this dataset: the 25th percentile is $46,250, the median is $79,500, and the 75th percentile is $108,750. Recent grants include amounts ranging from $5,000 to $120,000.
2026
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2026.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MICHIANA HUMANE SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $115,000 | 2026 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN | ST JOSEPH, MI | $110,000 | 2026 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $95,000 | 2026 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER | LA PORTE, IN | $40,000 | 2026 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIANA HUMANE SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $105,000 | 2025 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN | ST JOSEPH, MI | $105,000 | 2025 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $80,000 | 2025 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER | LA PORTE, IN | $35,000 | 2025 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN | ST JOSEPH, MI | $110,000 | 2024 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIANA HUMANE SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $110,000 | 2024 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $70,000 | 2024 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER | LA PORTE, IN | $45,000 | 2024 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| ANIMAL AID OF SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN | SAINT JOSEPH, MI | $5,000 | 2024 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN | ST JOSEPH, MI | $120,000 | 2023 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| HUMANE SOCIETY LAPORTE & BERRIEN CNTY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $120,000 | 2023 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | MICHIGAN CITY, IN | $79,000 | 2023 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER | LA PORTE, IN | $50,000 | 2023 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
| ANIMAL AID OF SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN | SAINT JOSEPH, MI | $5,000 | 2023 | UNRESTRICTED GENERAL |
HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN
$110,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
$95,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER
$40,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN
$105,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
$80,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER
$35,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN
$110,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
$70,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER
$45,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
ANIMAL AID OF SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN
$5,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
HUMANE SOCIETY OF SW MICHIGAN
$120,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
HUMANE SOCIETY LAPORTE & BERRIEN CNTY
$120,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
MICHIGAN CITY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
$79,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
LAPORTE COUNTY SMALL ANIMAL SHELTER
$50,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL
ANIMAL AID OF SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN
$5,000UNRESTRICTED GENERAL