About Lenawee Community Foundation
A $1.85 million grant to Lenawee Now for job training is the clearest signal in the foundation’s recent record: Lenawee Community Foundation uses local philanthropy to back workforce development at county scale, while also funding health, human services, education, arts, and civic projects in Lenawee County. The foundation’s largest recent awards cluster around employment and community infrastructure, including another seven-figure grant to Align Center for Workforce Development and multi-year support for nearby nonprofit and public partners. That mix fits its stated role of connecting people, resources, and ideas to build a stronger, healthier, more hopeful Lenawee County through grants, scholarships, and volunteer mobilization.
Recent awards show a community foundation that works through a wide set of local institutions. In Adrian, it has funded organizations serving youth, families, and students, while in Tecumseh it has supported capital projects for city-led initiatives. Smaller awards to arts and human-services groups appear alongside larger investments, suggesting a grantmaker that supports both long-horizon capacity building and day-to-day community needs. Scholarships are also part of the foundation’s structure, linking donor-advised scholarship funds to local learners from preschool through postsecondary education.
What Lenawee Community Foundation Funds
Workforce development stands out because of the scale of recent support. The foundation gave $1,850,110 to Lenawee Now for job training and $1,052,399 to Align Center for Workforce Development for job training, placing employment pathways near the center of its grantmaking.
Health and human services are another major thread. It awarded $100,000 to Promedica for health services, $63,850 to Hospice of Lenawee for human services, and $35,920 to Catholic Charities of Lenawee Co for human services.
Arts and cultural support also appears in the grant list. Croswell Opera House received $103,646 in 2025, $68,078 in 2023, and $57,994 in 2024 for arts, showing repeated backing for the same local institution.
Public and civic projects are part of the portfolio as well. The City of Tecumseh received $211,761 in 2023 and $83,625 in 2024, both listed as capital projects.
How Lenawee Community Foundation Gives
Typical awards are in the middle five figures: p25 is $8,988, median grant size is $16,932, and p75 is $29,596. That distribution sits alongside a few much larger community investments, including seven-figure workforce grants. The foundation’s recent record also shows repeat giving to the same organizations over multiple years, including Croswell Opera House, City of Tecumseh, Hospice of Lenawee, Boys and Girls Club of Lenawee, and Msu - Hidden Lake Gardens. It is a mixed community foundation, and its active programs include both competitive grants and donor-managed scholarships. Several grant programs accept unsolicited applications.