Tusen Takk Foundation Inc.

Tusen Takk Foundation Inc. (EIN 83-0885189, Leland, MI) is a private operating foundation, not a conventional grantmaker to third-party nonprofits — a distinction that matters enormously for anyone approaching it. Its IRS-filed mission was to "build and maintain a location for artists to work" and provide engagement opportunities to enrich the culture of Northwest Michigan, and in practice it spent nearly all of its money running its own artist-residency campus on six acres above Lake Michigan rather than writing checks to outside organizations. Across FY2019-2023 total qualifying distributions ran $29,389 to $552,806 a year, but cash grants paid out (Form 990-PF Part XV) were only $0-$10,000 in most years — the gap is the cost of operating the residency itself (housing, studios, staff, honoraria), which counts as a qualifying distribution for an operating foundation but is not a grant a nonprofit can apply for. The Foundation's own DB grant record shows just three small scholarship-style awards totaling $30,000 (avg. $10,000, all in Michigan), tied to "outstanding artistic ability" — consistent with a founder-directed, relationship-driven giving style rather than an open competitive grants program. Trustees Geoffrey Peckham (compensated $35,000/year as Trustee/Director), Patricia Melzer, and Phillip Peckham (both uncompensated) controlled all decisions; there was no program officer layer or public RFP process. Critically, the Foundation announced its open-call artist residency program ended December 31, 2025, after five years and 42 resident/guest artists, and the entity is winding down rather than opening a new cycle. First-time seekers should not build a strategy around applying to Tusen Takk going forward. The most realistic paths to remaining value are: (1) the standalone Tusen Takk Press, which continues independently and may retain publishing or collaborative interest tied to past residents' work, and (2) founder Geoffrey Peckham's new Substack, "Resonance In the Making," as a relationship-building and visibility channel rather than a funding source. Organizations with an existing relationship to Peckham or the Leelanau County arts community are far better positioned than cold applicants.

Because Tusen Takk operated as a private operating foundation, its financial pattern looks unlike a typical grantmaker's. Total assets held steady near $4.1-$4.6M across FY2019-2024 (FY2024: $4,089,465; FY2020 peak: $4,608,440), funded by consistent annual contributions from the founder/family in the $404K-$759K range (FY2023: $404,083; FY2021: $755,000; FY2020: $758,927). Total qualifying distributions ("total_giving") ranged from a low of $29,389 (FY2019, its first full reporting year) up to $552,806 (FY2020), settling around $473,675-$545,295 in FY2022-2023 — but this figure overwhelmingly reflects residency operating costs (housing, studio maintenance, the $625/week resident honorarium, and $35,000/year in officer compensation to the director), not discretionary grants to outside nonprofits. Actual cash grants paid, per Form 990-PF, were $0 in FY2019-2021 and only $10,000 in both FY2022 and FY2023 — a median grant size, by the DB's grantee-level record, of $10,000 across 3 known awards ($10,000-$20,000 range), all directed to Michigan-based scholarship recipients for "outstanding artistic ability." There is no evidence of geographic diversification beyond Michigan or of a program-area breakdown beyond visual/literary/musical arts (NTEE T23, Philanthropy & Grantmaking as filed, though the functional focus is arts). Net investment income was reported as $0 in every year shown, unusual for a $4M+ asset base, suggesting assets may be held in low-yield or non-income-producing form (e.g., the residency real estate itself, which likely constitutes a material share of the $4M in assets). With the residency program's closure at the end of 2025, expect qualifying distributions to drop sharply in FY2025-2026 filings as the operating-program expense base disappears; any remaining minimum-distribution requirement under section 4942 would need to be met through wind-down grants, asset transfers, or continued (smaller-scale) Tusen Takk Press activity. Prospective applicants should not expect a resumption of the $500K+ annual program spend seen in 2020-2023.

Tusen Takk sits in a cluster of small, single-family private foundations filed under the same "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE umbrella and holding nearly identical asset bases (~$4.09M), though none of the listed peers publish a website or public grants program, making Tusen Takk unusually transparent by comparison (until its 2025 closure) thanks to its own site, FAQs, and published application process.

All five peers show near-identical asset totals ($4,087,957-$4,090,943), which strongly suggests they are drawn from the same asset-size cohort rather than genuine subject-matter peers of an arts-residency operating foundation — none has a public website or disclosed focus area, typical of closely-held family trusts that give informally or by invitation only. Tusen Takk was the outlier in transparency and mission specificity among this group, but that advantage disappears with its 2025 wind-down; seekers looking for a true funding peer should instead look to other arts-residency operating foundations (e.g., other Artist Communities Alliance members) rather than this asset-matched cohort.

The dominant recent event is closure: on its website, Tusen Takk Foundation announced in "With Gratitude: A Chapter Completed, Another Beginning" that the Foundation and its open-call artist residency program concluded December 31, 2025, capping five years of operation and 42 resident and guest artists hosted at its Leland, Michigan campus (designed by architect Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and completed in stages, with studio construction milestones covered by local outlets including the Leelanau Ticker and Interlochen Public Radio in 2021-2023). The announcement frames the closure as intentional rather than distressed — a deliberate end to a defined five-year chapter rather than a funding crisis, consistent with steady $4M+ asset levels through FY2024. Two concrete continuations were named: the Tusen Takk Press will keep operating independently as a publishing venture, and founder/Trustee-Director Geoffrey Peckham (the Foundation's only compensated trustee, at $35,000/year) is launching a free, bi-weekly Substack column, "Resonance In the Making," featuring illustrated essays on art-making and photography. No successor grant program, new RFP, or replacement residency has been announced. For grant seekers, the practical takeaway is that there is no live 2026 application cycle to pursue at Tusen Takk itself; the most current, actionable news is the Press's independent continuation and Peckham's Substack as potential relationship channels, not funding channels. No leadership changes beyond the wind-down were reported, and no other large or unusual grants were identified beyond the modest $10,000-$20,000 Michigan scholarship awards already on file.

The single most important fact for any grant seeker researching Tusen Takk Foundation is that its open-call artist residency program ended December 31, 2025, and no new application cycle has been announced — do not invest time preparing a SlideRoom application to this Foundation for 2026 or beyond. That said, the Foundation's now-closed process offers a useful playbook for similarly structured operating-foundation residencies elsewhere, and there may be residual, informal opportunities tied to the Foundation's legacy assets: (1) Excellence was the sole stated selection criterion — panels (staff, alumni, outside curators, and arts professionals) explicitly favored mid-career or established artists with a mature body of work over emerging artists or need-based narratives, so any similar pitch to the founder or Tusen Takk Press should lead with concrete evidence of critical recognition, past exhibitions/publications, and a specific, well-scoped project proposal rather than a general mission statement. (2) The Foundation had already simplified its ask over time, dropping CVs, references, and artist-statement requirements in favor of up to 20 work samples plus a project proposal — a sign the decision-makers valued the work itself over administrative packaging; that instinct likely persists in Peckham's personal taste even outside a formal program. (3) A common mistake seen across residency applicants generally is treating the honorarium ($625/week) as project funding rather than living-cost support — Tusen Takk's model paid for presence and studio time, not itemized project budgets, so proposals emphasizing budget line-items over process and outcomes were a mismatch for its actual structure. (4) Relationship-building now runs through two channels: the independently continuing Tusen Takk Press (worth contacting directly about publishing collaborations tied to past resident work) and Peckham's new Substack "Resonance In the Making," which is a low-cost way to stay visible to him as a curator/collector and potential informal patron, even though it is not a grant mechanism. (5) Given the Foundation is a private operating foundation still holding ~$4.09M in assets as of FY2024, it may still owe a minimum distribution under IRS rules even post-closure — organizations with an existing personal relationship to the Peckham family could reasonably inquire about wind-down giving, but this is not a channel open to cold, unsolicited applicants.