The Foundation has distributed more than $209,000 in grants since 1993 in accordance with the Foundation's Grant Policy. These grants are among those previously made by the Great Lakes Foundation:

• Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society – In December of 2018, the Great Lakes Foundation funded the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Clean Water and Sanitation Project with a $10,000 grant. The support allowed them to accomplish a key step in the restoration work at Rock of Ages Lighthouse.
• University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Foundation - In March 2015, the Great Lakes Foundation contributed to the UWM Foundation to establish a Great Lakes Foundation Fellowship in the School of Freshwater Sciences. Click here to see a brief video greeting from the awardee with a description of her research.
• Saginaw Bay Community Sailing Association - The Great Lakes Foundation donated $2,100.00 for the purchase of a set of sails for the DaySailer 17 sailboats. The SBCSA has been teaching adults and children how to sail in regularly scheduled lessons and also in several community outreach programs. 
• Noble Odyssey Foundation - In May 2013, the Great Lakes foundation donated $5,000 to the Noble Odyssey Foundation for the Research/Training Vessel, Pride of Michigan. In May 2017, the Great Lakes Foundation donated $5,000 to help replace the inflatable, which functions as the support vessel for their many dives into the Great Lakes to help train the sea cadets.
• Grand Valley State University (GVSU) - In February of 2013 the Great Lakes Foundation (GLF) funded a grant of $2,500 to Grand Valley State University (GVSU) to help fund the construction of a $3,400,000 new field station at Muskegon, Mich. The field station is part of GVSU’s Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, which, over the last 25 years, has been conducting research to identify critical problems and find science-based solutions to protect and preserve the Great Lakes. The new facility will allow research to be conducted year-round.
• Grand Marias Harbor received $10,000 for the Grand Marais Harbor Breakwater Project in July of 2012. ​The Grand Marais, Michigan, has the only deep water Federally designated harbor of refuge along a treacherous 90-mile coastline of the south shore of Lake Superior between the Whitefish Point and Munising, Michigan. Prior to the completion of the new breakwater, the harbor was in danger of filling up with sand.
• St. Joseph River Dredging Project has received a check for $1,000 from the Great Lakes Foundation via Cornerstone Alliance for the dredging project that was approved on the 5th of May, 2012.
• Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates - "The Thomas Hume Returns Home" project in collaboration with the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon, Michigan for an exhibit, a documentary film and a public program in October 2010.
• Toronto Brigantine Inc. for $5,000 towards life raft maintenance and Officer safety training in 2010.
• Maritime Fund of St. Clair County - Matching funds raised at 2008 Dedication & Lake Huron Rally in Port Huron, Mich. 
• Paul Frederick Memorial Fellowship (for grants to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), the Center for Great Lakes Study and the Great Lakes Water Institute, all for research, education and outreach for understanding the Great Lakes and waterways in the Great Lakes Basin.
• Sandusky (Ohio) Area Maritime Association, to assist the purchasing of real estate for a maritime museum. 
• Manitoulin Health Centre in Little Current, Ont.
• Chicago Maritime Society
• Little Current Maritime Museum
• Courage Center in Duluth, Minn., for its adaptive sailing program.
• Leland Harbor Dredging Project, to maintain dredging of harbor.
• Sturgeon Bay Sail Training Foundation
• Door County Maritine Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society