PARTNERS in Community - Summer 2023

PARTNERS in community

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Diana R. Sieger President

Ashley René Lee

Vice President, Strategic Communications

Kate Luckert Schmid Vice President, Program

Stan Vander Roest Chief Financial Officer

Marilyn W. Zack Vice President, Development

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Kyle D. Caldwell (Chair)

Reneé Williams (Vice Chair)

Ken Fawcett, M.D.

Thomas Kyros

Emily Loeks

Brandy Lovelady Mitchell, Ed. D.

Ana Ramirez-Saenz

Samantha Rivera

Richard Roane

Caitlin Townsend Lamb

Kathleen B. Vogelsang

Daniel Williams, Ed. D.

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FUND FOR COMMUNITY GOOD: VOLUNTEER-LED GRANTMAKING

Tel: 616.454.1751

Fax: 616.454.6455

Email: info@GRFoundation.org

Website: GRFoundation.org

PARTNERS in community is a quarterly publication of Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Contributing writers:

Ashley René Lee, Heather Gill Fox, Audra Hartges-Stern, Diana R. Sieger, DeShawn

Pope

Graphic Design: Michele Keren Design

Photography: Alfield Reeves

Photography, Bird + Bird Studios, Isabel Media Studios

Copyediting: Joan Huyser-Honig

Grand Rapids Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that connects people, passion and resources. For more than a century, people who care about the future of Kent County have built the Community Foundation through their time, financial resources and thought partnership. Our partners - donors, nonprofits, leaders, doers and more - consistently trust us to help bring key issues to the forefront to build community will, investment and collaboration needed to inspire change.

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RELATIONSHIP BUILDING WITH NATIVE NATIONS

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DECADES OF PARTNERSHIP BUILT ON TRUST AND PURPOSE

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SECTOR COLLABORATION

PARTNERS in Relationship

Since I’ve been leading the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the importance of relationships has been paramount. Our work cannot be approached in isolation. This was made very clear to me by my predecessor, Pat Edison, on my first day at the Community Foundation back in 1987. I have approached my work through this collaborative lens ever since.

As this community’s foundation we are charged with growing and managing our region’s permanent endowment. What sets us apart is how we carry out that charge. It’s never been just about raising money, managing investments and making grants for us. While those necessary functions are core to our identity, the work of collaborating, convening and catalyzing collective action throughout Kent County is our secret sauce. Relationships have been the driving force behind the impact we have made together.

Over the years, this has looked like bringing local foundation leaders together regularly to discuss current and emerging issues and how we could pool our resources to support solutions; creating spaces for local philanthropists to come together over shared passions through initiatives like Social Venture Investors, Communities of Color Initiative, One Hundred New Philanthropists, Catalyzing Community Giving and our identity-based Field of Interest funds; funding initiatives birthed out of community networks like Urban Core Collective, the Latino Community Coalition and Black Impact Collaborative; convening community members through efforts like The Perspective 21 Task Force and listening sessions throughout the years; leading community partnerships like Challenge Scholars; and so much more.

The Community Foundation as a whole, and my personal leadership, are stronger because of our approach to partnerships. I have never been one to shy away from sharing my opinion, and I have appreciated how our partners share that mindset. While each relationship looks different, they have all played a significant role in challenging the Community Foundation to grow and adapt, standing alongside and supporting bold risks or new ventures and filling spaces with laughter to complement critical planning.

As I look to the future of Grand Rapids Community Foundation, I am most excited by the new relationships and collaborations being forged. As we continue to grow and deepen our commitment to racial, social and economic justice, critical new partnerships are forming. Our perspective, our foundation and our community will be better because of it.

FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY GOOD:

Volunteer-led Grantmaking

Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s Fund for Community Good is a fund of unrestricted assets generously donated by decades of donor partners. These flexible resources make up nearly 21% of our assets and make it possible for us to invest in the most pressing issues of the day. Today that means investing in partners throughout Kent County who share our commitment to becoming actively anti-racist and are working to achieve racial, social and economic justice. With that focus, the Community Foundation provides financial support across a broad spectrum including education, the environment, health, arts and social engagement, neighborhoods and economic prosperity.

the Community Foundation to reimagine the way we show up and deepen relationships in community.

“Historically, philanthropic institutions have not been racially or ethnically diverse, and they were not designed to empower communities of color,” says Mercedes Barragan, Fund for Community Good Advisory co-chair, while discussing the importance of having a committee that reflects the community it serves.

The committee is dedicated to learning more about how to create equitable systems within the philanthropic sector. Members challenge each other and the organization to implement those changes. “Over the last six years, the committee has amplified the voices of our community partners and helped the Community Foundation define our North Star,” says Mercedes. “We’ve also seen an increase in new BIPOC-led organizations applying for grants, and I’d like to think we helped achieve that.”

Part of that shift has been updating the fund’s operational policies and practices. In 2016 the committee helped to inform and adopt new grantmaking guidelines which prioritized racial, social and economic justice. They have also been on a journey to develop more practices of trust-based philanthropy.

Committee member Aaron Turner explains, “Trust based philanthropy says we’re not going to create barriers for you to have an impact. We are going to hold you accountable because we are stewards of the community’s resources. But we’re not going to make it so difficult that you give up, and then your organization can’t actually live into the mission of serving our community.”

This work is made possible because of the incredible volunteers who make up the Fund for Community Good Advisory Committee. As representatives and ambassadors of many communities across Kent County, these individuals extend our relationships in the nonprofit ecosystem with the various relationships they build with local nonprofits. They are critical for awarding grants from the Fund for Community Good – their decisions are made based on many hours of reading, reviewing and meeting with nonprofit partners. This committee was established in 1993 and since that time has continued to push

The volunteers who are leading this work alongside the Community Foundation staff are inspiring new, deeper relationships within the community. We have only scratched the surface of what we can accomplish together. To learn more about recent grants from the Fund for Community Good and Field of Interest funds, go to GRFoundation.org/PastGrants.

Provided by Mercedes Barragan and Aaron Turner

“AT THE END OF THE DAY, ENGAGED VOLUNTEERS AT GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ADVOCATE FOR AND SUPPORT OUR PARTNERS IN MEANINGFUL WAYS SO THAT, TOGETHER, WE BUILD SUSTAINABLE, THRIVING COMMUNITIES.”

- Mercedes Barragan Fund for Community Good

Advisory co-chair

Pictured: Left: Mercedes Barragan, Right: Aaron Turner

Relatio nship Building WITH N ATIVE NATIONS

Grand Rapids Community Foundation has been serving Kent County for more than 100 years. However, to understand current and future work done in this geographical region, we would be remiss to not also respectfully honor and acknowledge the communities who have called this place home since long before the Community Foundation existed. The Community Foundation acknowledges the ancestral land of the Anishinaabe, Three Fires Confederacy, the Odawa people and other Native American nations who traveled throughout and lived in this region.

Native nations have a long cultural and philanthropic legacy in our community, and yet, until recently, the Community Foundation was not taking many strides in developing a deep, trusting relationship in those communities. A joint report about philanthropic funding trends by Native Americans in Philanthropy and Candid reports that an average of only 0.4 percent of annual grant dollars from foundations explicitly benefit Native Americans, despite their being closer to 2 percent of the U.S. population.

The Community Foundation’s grantmaking history is not so different.

In 2016 we shifted our grantmaking guidelines to be more focused on racial, social and economic justice. Our staff knew then that realizing the full intent of those updates would require a broader reach into communities of color— including those communities with whom we were not already in relationship.

Program Director Janean Couch has further cultivated that organizational shift this past year by showing up to listen, acknowledge and learn how the Community Foundation can be in better relationship with local Native nations. “I’m excited because it’s an opportunity to do philanthropy differently— leading with trust and relationship and transparency and

Read: “Investing in Native Communities: Philanthropic Funding for Native American Communities and Causes” at http://doi.org/c9wj.

accountability,” says Janean. “We get to go in and say, ‘We have not shown up. I know I’m a part of this system that’s been broken, but how can we show up for you?’”

While the Community Foundation has provided grants specifically for Native American serving organizations through our Fund for Community Good and some Donor Advised funds over the last few decades, this new approach is rooted in relationship building. This method aligns with strategies laid out by Native Americans in Philanthropy when discussing the funding gap: meet people where they are at—literally; adapt organizational systems and practices; provide long-term operating support; and support Native American-led solutions. All of this is built from relationships, which take time, effort and humility on the part of the Community Foundation. “It is going into conversations, acknowledging that we do not know it all, we have certainly gotten it wrong, and we are trying to do better,” says Janean.

And the effort, while still in the early stages, seems to be cultivating a positive response. In response to a recent grant award, Anishinaabe Circle, a local organization supporting Native American family health, said, “Since its inception, Anishinaabe Circle has largely relied on local tribal governments’ support, individual donations and project-specific grants to maintain its services and outreach mission. For the first time in this AC’s history, it has the unrestricted financial ability to plant a seed for growth.”

H.G.F.

Provided by Anishinaabe Circle

Pictured: Anishinaabe Circle Programming

“WE ALL DESERVE FOR NATIVE AMERICAN MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY TO THRIVE AND PROSPER AND HELP THEIR COMMUNITY TO SOLVE THE CHALLENGES THEY FACE. THEY DESERVE. WE DESERVE.”

- Janean Couch, program director

PARTNERS in Progress

Since March, $444,750 in grant partnerships have been awarded from the Fund for Community Good and Field of Interest funds to local nonprofits in Kent County. These grants are made possible due to the generous support of donor partners whose relationships with Grand Rapids Community Foundation span decades.

ANISHINAABE CIRCLE, $50,000

This grant will support Anishinaabe Circle in building meaningful relationships, bolstering organizational capacity and outreach to Native American communities.

BIKE SCENE RIDE SERIES, $25,000

This grant supports Bike Scene Ride Series by creating a summer bike ride series specific to Black and brown neighborhoods in Grand Rapids.

COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CENTER, $10,000

This grant supports the Community Revitalization and Economic Development Center through a contract with a strategic planning organization to construct and fully deliver on plan goals and objectives that increase its impact on youthserving programs.

DISART, $25,000

DisArt is a production company and arts and cultural organization that creates public art events that cultivate and communicate a disability culture. This grant will support expanding community engagement and conversations around the intersections of race and disability for the purpose of advancing equity and inclusion. Made possible by Arthur H. Holmes Fund and George M. and Lucinda Ann Edison Memorial Trust Fund.

EBONY ROAD PLAYERS, $20,000

Ebony Road Players is a Grand Rapids theatre company that inspires, educates and engages cultures of the community with high-quality theatre productions focused on the Black experience. This grant will help grow the capacity for organizational operations, theater productions, and increasing education programs.

GRAND RAPIDS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES, $65,000

Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives collects and retells the rich, colorful stories that compose the historic African American tapestry of living in Grand Rapids. This grant will help GRAAMA digitize collections, upgrade artifact preservation equipment and technical training updates.

GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY WORK MEN’S BREAKFAST & FAMILY ENGAGEMENT, $15,000

The goal of Grand Rapids Community Work Men’s Breakfast and Family Engagement is to provide safe spaces for Black men in West Michigan to grow strong mentally while increasing support systems through fellowship and being celebrated.

JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS, $120,000

This grant supports Justice For Our Neighbors, one of the few providers of free or low-cost immigration legal services in Michigan. The Grand Rapids office annually provides pro bono immigration legal services to more than 150 low-income immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in Kent County.

MEANING IN COLORS, $10,000

Meaning In Colors provides resources and services for individuals struggling with personal, academic, and professional growth. This grant supports its housing program, which focuses on helping individuals gain the skills and resources needed to secure safe, permanent and affordable housing. Made possible by Martin and Eileen Shedleski Family Fund and Homeless Prevention Endowment Fund.

MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS OF COLOR IN GRAND RAPIDS, $40,000

Mental Health Clinicians of Color in Grand Rapids helps our community by providing space to belong through BIPOC therapists and providers. This grant will help improve the user experience of individuals seeking culturally competent mental health services, and expand memberships to health professionals, students and provider networks. Made possible by Bruce Alexis Cornelius Memorial Fund for Mental Health Agencies; Emma Sherwood Evans Fund; Fund for Health; Elizabeth Steed Johnson Fund for Healthcare and Community Health.

MICHIGAN WOMEN VETERANS EMPOWERMENT, $10,000

Michigan Women Veterans Empowerment helps identify, connect and educate, advocate and empower all military veterans, service members, their family members and the youth in the eight dimensions of wellness. This grant supports its Dirt Therapy, an innovative program led by military veterans that educates and empowers school-aged children in agriculture and agribusiness. Made possible by The J. Leslie Livingston Memorial Fund

OSOFOMAAME, $10,000

Osofomaame`s mission is to empower Black youth and families through access to culturally competent and equitable educational support, programming, and resources through serving youth and families in local grand rapids communities, Kent County, and Ghana West Africa. This grant supports Osofomaame’s ability to formally establish a technical and organizational structure, capacity, and operational needs that usually occur during a nonprofit’s start-up phase.

OUR KITCHEN TABLE, $10,000

This grant will help support Our Kitchen Table, promote social justice and empower our neighbors to improve their health and environment through information, community organizing, and advocacy. The organization works with low-income Black families to improve health outcomes and reduce food insecurity by teaching them about nutrition and home gardening techniques. Made possible by Gordon and Janet Moeller Food Security Fund.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE 616, $25,000

This grant provides support to a collective of women of color to facilitate healing in our community through curated programming that centers on radical rest and joy.

ROOSEVELT PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, $9,750

This grant will help Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association maintain the integrity of the neighborhood as a good place to live, work and do business by empowering neighbors to improve the community and prevent crime. It will help engage and organize neighbors to elevate environmental justice and community safety concerns related to heavy truck traffic on Cesar Chavez Avenue. Made possible by The J. Leslie Livingston Memorial Fund.

ADDITIONALLY, IN ALIGNMENT WITH OUR COMMITMENT TO DEEPEN RELATIONSHIPS IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR (WITH AN EMPHASIS ON BLACK COMMUNITIES), WE OFFERED 23 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS $250 EACH FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THEIR NEEDS, GAPS AND SERVICES.

Built on Trust & Purpose DECADES OF PARTNERSHIP

Relationships that span decades naturally grow and evolve, shifting shape to include new features over time. Marilyn Lankfer’s 30-plus-year partnership with Grand Rapids Community Foundation reflects those changes. As a Varnum estate planning attorney, Marilyn found many opportunities to interact with the Community Foundation. She volunteered as a Trustee, on the Our LGBTQ Fund Committee and as a member of the Investment Review and Professional Advisory committees. Her family has generously given as donor partners for many years. In all those roles over many topics and years, Marilyn has given honest feedback, shared wise advice and brought trust to the relationship.

PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR, ASSET ACCELERATOR

As a leading estate planning attorney, Marilyn has worked with many West Michigan philanthropists to explore their interests and charitable giving opportunities. She has been instrumental in growing resources available for today and the future. As a member of the Professional Advisor Advisory Committee for many years, she advised the Community Foundation about giving trends, ways to reach donors and more.

“As an estate planning attorney, I enjoyed meeting people on a personal level and talking to them about their charitable interests. Many clients wanted to make a gift to benefit their community and create an enduring legacy,” says Marilyn. “They realized that community needs change over time, and they liked the fact that if they made a lasting gift to the Community Foundation it could address those needs as they changed. I could always count on the Community Foundation to support the people who wished

to contribute to its various funds and to be responsible in those relationships.”

After years of professional partnerships, Marilyn brought her expertise to the Board of Trustees beginning in 2000. She stayed on as the Community Foundation completed a successful fundraising campaign to purchase and renovate its building.

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS AND A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Besides giving time and expertise, Marilyn is a donor partner who has supported many Community Foundation initiatives. As an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and an Our LGTBTQ Fund Committee member for many years, Marilyn helped grow the fund’s financial resources. She and her husband Jeff Schad are members of the fund’s Leadership Circle, a group who pledge their financial support to ensure and advocate for this fund’s sustainability.

Marilyn and her husband are also members of the Metz Legacy Society, which recognizes those who establish an estate gift to the Community Foundation. Their future planned gift will create an unrestricted fund that can be used to meet our community’s greatest future needs. “We dearly love our community,” she says, “We want to leave a legacy, having made a difference so more people feel they belong.”

During the Community Foundation’s 2022 Centennial celebrations, Marilyn provided feedback about her vision for our region’s future. “My vision is that we work together, in an integrated way, to study issues and solve problems. No one group knows all the answers. To forge an inclusive and prosperous community, we all need to work together and always listen to those who may be impacted by our decisions.”

A.H.S.

Pictured: Upper: Marilyn Lankfer, 2022, Lower: With Our LGBTQ Fund Advisory Committee members, 2015

SECTOR COLLABORATION

Grand Rapids Community Foundation is proud to serve the people of Kent County. We envision a magnetic and interconnected West Michigan community, one where barriers to opportunity, prosperity and belonging are eliminated for everyone who calls this place home. To make an impact on a local level, it is important to have strong relationships with other philanthropic organizations so we work collaboratively to create systemic change.

We spoke with some of our close partners from a variety of organizations to gain their perspectives on how these relationships make an impact on programmatic collaborations and move the philanthropic sector toward more equitable outcomes. Read excerpts from those conversations with philanthropic leaders in West Michigan.

COLLECTIVE IMPACT

Partnerships with private, family and other community foundations have been critical to many local initiatives, including COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts, the Nonprofit Technical Assistance Fund, foreclosure prevention programs, education initiatives and many more. With varying perspectives, missions and leadership, these relationships require trust, vulnerability and effort to make possible.

“We acknowledge in philanthropy: we don’t have the answers. We have resources. And our job is to get those resources into community where the answers— and the true experts—are. How do we together ensure that we are funneling our resources to community in a way that doesn’t add extra burden to community? In a way that feels cohesive and is truly responsive, respectful and pushes forward community goals with racial equity at the heart of it?”

LEARNING TOGETHER AND MAKING STRUCTURAL CHANGE

Local funders have created space to grow together on their individual journeys toward advancing more community-focused and racial-equity centered practices. As they work toward a common goal, relationships and collaborations within the sector allows these organizations to challenge and learn alongside each other.

“The secret sauce is the convening power that community foundations have to strengthen or develop a collective response effort and mobilize strategic partnerships both in immediate terms, but also to address longer term issues. They are able to bring business partners, resident leaders, others in philanthropy all to the table to have one conversation. They commit to rebuilding in ways that channel resources to areas that have the greatest needs, by coming together to talk about opportunities and challenges and push each other on their equity journeys.”

— Regina Bell

“The families and organizations that come together to philanthropically support this community are vastly different: different beliefs, diverse values, different lived experiences. But all of us have an innate love of this community and a desire to have every person in every zip code achieve their life’s potential. We share the ultimate goal of making this place the best possible place to live on earth.”

- Holly Johnson, president, Frey Foundation, a locally-based family foundation

“There is something about philanthropy, regardless of the type or size, working together to solve some of our most complex issues - there’s power in it. Community foundations are uniquely positioned to not only leverage great grantmaking strategies but also engage in direct lobbying to support policies that empower the residents they serve. We all have tools in our toolbox that we should be leveraging collectively to advance the greater good and systems change in our respective communities, and certainly at the state and federal level.”

- Regina Bell, chief policy officer, Council of Michigan Foundations

“When operating in trust-based philanthropy, it means acknowledging by your actions, not just the words, that grantmaking has to look differently. Partnerships with communities have to look differently. We’re not just trying to change external systems and structures. We are the system and structure that has to change.”

—Tracie Coffman

“Investment isn’t just us sending nonprofits general operating grants every year. It’s us actually sitting at their table and understanding where these systems interfere with each other and how they sometimes prevent the right philanthropic capital getting to the right people in the community.”

- Holly Johnson

- Tracie Coffman, program officer, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, a private foundation

To meet all Community Foundation staff, or to contact any team member, visit GRFoundation.org/Staff

ALLOW US TO Re-introduce Ourselves

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation staff is a diverse group, with many educational backgrounds, family and community affiliations and personal passions. Our dynamic group of 35 has one thing in common: we all want to see Kent County thrive. Each department and individual is invested in various relationships—many reaching across our region—to help the Community Foundation meet its goals, creating a broad network of partnerships. Collectively we have more than 317 total years of experience at the Community Foundation.

We share the work of the Community Foundation to engage partners and reach new audiences. We listen to community members to inform our work.

Events, sponsorships and advertising help introduce the Community Foundation to new partners and reinforce our work in the region.

Our Strategic Communications team connects with local creatives to help tell the stories of people and organizations working to create an inclusive economy and thriving community in West Michigan.

We support more than 120 designated and nonprofit funds to benefit a specific cause or organization.

We provide Donor Advised fund holders with philanthropic services, sharing learnings and introducing them to organizations they may wish to support.

More than 300 members of our Metz Legacy Society and 100 New Philanthropists have made a promise to the future of Kent County by establishing a planned gift!

We manage business functions to ensure efficient and effective operations.

Our vendor relationships include an increasing number of local-, woman-, LGBTQ- and people of color-owned businesses.

We invest in people, networks and nonprofit organizations to eliminate barriers to opportunity, prosperity and belonging.

Our Challenge Scholars team connects with students individually, centering their needs and building relationships to help them navigate post-secondary education.

Identity-based funds, led by committees of volunteer community members, partner with staff to make grant decisions and build relationships within their communities.

Our Board of Trustees are volunteer partners with a critical advisory and oversight role. For more than 100 years, Trustee perspectives and experiences have shaped our work!

Grand Rapids Community Foundation

185 Oakes Street SW

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

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THIS & THAT

OUR SEARCH FOR OUR NEXT PRESIDENT IS UNDERWAY

As Grand Rapids Community Foundation prepares for a leadership transition amid the retirement of President Diana Sieger this fall, the search for a new president has officially begun. Carlos Sanchez and Kathleen Vogelsang are leading a search committee made up of former and current Trustees and volunteers. The search committee will work with an executive search firm to facilitate the process and the Board of Trustees will make the final selection. To stay up to date on this evolving process, head to GRFoundation.org/Careers

YOUTH TRUSTEE TRANSITION

Grand Rapids Community Foundation and its Board of Trustees benefit greatly from Youth Trustees who share their knowledge and insights through one-year terms. As of July 1, 2023, Alexandria Smith, a Grandville High School student, will be the voting Youth Trustee after a year spent as a Trustee in training. We extend our gratitude to outgoing Youth Trustee Samantha Rivera, another Grandville High School student.

CONGRATULATIONS, DIANA!

Community Foundation President Diana R. Sieger was honored with the first-ever Legacy of Brilliance Award this spring, recognizing her career of leadership and impact. Awarded by West Michigan Woman and presented at the seventh annual Brilliance Awards, the newly created award was chosen directly by the West Michigan Woman team “to a well-respected woman who has a reputation for showing up for her team, her network and her community throughout the entirety of her exceptional career.” Congratulations, Diana!

GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION WELLNESS BREAK

As the Community Foundation continues to prioritize wellness as we work with our partners to create a more inclusive and equitable West Michigan, we are kicking off the fiscal year with an organization-wide wellness break. Our office with be closed July 3-7, 2023 to provide our team with time for rest and restoration. During this time, the Senior Leadership will be on call to respond to urgent matters.