PARTNERS in community is a publication of Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Contributing writers:
Ashley René Lee, LaSandra Gaddy, Audra Hartges-Stern, Grace L. Swanson and Tammy Danh.
Graphic Design: Michele Keren Design, This Is Worthwhile
Photography: 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 West Michigan 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.
Dear partners and friends,
Over the last year, our team at Grand Rapids Community Foundation has been holding two things at once. We are responding to systemic challenges in our community and working with partners like you to shape what comes next. That work has felt heavy at times, but also hopeful. What keeps me going is knowing we’re not doing it alone. Whenever we ask community members to share their ideas—through focus groups, listening sessions, surveys or sharing experience or expertise—the answer is, “Yes!” Thank you for walking alongside us.
Your insight and feedback gave us so much to reflect on as we defined the future focus of our work. I speak for myself, our staff team and our trustees when I say you challenge us to show up better for this community. You help us stay accountable, teach us and inspire us. You remind us that real change is inevitable when we work together. Our work is only possible because of your love and care for West Michigan.
We’re excited to share our new mission, North Star and core values in this issue of PARTNERS in community. Formal and informal feedback from you and many others shaped all these over time. In this next season of service and impact, we are stepping forward with clarity, accountability and courage. These ideas may feel familiar—and they are. Yet, we are bringing a sharper focus to our work and doubling down on our commitment to equity-driven philanthropy. We are listening deeply, bringing partners together with purpose and being honest about what’s working and what isn’t. This will help us keep building stronger relationships in our communities. We want to match donor intent with what people truly need and focus on long-term solutions instead of quick fixes.
In this issue, we share insights from Eugene Sueing, program director, on how we work with local nonprofits to increase access to opportunity. You’ll read a heartwarming example of the power of planned giving and learn about some of our most recent grant partnerships.
I am so excited for this next chapter. Together, with partners like you, we are building a more thriving and equitable West Michigan—starting now.
Partners together,
LaSandra A. Gaddy President and CEO Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Pictured: YWCA West Central Michigan
EQUITY TAKES ALL OF US: OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
Listening
and Planning to Meet the Moment
Grand Rapids Community Foundation is ready to step into our next century of service and impact focused firmly on equity. Our new strategic framework was created with the help of so many important partners and community members, each committed to living in a vibrant West Michigan. It’s work we’re excited to lead, and it’s work that will take all of us.
Here, we’re sharing our new mission, North Star and core values. They will guide our work, today and into the future. Over the next few years, we will focus on four main goals as laid out in our strategic framework. We’re excited to share those too.
To learn more about our strategic framework, visit GRFoundation.org/Strategy
TO ADVANCE OUR MISSION AND NORTH STAR, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED THE FOLLOWING GOALS:
S TRENG THEN INTERNAL OPERATIONS
Invest in organizational excellence and effectiveness to advance our mission and North Star
DEEPEN COMMUNITY PA R TNERSHIPS
Cultivate a shared responsibility for continuous listening, learning and authentic relationship building in order to strengthen community partnerships
AD VANCE
E QUITY-DRIVEN PHILANTHROP Y
Empower purposeful and equity-driven philanthropy that fosters a vibrant community
GR OW AND EXP AND FUNDING
Grow financial assets and expand access to Community Foundation resources that will support equitable and thriving communities
OUR MISSION
To create a thriving and equitable West Michigan by connecting people, passion and resources today and for generations to come.
OUR NORTH STAR
The people of West Michigan deserve to thrive. Together, we must ensure everyone has access to opportunity, prosperity and belonging. It is only by embracing our differences and overcoming inequities that we can create a more vibrant community.
OUR CORE VALUES
Equity
Collaboration
Trust
Adaptability
Courage
Many partners shared ideas and feedback with the Community Foundation before and during the strategic framework project. Their passion for West Michigan and hope for the future help guide our work.
THE ENGLE FAMILY
Ryan and Danielle Engle give to create a more equitable region. Ryan said, “Sadly, we exist in an era today where many people either don’t realize or seek to completely deny the historical marginalization of people of color, and the longstanding impacts of that marginalization on day to day lives. We give to the Black Legacy Fund because we believe it is an investment in our kids and our community. It’s about creating access to opportunity. It’s about equity. And it’s about leveling a playing field that’s been unleveled through generations of marginalization.”
Pictured (left to right): Strategic framework focus group, Celebration of Philanthropy event, Challenge Scholars graduates: Sandra Lopez and Ermelinda Pedro, The Engle Family, Connie Bellows and Darlene Zwart, Black Legacy Fund 20th Anniversary Gala.
INVESTMENTS IN OPPORTUNITY
Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s new North Star focuses on “access to opportunity, prosperity and belonging.” It builds on our commitment to support partners who help create more opportunity in our community.
Grace L. Swanson, our strategic communications specialist, talked with Eugene Sueing, one of our program directors. They discussed why everyone needs access to opportunities. And Eugene explained who is doing what to help make that happen.
GRACE: What are barriers to opportunity in our community?
EUGENE: In Grand Rapids, so many things are easy for some people and much harder for others. Who can navigate systems easily and who cannot? If you have time, money, transportation, strong English proficiency, stable documentation or the right connections— opportunity tends to open up. If you do not, things like housing can come with major barriers. That matters in a place like Kent County, where the immigrant population has grown much faster than the overall population in recent years.
So for me, equitable opportunity means more than offering the same thing to everyone. It means paying attention to people facing barriers. We must ask whether our systems are actually built to work for everyone or only for people who already have access.
GRACE: Our grantmaking strategy prioritizes investments in systems-level change. How might this help make opportunity more equitable?
EUGENE: Systems matter. They control whether opportunity depends on luck, relationships and persistence or whether it is built into how a community works. If a system becomes more equitable, you do not have to solve the same barrier one person at a time forever. You start changing the conditions that create the barrier in the first place.
“The biggest shift happens when grantmaking is informed by people’s realities instead of just institutions’ theories.”
– Eugene Sueing
GRACE: How can listening and lived experience inform grantmaking in reference to opportunity?
EUGENE: The biggest shift happens when grantmaking is informed by people’s realities instead of just institutions’ theories. That is where opportunity becomes more than a concept. It becomes something people can actually reach.
Listening changes grantmaking because it helps us move from assumptions to understanding. The Community Foundation believes community voices should shape the work. I think that matters because the people closest to a challenge have the clearest view of what is getting in the way of opportunity.
In practice, that means we do more than read proposals. We meet with people. We visit spaces. We listen for patterns across organizations and neighborhoods. We pay attention to lived experience not as a “nice to have,” but as expertise in our staff and volunteers who participate in grantmaking. That expertise may come from a partner organization, young people, parents, immigrants, artists or residents who have had to navigate systems that were not designed with them in mind.
GRACE: How are nonprofits in our community working to increase opportunity?
EUGENE: Opportunity is not just about jobs. Employment matters, of course. But opportunity also looks like access to legal support, arts education, belonging, health navigation, youth leadership and having trusted places to go when systems feel confusing or closed off.
You can see that in organizations across West Michigan.
• The West Michigan Asian American Association is helping families navigate healthcare systems and supporting youth through mentorship, scholarships and learning opportunities that build confidence and open doors.
• Urban Core Collective’s Education Justice Team builds opportunity through organizing, policy engagement, and community-defined advocacy, helping families and community members influence the systems that shape education.
• The Immigrant Assistance Center of West Michigan is increasing opportunity by providing affordable immigration legal services, education, advocacy and support.
• KConnect advances policy and systems-level changes to improve outcomes for children and families, from early childhood and K–12 success to postsecondary completion and career pathways.
• Housing Kent helps drive strategies to increase housing affordability, reduce homelessness, and eliminate racial disparities in housing outcomes. Stable, affordable housing is foundational to opportunity.
Those are very different kinds of organizations, but they are each expanding what opportunity looks like. They are helping people access systems, resources, and relationships that can change the direction of their lives.
Pictured: Eugene Sueing
VALUES THAT LIVE ON
The impact of planned gifts
Philanthropy is deeply personal. How you give reflects experiences that shape your life and the future you hope to create. In the last 100 years, more than 300 people have included Grand Rapids Community Foundation in their estate plans. They know their gifts will be given after they pass away, and they trust us to carry out their wishes.
ROBERT D. MIERAS’S LEGACY
Robert D. Mieras was a lifelong resident of Grand Rapids. A World War II veteran and longtime employee of General Motors, Bob loved the outdoors and the arts. His focus on traditional arts led to travels throughout the Americas, researching and learning from Indigenous peoples.
One way to experience Bob’s legacy is through a visit to the Quigley Creek Natural Area—a Chippewa Watershed Conservancy property now named in his honor. His passions for art and music also live on in greater Grand Rapids. Bob included the Community Foundation in his life story by establishing the Robert D. Mieras Fund for Dance and Music. The fund, created after his death in
HOW ENDOWED GIVING WORKS
Thanks to the power of endowment, the resources provided to our community will eventually exceed the initial gift amount.
2010, has made multiple grants to support the arts in our region. Recently, it supported a partnership with Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities to bring arts programs to the community.
Thanks to the power of endowment (investing funds and giving away the proceeds indefinitely), awards from the Mieras Fund will eventually exceed the initial amount Bob gave.
THE LONG-TERM POWER OF A PLANNED GIFT
Leaving a planned gift to the Community Foundation through your estate is a gift that keeps giving. It’s a powerful way to support education, the arts, the environment, and more. These funds strengthen our region today and for generations to come.
To start a conversation about your goals or to update us on your plans, contact our development team at 616.4541751.
A.H.S
Courtesy of Chippewa Watershed Conservancy
Pictured: Quigley Creek Natural Area, Robert D. Mieras Preserve
Pictured: Bob Mieras
PARTNERS in Progress
Grand Rapids Community Foundation recently awarded grants from our Fund for Community Good (unrestricted fund) and Field of Interest funds. Donor partners who contribute to these funds trust the Community Foundation to address our community’s most urgent needs. Nonprofits may apply for grants at any time on our website. Learn more about funding priorities, resources and recent grant partners at GRFoundation.org/Grants.
LINC UP, $10,000
Funding supports LINC UP’s efforts to reduce systemic employment barriers by providing expungement services, legal navigation and workforce coaching that connects community members to sustainable career pathways.
Equity Empowerment Center, $10,000
The Equity Empowerment Center is strengthening equitable pathways to homeownership by addressing systemic financial barriers such as credit inequities, debt burden and income instability through culturally-responsive coaching and community-informed strategies that expand access to wealth-building opportunities.
Ebony Road Players,
$200,000
Ebony Road Players engages youth and community members through theater-based education and facilitated dialogue that centers Black history, storytelling and lived experience. This grant supports general operating needs during a planned leadership transition, strengthening governance and internal systems to sustain the organization’s work and long-term impact. This partnership was made possible by the Leonard and Eileen Newman Fund.
Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, $25,000
Grand Rapids Pride Center, $10,000
This grant provides general operating support to the Grand Rapids Pride Center to help sustain its programs and ensure continued access to safe, affirming spaces and resources for the LGBTQ community.
The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan helps residents understand their housing rights and addresses housing discrimination throughout Kent County. This grant supports education, outreach and enforcement efforts that expand access to housing and respond to barriers faced by renters and home seekers. The program strengthens fair housing protections and supports more stable housing opportunities for families across the county.
Pictured: Ebony Road Players
Pictured: Equity Empowerment Center
Larlen Communications, $100,000
NexGen Media GR’s Broadcast Academy is a free, culturally affirming media program for BIPOC youth from middle school through high school. Created to address the lack of access to arts and media education in Kent County, the program offers hands-on training in podcasting, radio, film and television led by media professionals of color and grounded in trauma-informed instruction. Students build technical skills, creative confidence and career readiness while producing original content that uplifts community voices and supports pathways into media careers. This partnership was made possible by the Ken, Melinda and Andrew Krei Youth Fund and the Hydro-Chem Systems Fund for Children.
Oakdale Neighbors, $150,000
To support Oakdale Neighbors’ long-standing, resident-led work that provides hands- on support for children, families and neighbors in Southeast Grand Rapids. Funding strengthens The Learning Café, Lamp Post Community Engagement Program and the Oakdale Community Bike Shop. Expanding academic support, financial education and access to affordable transportation. Rooted in decades of neighborhood relationships, this work contributes to shared community strength and sustains the culture and legacy of the Oakdale neighborhood. This partnership was made possible by the Duncan Littlefair Literary Fund for Children.
Osofomaame, $250,000
We Are the Village is a culturally-grounded, communitydesigned initiative that strengthens Black families’ wellbeing within Kent County foster care and child welfare systems. Osofomaame, a Black-led, community-rooted nonprofit, advances family preservation by addressing the root causes of family separation through direct support, leadership development for caregivers and youth, and community education that challenges harmful narratives in the child welfare system.
Urban Core Collective,
$200,000
This grant supports community-led organizing that advances climate and energy justice, builds people power and promotes equitable decision-making. This partnership supports efforts to ensure residents most impacted by rising energy costs have a voice in the systems and policies that shape their communities. This partnership was made possible by the Charles Evenson Fund for the Environment.
Women’s Resource Center, $250,000
This grant supports Women’s Resource Center’s work to ensure women in Kent County can access stable, high-quality workforce development services. Funding strengthens the organizational capacity needed to sustain long-term employment pathways, support participant success and respond to continued demand for services. This partnership was made possible by the Gordon and Mary Bowman Fund.
YWCA West Central Michigan, $100,000
YWCA’s Prevention and Empowerment Program is a comprehensive, evidence-based initiative dedicated to preventing gender-based violence and promoting healthy development among youth and other marginalized populations. By delivering prevention education to adolescents and at-risk populations, the program advances the YWCA’s broader mission to reduce intimate partner violence, sexual assault and exploitation. This partnership was made possible by the Patricia Haan Timmer Fund for Downtown Charities.
Pictured: Larlen Communications
Pictured: YWCA West Central Michigan
FUNDS PROVIDING FLEXIBLE SUPPORT
To Meet Our Community’s Needs
Each person or family listed below has entrusted Grand Rapids Community Foundation to support our community’s ever-changing needs by establishing an unrestricted fund. Some funds were created through gifts during a donor’s lifetime. Others were set up through an estate gift. Each fund grows our community’s permanent endowment and provides resources for grant awards. This creates opportunity, prosperity and belonging in West Michigan.
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
Marian A. Aldrich Fund
American Box Board Community Fund
Gasper J. Amodeo Fund
Employees of Autocam Fund
Janet E. Berg Fund
Thomas and Vita “Vickie” Bergers Community Fund
John W. and Margaret Bertsch Fund
Ken Betz and Pat Brewer Fund
Anna Bissell Charity Trust Fund
James and Margaret Black Estate
Edward H. Blickley Fund
Harvey and Margaret Brower Fund
Orville and Jean Bulman Estate
Allan and Claudia Carlson Family Fund
Olga H. Cassard Fund
William J. Chaille Fund
Eugene D. Conger Fund
Louis A. Cornelius Trust
Dallas and Helen Darling Fund
Cornelia De Fouw Fund
Rafael O. Diaz Fund
Max H. and Lois Doering Fund
George and Louise Egeler Fund
Robert L. and Gloria M. Ellcey Fund
Engineered Protection Systems Fund
Diane S. Farage Fund
Fishell Fund
Henry A. Fox Family Fund
Mr. and Mrs. David G. Frey Fund
Jim McKay and Twink Frey Fund
Mrs. L. C. Gardner Fund
Kenneth and Christina Gilchrist Fund
Carol E. Greene Fund for Community Good
Rená Guttrich Fund
Chester A. Hall Fund
Leon W. Hall Fund
Stanley C. Hall Fund
Bill and Claudia Hardy Fund
Haslinger Family Fund
Minnie E. Haven Fund
Janet A. Haynes Fund
Elizabeth Herkner Fund
Edward M. Herpolsheimer Fund
Karl E. Herpolsheimer Fund
Dirk and Victoria Hoffius Fund
Orianna D. Hooker Fund
Arthur J. and Sue H. Hoover Fund
Robert and Adelaide Hoover Fund
Allen I. and Helen J. Hunting Fund
Walter D. Idema Fund
Walter D. Idema Charitable Trust
Jabin Family Fund
Clare and Grace Jarecki Fund
Elizabeth J. Steed Johnson Trust
Carol Karr and Kevin Briggs Fund
Kent Charitable Fund
William E. and Sue Kincaid Fund
Mary Jane Kirchgessner Trust
Jane and Sam Kravitz Fund for Community Good
Robert J. Kulms Trust
Tom and Sally Kyros Fund
James and Mary Jane Lamse Fund
Marilyn Lankfer and Jeffrey Schad Fund
B. Kenneth Larm Fund for Community Good
Perry M. and Hazel A. Lawr Fund
Ben H. Lee, Jr. Fund
Harvey E. Lemmen Fund
Clara T. Limbert Fund
Gertrude Lindberry Fund
Charles W. Loosemore Fund
Dr. Jack and Katy Lukens Fund
Hale J. Mackay Fund
Allen S. & Barbara P. Marcus Fund
Glen C. Mason Fund
Geraldine F. Masters Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. McCobb Fund
Isabel McLeod Fund
Frank H. and Virginia L. Merlotti Fund
George and Mary Metz Charitable Fund
Bonnie Miller Community Fund
Paul C. and Inez L. Miller Fund
Mary D Morman Trust
Estate of Melanie L. Muir
Estate of Dr. Clifford T. Nelson
Francis J. O’Connor Fund
Mary I. and Robert C. Pew Fund
Chalmers and Esther Quaintance Fund
Charlotte M. Raniville Fund
Eleanor J. Roberts Fund
Leonard and Dora Rosenzweig Fund
Theodore R. and Caroline Schoonbeck Fund
Grace L. Schouten Memorial Trust Fund
Willard and Barbara Schroeder Fund
Schuil Family Fund
The Sebastian Foundation Unrestricted Fund
Margery Seeger Fund
Diana Sieger Leadership Fund
Erin Slade Memorial Fund
Estate of Isabelle and Herman Slanger
Eileen Slootmaker Fund
Mary A. and Lenore G. Smith Fund
Marvin Stahl Fund
Paul L. Steketee Fund
Graham F. “Deck” and Ruth B. Stewart Fund
Joseph and Helen Tulos Fund
Adrian Van Daalen Fund
Don VandenBos Jr. Fund
Earle Vande Poel Charitable Fund
The Vander Beek Family Fund
Herbert and Doris Vander Mey Fund for Community Good
Keith C. VanderHyde Fund
Biem H. and Irene G. Vandermass Fund
Selene Van Vleck Unrestricted Fund for Community Good
James R. Van Vulpen Fund
Englebert J. and Lelah Sexton Vogt Trust
Estate of Ralph A. Voigt
Ralph A. Voigt Corporate Fund
Waddell-Cioni Fund
Jeanette Shelly Warner Fund
Jane N. and James C. Welch Foundation Fund
John C. Whitcomb Fund
Marion Stuart White Fund
Mary K. White Fund
Estate of Zoe F. Whitworth Trust
Mrs. Imogene W. Wickett Fund
C. John Gill and Rita Williams Fund
Arthur D. Wolf Foundation Trust
Charles D. and Irene A. Worden Fund
Estate of Curtis M. Wylie
George L. and Esther B. Young Trust
RECOGNITION FUNDS SUPPORTING THE FUND FOR COMMUNITY GOOD
Lynne M. Black Fund
Joy A. Brown-Baker Fund
Brownie Eberhard Beckering Fund
Rita Champion-Balczak Fund
Laurie and Crawford Craft Family Fund
Tom and Jan Czerney Fund
Norman and Mary De Graaf Fund
William and Patricia Edison Fund
James and Bebe Glerum Fund
Eleanore and Robert Howieson Fund
Lester P. Jones Jr. Fund
Miner S. and Mary Ann Keeler Fund
The David B. and Susan D. Lipner Fund
Malcolm/Magolan Family Fund
Ernest and Lorraine Malkewitz Fund
Marjorie and Robert Neubig Fund
Judge W. Baldwin Ogden and Judy Ogden Fund
Martha J. Porter Fund
Roth Family Fund for Community Good
Robert and Claire Schaefer Fund
Schaub Family Fund
Elmer and Mable Slemons Fund
Doug and Alix Thompson Fund
Robert F. and Ella M. Topp Family Fund
Bill and Barbara Van’t Hof Fund
Theodore J. Vogt Fund
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ESTABLISHING A FUND TO SUPPORT THE NEEDS OF TODAY AND TOMORROW?
Our team would love to talk to you about options to strengthen our ability to activate our North Star through unrestricted giving. Call 616.454.1751 to start a conversation.
