Our Approach

Systemic Change + Movement Building

Photo courtesy of our friends at The Diatribe

Strategic Goals

This strategy focuses on partnerships and Foundation-led initiatives that directly leverage the Foundation’s power to influence and inform philanthropy and policy and use our expertise to drive and support larger-scale social change.

Learning + Expertise
Systemic Change
Innovation
Inform Sector

Photos courtesy of our friends at Grandville Avenue Arts + Humanities and Girls Choral Academy.

  Supportive Funds + Initiatives  

Photo courtesy of our friends at The Literacy Center of West Michigan

Community Collaboration + Mobilization Fund

The Foundation plays an active role in the community, meeting regularly with the community and local funders to learn about emerging needs and potential strategies to meet those needs, to collaborate towards interventions, exchange learning and insights, and coordinate funding for solutions. One to three year grants are provided to contribute to collective impact strategies in which the Foundation is proactively involved.

Photo courtesy of our friends at The Literacy Center of West Michigan

Community Collaboration + Mobilization Fund

The Foundation plays an active role in the community, meeting regularly with the community and local funders to learn about emerging needs and potential strategies to meet those needs, to collaborate towards interventions, exchange learning and insights, and coordinate funding for solutions. One to three year grants are provided to contribute to collective impact strategies in which the Foundation is proactively involved.

Learning Into Action Initiatives

Learning Into Action Initiatives are an investment in Foundation-led collective impact strategies that directly leverage the Foundation’s power, influence, and expertise to advance systems and policy change related to the family ecosystem. Through these multi-year initiatives, the Foundation leads partnerships and collaborative efforts working towards equitable outcomes and opportunities for children and their families. Foundation leadership identifies initiatives and, with approval from the Board of Trustees, plans and executes the associated activities.

The first proposed Learning Into Action Initiative is Investing In Families. Investing In Families will provide multi-sector, coordinated support for a cohort of families over an extended time period as they emerge out of poverty and transition from ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) status. The strategy for this initiative will be designed in alignment with Aspen Institute’s ACEND2-Gen Approach and will emphasize easing the cognitive load of parents while providing access to opportunities that support long-term economic stability and the emotional wellbeing of the entire family. The model for the Investing In Families initiative will be developed in FY22.

Photo courtesy of our friends at The Early Learning Neighborhood Collective

  Featured Partner Stories + Learnings