Michigan’s philanthropic sector continues to develop new collaborations and leverage existing partnerships to support communities in the pandemic.

Michigan foundations have partnered with United Ways across the state to establish local COVID-19 relief funds. When it comes to rapid crisis response, as we have seen with the flooding in the Great Lakes Bay region, United Ways are well-positioned to move quickly since they are on the front lines with nonprofit service providers.

“Local United Ways have always been at the core of understanding and collaborating to solve the needs of their communities, day to day and in times of crisis,” Mike Larson, president and CEO, Michigan Association of United Ways (MAUW) said. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, local United Ways have illustrated their ability to nimbly respond to the evolving needs of their communities, while rapidly deploying much-needed resources to their most vulnerable populations.”

MAUW lists 24 local emergency funds to aid individuals and nonprofits in continuing their work during the pandemic. For funders who are interested in plugging into these efforts, MAUW has a complete list of all their localized funds and information on how donors can contribute.

CMF member, the Consumers Energy Foundation, contributed $250,000 to the Michigan Association of United Ways and has included United Ways in matching gifts from employee donations.

Nearly 40 localized COVID-19 relief funds have been established across the state with support from CMF members. Some examples include:

• The Kent County Coronavirus Relief Fund, supported by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the Consumers Energy Foundation, the Daniel and Pamela DeVos Foundation, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, the DTE Energy Foundation, the Frey Foundation, General Motors, the Jandernoa Foundation, Steelcase Foundation and Wege Foundation.

• The Southeast Michigan Arts and Creative Community Assistance Fund, supported by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation and the Peck Foundation.

• The Southwest Michigan Cares Fund, supported by the Hanson Family Foundation, Spectrum Health Lakeland, Whirlpool Corp., the American Electric Power Foundation, the Frederick S. Upton Foundation, Meijer and individual donors.

Beyond these partnerships, some funders have unique relationships with their local chambers of commerce that also have a charitable function.

Michigan has over 30 active chamber of commerce foundations that serve as the fundraising organizations for local chambers of commerce. Chamber of commerce foundations are 501(c)(3) organizations that can receive grant dollars from funders and donors.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation granted $262,500 to the Genesee Chamber Foundation—a supporting organization of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce—to support African American-owned businesses in Flint that closed because of the pandemic. Business owners can apply to grants for up to $5,000 to help them safely re-open their businesses.

“As the Mott Foundation responds to the pandemic, our top priority is helping our hometown—especially the African American community, which has been hardest hit by the virus,” Ridgway White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation said in a press release. “We know businesses want to protect their staff and customers as they reopen, and the changes they’ll need to make will require money at a time when their revenues are way down. We hope this grant will help them get up and running the way they want to.”

These are just some of the ways these foundations and others across the state are leveraging partnerships to support communities. 

We encourage you to share your organization’s COVID-19 response with us via this online form to help foster continued learning, connections and shared understanding about Michigan philanthropy’s response, relief, recovery and reform efforts connected to COVID-19. All information submitted from our members will be populated on our COVID-19 Resource Central site for you to quickly access the latest approaches, strategies and collaborations underway around the state to address issues related to the pandemic. 

Want more?

See the full list of COVID-19 relief and response funds in Michigan.