Bill and Lisa Ford have established the Michigan Central Station Children’s Endowment Campaign, which seeks to raise at least $10 million to establish permanent endowments for Detroit area youth-serving nonprofit organizations.
The effort is in partnership with the Children’s Foundation, a leading children’s philanthropic organization in the region. It’s also a way to celebrate the reopening of Michigan Central Station on June 6, the former train station at Michigan Avenue and 14th Street in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.
The restoration of Michigan Central Station by Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn into a 30-acre mobility innovation campus, which includes the neighboring Newlab center and other activities, was part of a larger transformation that was announced in June 2018 by Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford.
The Children’s Endowment Campaign is designed to ensure youth-serving organizations in the Detroit area can continue their mission. The campaign is raising funds to create permanent endowments for 10 youth-serving organizations.
The organizations will be chosen through a community-led process, and each will receive two years of financial and technical support to help them build, manage, and maintain an endowment that will position them to serve children in the community long-term.
“The restoration of Michigan Central is about the future,” say Bill and Lisa Ford, chairs of Michigan Central Station Children’s Endowment Campaign. “The station is a symbol of opportunity and progress, and its re-opening is a celebration of possibilities. The best investment we can make for the future is in our children.
“We have long supported youth organizations because we believe in the power of next generations. This endowment campaign, in partnership with the Children’s Foundation, will bring us together in new and unique ways, creating a sustainable commitment to serving the children of Detroit,”
In addition to the seed money to start or grow their endowments, the organizations will receive support to establish fundraising campaigns that will make them eligible for matching funds.
This will ultimately provide an opportunity for each organization to establish an endowment of $1.5 million at the Children’s Foundation, giving them sustainable financial resources year-over-year and the space to plan for the future. The long-term support also includes “drop-in” space inside the station.
“Michigan Central Station will be an anchor in our city for generations to come,” says Andrew Stein, president and CEO of the Children’s Foundation. “Similarly, youth-serving organizations are critical anchors that also need to be here for the long-term.
“By creating an endowment, this campaign helps to make sure these organizations have what they need to serve children now and into the future. We are proud to be a partner in this effort that demonstrates a different approach to philanthropy and creates a more equitable landscape for youth-serving organizations.”
Details about the launch of the application and selection process for nonprofits will be announced closer to the opening of the station in June.
Michigan Central Station Children’s Endowment Campaign will help address both the financial and administrative challenges for the youth-facing organizations selected for this effort. The principal amount — $1.5 million — will produce approximately $70,000 of unrestricted, spendable revenue annually.
Organizations get grants of similar sizes, but the endowment allows them to spend the funds as they see fit. Endowments become a sustainable source of revenue, in perpetuity, growing over time as the principal is invested.
Over two years, Children’s Foundation also will take the lead to provide the selected organizations with guidance, training, and support to fundraise, build, and utilize their endowment long-term.
Although the Detroit area is one of the most charitable in the nation, very few organizations have meaningful endowments. This is particularly true of youth-serving organizations, which are serving tens of thousands of children each day. These organizations often do not have sufficient cash reserves and their leaders spend a great deal of time on annual fundraising.
An endowment is a fund that exists in perpetuity and provides long-term support for an organization, enabling it to advance its mission as it sees fit. Endowments empower organizations by allowing the leaders to focus their time on their missions and building lasting trust within the communities they serve, rather than fundraising.
The challenge is that establishing and maintaining an endowment is not so straightforward. Demand often exceeds resources. Not only does starting an endowment mean diverting money from annual funding, but it can also be intimidating for organizations to establish and manage.
Adding the necessary finance and fundraising staff expertise creates additional financial and administrative burdens that organizations often cannot afford.
While the endowment fundraising formally launches today, endorsement for the campaign — and for the children of our region — has already come from multiple places.
Individuals, companies and foundations who believe in the mission and unique approach set out by Bill and Lisa Ford have provided early generous support for the campaign, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
“Children are at the heart of everything we do. We know that for children to thrive, they need access to quality care and education, their families need access to well-paying jobs that become career pathways to upward economic mobility and their communities need to be equitable places of opportunity,” says La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Kalamazoo.
Support for the campaign also includes time and resources dedicated by a team that believes the children of Detroit deserve no less than this substantial investment in their future.
This includes more than 40 influential Detroiters serving as cabinet members as well as steering committee members who include Lizabeth Ardisana, Tom and Lindsey Buhl, Lauren and Jon Cotton, Mark Davidoff, Tony and Sarah Earley, Luanne Thomas Ewald, Elena Ford, Dr. Herman Gray, Anne Mervenne, Benita Miller, Vivian Pickard, Donna Satterfield, Lois Shaevsky, Gloria Walker-Larkins, and Evan and Gwen Weiner.
Fundraising continues through June. Those seeking additional information about the MCS Children’s Endowment Campaign, or who wish to donate, can visit yourchildrensfoundation.org.
