Growing the Philanthropic Pie for Detroit's Youth Arts Community

Guest blog by: Andrew Stein, President & CEO, Children's Foundation of Michigan

Detroit has no shortage of organizations using the arts to help young people thrive.

Every day, organizations across our city are using music, theater, dance, visual arts, creative writing, and other forms of artistic expression help children build confidence, strengthen mental health, develop leadership skills and discover new possibilities for their future.

What Detroit does have a shortage of is the long-term resources needed to sustain and grow their work.

That's why the Children's Foundation of Michigan is partnering with actor and founder of The Detroit Creativity Project, Marc Evan Jackson; to launch The Coney, a fundraising weekend in September celebrating Detroit's creative spirit while generating new philanthropic support for youth arts education and creative youth development.

Some nonprofit leaders may wonder why a foundation would choose to launch a fundraising event of its own. It's a fair question.

The answer is: we are setting out to strengthen Detroit's nonprofit community. Through this event, we are creating a new way to bring additional people, additional resources, and long-term investment into Detroit's youth arts community.

At the Children's Foundation of Michigan, we spend every day working alongside community organizations that are changing children's lives. We also see the reality they face. Too many organizations spend as much time securing next year's funding as they do delivering today's programs. Great organizations often begin each fiscal year facing the same question: How do we raise enough money to keep doing work we already know changes lives?

Many of the issues facing children cannot be solved through one-time grants or annual fundraising campaigns alone.

If we want these organizations to thrive for generations, we have to think differently about how we build philanthropic support.

We designed The Coney to strengthen Detroit's youth arts ecosystem in several ways:

• It grows the philanthropic pie. This was one of our guiding principles from the beginning. We know organizations across Detroit already work incredibly hard to build relationships with donors and sponsors. The goal of The Coney is not to compete for those existing resources, but to expand them. At its core, The Coney is about engaging actors, musicians, entertainers, and other individuals with strong hometown ties to Detroit who have been looking for meaningful ways to give back. We're also seeing support from new national foundations, corporations, and individuals who may not have otherwise invested in Detroit's youth arts community. If we're successful, the result will be new philanthropic dollars flowing into Detroit that otherwise may never have arrived.

• It provides funding organizations can use now. The majority of the funds from The Coney will be distributed through the Children's Foundation of Michigan grant process. Information about the process and deadlines will be released some time after the event, with grants to the organizations in 2027. 

• It creates a permanent source of support for the future. At the Children's Foundation of Michigan, we believe stability is something philanthropy can and should provide. That's why endowment is central to so much of our work. Proceeds from The Coney will establish the Endowed Fund for Youth Arts. Over time, charitable gifts and investment returns will help create a permanent source of support for youth arts education, reducing reliance on year-to-year fundraising alone.

Ultimately, The Coney’s success should be measured by the opportunities it creates for the arts organizations serving children every day.

The challenges facing Detroit's nonprofit community requires us to think beyond the short-term. We need new partnerships, broader audiences, and funding strategies designed to endure.

Detroit's youth arts organizations have spent decades investing in young people. They deserve funding strategies that invest in them just as intentionally.

The Coney won't solve every challenge facing the sector. But if it succeeds, it will bring new supporters into Detroit's youth arts ecosystem, deliver resources organizations can use today, and begin building a permanent source of support for generations of children to come.

To learn more, become a sponsor or get involved, visit theconeydetroit.org.

The grant application window will open following The Coney which takes place on September 26. Interested organizations are encouraged to subscribe to the Children’s Foundation of Michigan’s e-newsletter for updates on inquiry and application timeline.

Andrew Stein joined the Children’s Foundation of Michigan as President & CEO in January 2023.  Kids have been at the center of everything Andrew has done professionally. For 14 years, he was a part of City Year, serving in a variety of leadership positions, most recently as Executive Director of City Year Detroit. 

Andrew is an alumnus of Detroit Country Day School, Michigan State University, and Georgetown Law School. He lives in Detroit with his wife and three children. He serves on the boards of the Belle Isle Conservancy and CATCH, as well as numerous other coalitions and committees. He was a recipient of the Detroit Young Professionals Vanguard award, Crain’s Notable Leaders in Philanthropy, and a member of Leadership Detroit Class XXXVIII.