Together For Michigan’s Kids: Today, Tomorrow, and For Generations to Come
Guest blog featuring: Andrew Stein, President & CEO, the Children’s Foundation
At the Children’s Foundation, we believe every child in Michigan should have the opportunity to thrive. This belief guides our work, fuels our partnerships, and inspires generosity.
We also believe it takes all of us to build a healthier future for our young people, and it is our privilege to stand where generosity meets community need to empower impact. Whether you are part of a youth-serving organization, a family passionate about giving back, or a company or foundation looking to collaborate, we invite you to be a partner with us in this shared work.
For Youth-Serving Organizations: Funding and Endowment Support
Grantmaking to amplify your work.
We know that lasting solutions come from those who are closest to the challenges. Through our grantmaking, we partner with your organization, providing funding that allows you to focus on serving children in your community.
As your partner we:
Lead with empathy and listen deeply.
Align funding with your expertise and community needs.
Aim to build equitable systems and strengthen community-led solutions.
We organize grantmaking for children and young people, from age 0 to 26, across five focus areas - all viewed through a lens of health equity and access: Physical Health, Mental Health, Substance Use, Disorder, Health Equity, and Children’s Hospital of Michigan Initiatives. In 2024, this commitment translated into $4.8 million awarded among 89 grants to 26 organizations, all working to improve the health and wellbeing of children in Michigan.
Endowments that build stability for the future.
When organizations are strong, kids can be too. We want to support your organization in building its own endowment to diversify your funding and create long-term, flexible, annual revenue.
Together, with your organization we:
Approach this work through a partnership lens, where we view the growth of your endowment as shared success.
Provide consultation and resources to help build endowment into your organization's long-term strategy.
Support your organization in establishing or growing its own nonprofit endowment, creating a dependable revenue stream year after year.
For Individuals and Families: Flexible Giving With Lasting Impact
Every day, we see how generous and passionate Michiganders are about supporting young people. Our role is to help connect that generosity to the greatest impact for kids.
Endowment for Kids.
Donors can help us address the needs of kids today and plan for the future, so youth-serving organizations receive the abundance of financial resources they need, and deserve, to support our young people. At the Children’s Foundation, we are focused on ensuring that organizations have resources to fuel their work today and for generations from now. Donors help us make this a reality by growing our endowment for kids. This is a reliable resource that allows us to respond quickly when challenges arise. The more it grows, the more we can grant back into the community to support young Michiganders in meaningful ways.
As a donor, you can:
Give to our Greatest Need fund or choose from 16 Fields of Interest, ranging from early childhood to workforce development, pediatric cancer research to suicide prevention.
You can also create a named fund that supports any of these areas, establishing a legacy for you and your family.
Customized Partnerships.
If you or your family would like a more hands-on approach, we work with you to create a giving plan tailored to your goals. Together, we:
Understand your priorities, the change you hope to see, and the legacy you want to leave.
Apply our expertise around children and the systems that shape their well-being.
Provide strategic consultation, marketing, legal, operations and grant administration support.
For Foundations and Companies: Collaboratives That Drive Change
We also partner with other philanthropic organizations and companies to drive collective change. Collaboratives align with our mission to improve children’s health across Michigan and are designed for scalable, long-lasting impact.
These project-based efforts are:
Designed around a specific issue or geography.
Responsive, innovative, and with shared vision and values.
Built on pooled funding, data, and learning.
The Future We’re Building, Together
If you, too, believe that kids in Michigan deserve the support they need to thrive today, tomorrow, and generations from now, we invite you to connect with us to learn more about the ways we can work together. Visit our website for more information: YourChildrensFoundation.org or email us to get started: Staff@YourChildrensFoundation.org.