Bill and Lisa Ford to raise $10M for Detroit youth nonprofit endowments
Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford Motor Co., and his wife Lisa Ford are raising $10 million to help ten Detroit nonprofits serving young people start endowments
Ten nonprofits serving young people in Detroit will get an unusual, lasting gift as part of a campaign started by Lisa Ford and her husband, Bill Ford, the executive chair of Ford Motor Co.
The Fords, along with The Children’s Foundation, Tuesday announced their plans to raise at least $10 million to set up permanent endowments for ten nonprofits in the city alongside Ford's investment in the refurbishment of Michigan Central Station, a long vacant train station in Detroit.
“Creating endowments for these ten youth serving organizations is really a way to say, ‘These organizations that serve tens of thousands of kids every day need to be here as long as that train station is,’” said Andrew Stein, president and CEO of The Children’s Foundation, which is based in Detroit and was established in part by proceeds from the sale of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in 2011.
Endowments are funds a nonprofit can invest and the annual financial returns from those investments can go into the nonprofit’s budget. They are usually associated with major hospitals and universities — with Harvard University's endowment famously reaching over $50 billion — rather than small community nonprofits. Detroit-area nonprofits may apply in June, when Michigan Central Station will reopen, and ten selected organizations will each receive $500,000 to launch an endowment.
The Children's Foundation will manage the nonprofits’ endowments and offer them guidance and technical support over two years. The campaign will also match up to $500,000 that the nonprofits raise themselves, meaning
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