Updated Grand Rapids power analysis: Understanding the GR Power Structure – Part II: The DeVos family

Last week I began an updated version of a Grand Rapids Power Analysis, which lays out the ground work for what the Grand Rapids Power Structure looks like and what it means for this community.

When I use the phrase, the Grand Rapids Power Structure and who has power, it is important to note that I mean power over. A local power analysis is designed to investigate who has power over – who oppresses, exploits and engages in policy that benefits them to the exclusion of everyone else – the majority of people living in Grand Rapids.

As I noted in the previous post, I believe that private power – individuals and organizations – have the most power over people in this community, based on the hierarchy of power chart. Private power primarily relies on economic and political power and the family that has the most of that kind of power is the DeVos family. Now, the Meijer family might have more wealth (although the DeVos family does a better job of keeping their collective wealth more hidden), but the DeVos family is more involved in local politics, the local economy, as well as social and cultural dynamics.

One thing that is different about what I wrote in 2018 about the DeVos family is the fact that both Richard DeVos Sr. and his wife have died, which changes some of the dynamic, but only on the margins of how the DeVos family continues to wield tremendous power in this city. 

DeVos family wealth 

It is safe to say that most of what the DeVos family does and the influence they have in this community and beyond begins with their wealth. The graphic above provides some of the major assets and businesses and investment firms that the DeVos family controls. However, the graphic is limited in that it doesn’t provide all of the names of the subsidiaries they own, nor the vast amount of investments they have at any given time. For example, the public got a glimpse of the investments that Betsy DeVos has when she was going through her nomination process for Secretary of Education in 2017. She was required to reveal a list of investments, which was published for a brief time, so I saved the document of investments, which you can see here, which is 108 pages of investment information.

For the DeVos family, owning the Amway Corporation, the RDV Corporation, Fox Motors, the Windquest Group, Ottawa Private Capital LLC, CWD, CDV Properties, DP Fox, Boxed Water, Wakestream Ventures and a whole host of other entities is never enough for this family. Since 2018, I have continued to track their business investments and expanded assets, which include the two restaurants and hotel that will open this summer in Ada, the acquisition of Muskegon’s convention center along with six hotels and restaurants in the city (which will be under AHC Hospitality, the acquisition of Peacock Limited power sports, their investment into a Michigan boat dealership, becoming a near monopoly in the auto dealership business in Grand Rapids and the CDV5 Properties getting involved in the housing market. 

Having a seat at the table

A second way that the DeVos family exercises power over others is by having their people sit on the boards of numerous entities in this city, all of which have tremendous influence on the political, economic, social and cultural dynamics of Grand Rapids. This list below, along with the graphic here, are just some of the organizations/entities that the DeVos family has a seat at in order to influence outcomes on all levels. This is what I like to refer to as interlocking systems of power. These interlocking systems of power dictate a great deal of local government policy, economic policy and social and cultural aspects of Grand Rapids. Again, these are just some of the organizations/entities the DeVos family has influence with.

DeVos family intersecting systems of power:

• West Michigan Policy Forum – Dick and Doug DeVos
• Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce – Michael Nelson, Chief Operating Officer at Amway
• Economic Club of Grand Rapids – Tim Gortsema President Grand Rapids Griffins, Michael Nelson, Chief Operating Officer at Amway
• The Right Place Inc. – Michael Nelson, Chief Operating Officer at Amway 
• Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority – Richard A. Winn AHC Hospitality 
• Experience GR – Jenifer Cutter AHC Hospitality, Ross Bartlett Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Richard Winn AHC Hospitality 
• Downtown Development Authority – Greg McNeilly Windquest Group, Richard Winn AHC Hospitality 
• Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. – Richard Winn AHC Hospitality 
• Grand Action 2.0 – Dick DeVos, Rick DeVos, Doug DeVos, Richard Winn AHC Hospitality 
• Talent First – Brian Kraus Chief Supply Chain Officer at Amway
  Corewell Health – Doug DeVos
• GVSU Board of Trustees – Randall Damstra Ottawa Avenue Private Capital, LLC, a division of RDV Corporation
• Grand Rapids Symphony Board of Directors – Pamella DeVos
• Grand Rapids Art Museum Foundation – Pamella DeVos

Election campaign contribution and public policy influence

A third area of influence that the DeVos family has is their longstanding interest to influence who gets elected to public office and what kinds of public policy gets adopted. 

It is well known that the DeVos family has contributed over $100 million for political campaigns in Michigan since 1990, based on data from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. The DeVos family is the single largest political contributor in Michigan, which demonstrates how much influence they have. 

If we look at how much of their wealth they have spent just since the 2022 election, even that amount is pretty staggering. In the 2022 election GRIID documented that the DeVos family contributed $12,304,750.00 to candidates running for office and for ballot initiatives.

When it comes to Kent County election campaign contributions in 2022, the DeVos family spent $60,900.00, which was also the largest amount from any one group in Kent County. In addition, for the Grand Rapids City Commission races, the DeVos family contributed $9450.00 to one candidate in the 1st Ward and $9450.00 to one candidate in the 3rd Ward. 

So far in the 2024 election, the DeVos family has contributed $264,000 for just 4 Kent County candidates, which include the County Clerk, County Treasurer, County Prosecutor and the Kent County Sheriff, all of which are running as Republicans. Now, the amount of campaign contributions that the DeVos family will give for the rest of the 2024 election cycle will grow exponentially. In addition, it is always important to keep in mind that the public policies adopted at the state and federal level will also impact people in this community, along with policies implemented in Kent County and this Grand Rapids, all of which GRIID will be documenting throughout the year.

Recent public policies that have been adopted in Grand Rapids and Kent County, where the DeVos family has had a role in are, the ordinances adopted last year by Grand Rapids to criminalize the unhoused, and the various development projects that Grand Rapids and Kent County have collaborated on such as the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. 

The ordinances adopted by Grand Rapids last July, were influenced by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, which put forth their own proposal that was endorsed by 120 people, which included 3 DeVos family members and 13 other people who run one of the entities that the DeVos directly controls. The Amphitheater and the Soccer stadium project were both proposed by Grand Action 2.0, which the DeVos family helped to create several decades ago. Dick DeVos is one of the current co-chairs of Grand Action 2.0, along with Doug DeVos who is on the advisory committee. The DeVos family has been involved in all of the Grand Action 2.0 projects, since they will benefit tremendously since they own most of the hotels in downtown Grand Rapids and several GR sports teams. 

DeVos family foundations

A fourth major way that the DeVos family influences what happens in Grand Rapids is through their numerous foundations. GRIID has been monitoring those foundations for years, which is linked here.

There are at least five DeVos foundations, all of which provide massive tax havens, since foundations are a way for the super rich to hide their money from being taxed. Each of the five DeVos foundations have millions in assets and only give out a small percentage on an annual basis.

In addition to be tax havens, the DeVos foundations also contributed to entities which allow them to influence policies. For example, Grand Valley State University received lots of money from the DeVos foundation, plus they have someone on the board of trustees, both of which provide them with leverage to influence university policy. 

The DeVos family foundations also make contributions to far right entities like the Acton Institute, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy or the American Enterprise Institute, all of which influence public policy and public debate. The DeVos family foundations do the same with conservative christian groups, which also promote far right ideologies.

Lastly, the DeVos family foundations make contributions to local social service agencies that provide some form of charity to individuals and families that are housing insecure or food insecure. Of course, the non-profits that the DeVos family foundations contribute to do not address structural or root causes of social problems. In fact, the social charity that these non-profits provide to people are often the direct result of public policies that the DeVos family has paid for in campaign contributions, which forces people to then rely on social services that the DeVos family contributes to. In turn, the same non-profits will not question or challenge the influence that the DeVos family has, since they don’t want to risk losing the foundation money. It is what I like to call hush money. 

You can see all of they ways that the DeVos family is influencing political, economic, social and cultural realities in Grand Rapids, which is why they are the most powerful family. 

For a more complete account of the history of the DeVos Family and their influence of the political, economic, social and cultural realities of Grand Rapids, check out the GRIID DeVos Family Reader.