West Michigan Foundation Watch: The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation

Foundations are a way for members of the Capitalist Class, which made their wealth by exploiting workers, to hide some of their wealth from taxation, only to then turn around and use foundation funds to undermine social movements and generate positive PR for themselves.

It is that time of the year again, when GRIID posts about the various West Michigan Foundations from families that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure. I start with the DeVos family, which has just 5 different foundations, since the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation was recently fazed out, which I wrote about in a 2 Part series.

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation

GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has been one of the largest in West Michigan, which was founded in 1989, the same time that Dick DeVos was the CEO of Amway. According to GuideStar, in 2022, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation contributed $8,657,300.00 leaving them with $57,782,067.00 of funds left in their foundation account. 

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2022, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few. Below is a listing of each from these categories, with a dollar amount and a brief analysis. 

We also include groups that are DeVos owned or created, along with liberal non-profits. With the liberal non-profits, we believe that funding from foundations like the DeVos family foundations is a form of hush money. When we say hush money, we mean that these entities will not publicly challenge the system of Capitalism, the wealth gap, structural racism and other systems of oppression, which the DeVos family benefits from and perpetuates through their own political funding.

Religious Right

• Alpha USA – $100,000 
• Global Leadership Network – $400,000
• Help Pregnancy Crisis AID Inc. – $75,000
• Mars Hill Bible Church – $246,000
• Museum of the Bible – $50,000
• Partners Worldwide – $25,000
• Pregnancy Resource Center – $20,000
• Right to Life of Michigan – $25,000
• Embracing the Journey Inc. – $200,000 

These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the DeVos family is committed to. For instance, Right to Life Michigan spent $9,343,500 to defeat Prop 3, which allows people to legally chose to have an abortion.

Far Right Think Tanks

• Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty – $252,500
• American Enterprise Institute – $375,000
• Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies – $650,000 
• Foundation for Individual Rights in Education – $25,000
• Great Lakes Education Foundation – $100,000 
• Institute for Cultural Evolution – $34,000
• Mackinac Center for Public Policy – $625,000
• Philanthropy Roundtable – $50,000 
• The Claremont Institute – $260,000 
• Young America’s Foundation – $25,000

These Think Tanks influence public policy in individual states, like the Acton Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy does in Michigan. The American Enterprise Institute and the Philanthropy Roundtable do the same thing, but at the federal level, which is why they are based in DC. 

Education-centered groups

• Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy Inc. – $1,000,000
• Grand Rapids Community College Foundation – $50,000
• Holland Christian Schools. – $51,000
• Northwood University – $250,000
• Potters House – $200,000
• Prager University Foundation – $25,000
• Student Freedom Initiative – $500,000
• University of Maryland – $1,450,000

DeVos-owned, created or connected groups

• ArtPrize – $200,000 (this was the last year it was being run the Rick DeVos)
• Chicago Cubs Charities – $10,000
• Corewell Health Foundation – $330,000
• Grand Action Foundation 2.0 – $50,000
• West Michigan Aviation Academy Foundation – $450,000 

Of course all these entities that were created by DeVos family members, also promote their ideological religious and capitalist values. On top of that, it also means that DeVos family members are funding their own entities and using their foundation to fund their own pet projects, like Grand Action Foundation 2,0 – which promotes development projects in Grand Rapids that use public funds and expands their wealth – or the West Michigan Aviation Academy – because it promotes the privatization of education. 

Groups receiving Hush $ 

• Baxter Community Center – $5,000
• Exalta Health – $10,000
• Degage Ministries – $5,000
• ICCF Community Homes – $25,000
• Kent County Habitat for Humanity – $5,000
• Kids Food Basket – $5,000
• Safe Haven Ministries – $10,000
• Women’s Resource Center – $10,000 

These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the DeVos family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups. 

Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The Dick and Betsy DeVos has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID documented 10 years ago when we started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, like all of the DeVos family foundations, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.