West Michigan Foundation Watch: The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation

Philanthropy is just reputation laundering for the oligarchy. 

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 5 different foundations. 

The Doug and Maria 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. Last week I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, so today I want to share information on the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Doug DeVos is currently one of the CEOs of Amway, along with operating Continuum Ventures LLC is their investment management company.  According to GuideStar, in 2023, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation contributed $18,363,810.00 leaving them with $70,633,614.00 of funds left in their foundation account. 

The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2023, 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. 

I 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 ARE a form of hush money. When I say hush money, I 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

• Christian Leaders Ministries Inc. – $100,000 
• Help Pregnancy Crisis AID Inc. – $20,000
• Keystone Community Church – $120,000
• Life International Inc. – $30,000
• Luis Palau Association – $150,000
• National Christian Foundation West Michigan – $252,000
• Pregnancy Resource Center – $30,000

These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the DeVos family is committed to. For instance, Help Pregnancy Crisis AID Inc, Life International and the Pregnancy Resource Center are all anti-abortion groups. The Luis Palau Association grew out of the work of Luis Palau whose activities have been reported in dozens of article in Christianity Today during the past 40 years. During that time Palau was in Somoza’s Nicaragua dictatorship, where, unlike the community of Solentiname, a Nicaraguan Christian based community under persecution, he was welcome with open arms. In 1977, Palau was greeted and accompanied on his crusade by Colombian president Alfonso Michelsen, not particularly known for being a human rights advocate. Also in the 70’s Palau visited Bolivia with the help of an organization known as Food For the Hungry (FFH). According to Sara Diamond’s book Spiritual Warfare, FFH “argues that poverty is rooted in individuals’ belief systems and by extension, in cultures supposedly conducive to underdevelopment and poverty.” (Diamond pg. 226) The founder of FFH, Larry Ward, was also with Palau on that trip. Ward, a former overseas director of World Vision “was known to have a close relationship with South Vietnamese and US military leaders.” In 1982, Palau brought his crusade to Paraguay, under the brutal dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. According to recently declassified documents there was massive execution of civilians during Stroessner’s reign. (see Covert Action Quarterly, Fall 1994). Stroessner’s government gave Palau his approval to distribute 100,000 bibles and study courses to children nationwide. Luis Palau was also a close friend and supporter of the Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt, who engaged in genocidal policies during his 18 months as President.

Far Right Think Tanks and Pro-Capitalism groups

• Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty – $75,000
• American Enterprise Institute – $100,000
• Grand Action Foundation 2.0 – $1,000.000
• Greater Grand Rapids Chamber Foundation – $6,244,500
• Mackinac Center for Public Policy – $125,000
• National Constitution Center – $1,550,000
• The Seminar Network Inc. – $1,000,000

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 does the same thing, but at the federal level, which is why they are based in DC. The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation also funds Grand Action 2.0 and the Greater Grand Rapids Chamber Foundation, both of which promote policies that use millions in public dollars for private projects that the DeVos family benefits from in Grand Rapids. The Seminar Network Inc. is part of the Koch family ultra-conservative network.

Education-centered groups

• Calvin University – $100,000
• Center for Sound Literacy Foundation – $1,500,000
• First Steps Kent – $150,000
• Grand Rapids Christian Schools – $405,000
• Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation – $135,000
• Living Stones Academy – $500,000
• Potters House – $75,000
• Perdue Research Foundation Inc. – $125,000
• Wake Forest University – $344,000

Half of the Education groups that the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation contribute to are conservative Christian Schools. Some of the other groups are a mechanism to insert influence in the Grand Rapids Public Schools, such as the Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation, First Steps Kent and the Center for Sound Literacy Foundation, which also brings a religious component into the GRPS. 

DeVos-owned, created or connected groups

• Corewell Health Foundation – $270,250
• Grand Action Foundation 2.0 – $1,000,000
• Start Garden LLC – $90,000
• West Michigan Aviation Academy Foundation – $515,050 

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 Start Garden, which promotes entrepreneurialism instead of social equity and people making a living wage.

Groups receiving Hush $ 

• Bethany Christian Services Inc. – $117,000
• Community Food Clubs – $35,000
• Family Promise of Grand Rapids – $40,000
• ICCF Community Homes – $30,000
• Project Green – $125,000
• Safe Haven Ministries – $70,000
• Urban League of West Michigan – $133,360 

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 Doug and Maria 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 Doug and Maria 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.