West Michigan Foundation Watch: The David and Carol Van Andel 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 started with the DeVos family, which has 5 different foundations. Now I want to look at the Van Andel family foundations.

The David and Carol Van Andel 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. Five weeks ago I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, then four weeks ago I investigated the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Three weeks ago it was the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, and two weeks ago it was the CDV5 Foundation, which is the Cheri DeVos Foundation. Last week, I looked at the DeVos Family Foundation. 

According to GuideStar, in 2023, the David and Carol Van Andel Family Foundation contributed $16,898,064 leaving them with $109,872,066 of funds left in their foundation account.

The David and Carol Van Andel Family 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. 

Before I dive into how the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation distributed their funds, I wanted to point out that David Van Andel is chairman and CEO of Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, along with numerous other business investments.

Religious Right

• Cascade Fellowship CRC – $100,000
• Mel Trotter Ministries – $1,500,000

Think Tanks 

• Acton Institute – $73,500
• Grand Action Foundation – $1,000,000

Education-centered groups

• Ada Christian School Education Foundation – $1,000,000
• Calvin Theological Seminary – $40,000
• Grand Rapids Christian Schools – $300,000
• Hope College – $25,000
• Western Theological Seminary – $1,876,000

Van Andel-owned, created or connected groups

• Van Andel Research Institute – $68,800

Groups receiving Hush $ 

• Bethany Christian Services – $1,100,000
• Blandford Nature Center – $120,000
• Inner City Christian Federation – $120,000
• Kids Food Basket – $100,000
• Opera Grand Rapids – $165,000 (a representative of the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation sits on the Board of Trustees) https://www.operagr.org/board-of-trustees/ 
• Salvation Army – $50,000

It is instructive to see that in 2022, the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed $1 million to the Grand Action Foundation, an organization that the Van Andel family has been involved in since it was founded, plus an organization that has convinced the City and the County to use hundreds of millions in public tax dollars to fund the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. Not surprising, the new soccer team will be jointly owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families. 

It is also not surprising that the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed to Bethany Christian Services, which has reverted back to it’s more ridged and ideological stance on issues like only hiring Christian staff and taking an anti-LGBTQ position. Like the DeVos family, the Van Andel family doesn’t give money just for the fun of it, they use their foundation funds to strategically support the Christian and political right entities, especially in West Michigan.