West Michigan Foundation Watch: The Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation

Philanthropy is just reputation laundering for the oligarchy. 

The Edgar & Elsa Prince 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. Seven weeks ago I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, then six weeks ago I investigated the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Five weeks ago it was the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, and four weeks ago it was the CDV5 Foundation, which is the Cheri DeVos Foundation. Three weeks ago I looked at the DeVos Family Foundation, and two weeks ago I wrote about the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation. The most recent post was about the Steve and Amy Van Andel Foundation. Today, I want to look at the most recent 990 document from the Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation. 

According to GuideStar, in 2024, the Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation contributed $1,367,500 leaving them with $1,222,741 of funds left in their foundation account. Edgar and Elsa Prince are the parents of Erik Prince and Betsy DeVos. Erik Prince is one of the Board members of his parents foundation. Although Edgar has been dead for several years, the foundation that is in his wife and his name, continues the legacy of funding the Religious and Political Right.

Religious Right

• Christian Leadership Institute $20,000
• American Values $20,000
• Gateways to Better Education $15,000
• Words of Hope $30,000
• Bible League – $15,000
• Women’s Rights Without Frontiers $20,000
• Pregnancy Resource Center $10,000
• Alliance Defending Freedom  $25,000
• Protect Life Michigan $35,000
• Wycliff Bible Translators $15,000 
• Michigan Family Forum $25,000
• Prison Fellowship Ministries $100,000

The Alliance for Defending Freedom is a Conservative Christian group of lawyers that defends religious groups around anti-LGBT policies and other religious right issues. They are a far right version of what the ACLU is. American values is a group that was started by Gary Power, which put their emphasis on fighting against abortion and defending Israel. The Prison Fellowship Ministries is a Far Right Christian group that tries to convert people in prison, but doesn’t have a problem with the Prison Industrial Complex. They are also part of the State Policy Network. The Bible League and the Wycliff Bible Translators often in work in tandem to impose Christianity on Indigenous people around the world, which I have written about previously.

Political Right and Think Tanks

• Freedom Alliance $25,000
• Media Research Center $20,000
• Council for National Policy $15,000
• Mackinac Center for Public Policy $10,000
• Acton Institute $23,500
• Turning Point USA $35,000
• Mom’s for America $5,000

Freedom Alliance is an entity that was founded by convicted Iran Contra scandal participant Col. Oliver North. The Media Research Center is a right wing media “watchdog” group run by president and founder Brent Bozell. It is predominately funded by larger right-wing foundations. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a right-wing pressure group based in Michigan. Founded in 1987, it is the largest state-level “think tank” in the nation. It was established by right-wing activists to promote “free market,” pro-business policies.  Moms for America is a group of women that fights against Critical Race Theory in schools, opposes the Movement for Black Lives, was involved in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection, plus the Southern Poverty Law Center designates them as a Hate Group. Turning Point USA is a right-wing 501(c)(3) organization, with a mission to “build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country.” The group funnels money to right-wing candidates for student government at universities across the country and has faced numerous allegations of racial discrimination. TPUSA is funded by a variety of right-wing mega-donors, including the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, Foster Friess, Michael Leven and various Koch brothers-affiliated groups, such as the Foundation for Economic Education, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund.

Education Institutions 

• Holland Christian Schools $28,500
• Potter’s House Christian School $37,500
• Zuni Christian Mission School $20,000
• Allendale Christian Schools $15,000

DeVos-owned, created or connected groups

• Christian Leadership Institute $20,000
• West Michigan Aviation Academy $47,500

Groups receiving Hush money

• Wedgewood Christian Youth and Family Services $15,000
• Family Promise $20,000

These groups all provide some sort of social service. 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 Prince family foundation makes contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these organization, which is why we call it hush money. 

You can clearly see that the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation primarily funds the Religious Right and the Political Right, even though sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the two. The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation is a perfect way for the family to hide some of their wealth from taxation, but allows them to use it, just like direct political contributions, often working in tandem with campaign contributions.