West Michigan Foundation Watch: The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation

“In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”

– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy

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 posted an article on the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, and today I am focusing on  the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, which has been one of the largest in West Michigan. Doug DeVos is currently one of the CEOs of Amway, along with operating Continuum Ventures LLC, which is their investment management company.  According to the Candid website, in 2024, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation contributed $10,462,588,00 leaving them with $66,723,450.00 of funds left in their foundation account.

The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2024, 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 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.

However, before I get to how they distributed their foundation funds for 2024, I think it is important that the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation paid three DeVos-owned entities and two independent businesses to manage how their foundation money was used in 2024. Highlighted groups are DeVos groups.

• RDV Corporation – $483,259
• RDV Staffing Inc. – $209,780
• Highland Group of Grand Rapids – $131,262
• Ottawa Avenue Private Capital – $125,322
• Datawise Consulting LLC – $100,000

Religious Groups

• Bethany Christian Services – $117,000
• Christian Leaders Ministries – $50,000
• Crossroads Bible Church – $100,000
• Degage Ministries – $25,000
• Guiding Light Mission Inc. – $10,000
• Keystone Community Church – $125,000
• Life International Inc. – $30,000
• Luis Palau Association – $150,000
• National Christian Foundation West Michigan – $213,800
• Pregnancy Resource Center – $30,000
• Young Life Central Grand Rapids – $25,000

These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the DeVos family is committed to. For instance the Pregnancy Resource Center is an anti-abortion group, while Bethany Christian Services is anti-LGBTQ.

Far Right Think Tanks and Pro-Capitalist groups

• Grand Action Foundation – $325,000
• Mackinac Center – $125,000
• National Constitution Center – $1,325,000
• Philanthropy Roundtable – $25,000
• The Seminar Network/Stand Together – $1,000,000

These Think Tanks influence public policy in individual states, like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy does here in Michigan. The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation also funds Grand Action 2.0, 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.

Business entities

• Arts Marketplace at Studio Park – $244,080
• Construction Allies in Action – $100,000
• Strategic Workforce Solutions – $150,000

These groups all benefit business interests.

Political Organizations

• Ada Township – $1,000,000
• Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. – $25,000
• Gerald R Ford Presidential Foundation – $500,000

Education-centered groups

• Calvin University – $320,000
• First Steps Kent – $75,000
• Grand Rapids Christian Schools. – $30,000
• Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation – $125,000
• Living Stones Academy  – $87,250
• Potters House – $50,000
• Purdue Research Foundation – $5,175,000
• Rehoboth Christian School Association – $100,000
• Wake Forest University – $250,000
• Vela Education Fund – $100,000

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 and First Steps Kent bring a religious component into the GRPS.

DeVos-owned, created or connected groups

• Corewell Heath Foundation – $270,000
• Grand Action Foundation – $325,000
• Grand Rapids Initiative for Leaders – $30,000

Groups receiving Hush $

• Access of West Michigan – $20,000
• Baxter Community Center – $40,000
• Boys and Girls Club of Grand Rapids – $50,000
• Children’s Healing Center – $105,000
• Heart of West Michigan United Way – $325,000
• KCONNECT – $162,500
• Literacy Center of West MI – $25,000
• Oakdale Neighbors – $22,000
• Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services – $250,000
• Public Museum of Grand Rapids – $250,000
• Safe Haven Ministries – $70,000
• Urban League of West MI – $142,000
• YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids – $500,000

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 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.