Grants Support Great Lakes, Arts, Alzheimer’s Research and Sustainable Business Partners

The Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation announced nearly $10.7 million in new and ongoing grants as it begins its 10-year spenddown. 

Last fall the Foundation shared its spenddown strategy which included a revised mission statement and refined grant program areas. These changes will be reflected in future grant announcements.

“For the Foundation’s final decade, our grantmaking will focus on future-proofing grant partners so they can carry on their important work when the Foundation is gone,” explained Melissa Damaschke, president of the Erb Family Foundation. “This grant cycle begins to reflect our spenddown priorities as we develop grantmaking strategies for each of the programs and add new team members.”

The Foundation has many longstanding partners including several watershed organizations in metro Detroit. This grant cycle, the Foundation awarded $3.6 million for general operating support to five watershed organizations: Clinton River Watershed Council, Friends of the Detroit River, Friends of the Rouge, Huron River Watershed Council, and River Raisin Watershed Council. General operating support is more flexible, allowing organizations to put funds towards day-to-day operations and ongoing expenses that support their mission.

In this grant cycle, the Foundation also awarded an exit grant of $600,000 to the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition to strengthen the Clear the Air coalition which is working to “build a stronger movement to protect clean air, promote environmental justice, build collaboration on air quality issues, and advance policies that protect clean air and public health in Southeast Michigan and across the state.”

This reflects another change in the Foundation’s grantmaking during its spenddown. Rather than a standalone focus area, environmental justice will continue to guide grantmaking as a lens for Great Lakes and sustainable business programs. Similarly, climate change will be another lens applied to the two areas.

The Erb Family Foundation also partnered with the following organizations, among others:

• Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation to support agricultural drainage research and monitoring to protect and improve the health of the Main Bayfield Watershed in Ontario,
• National Wildlife Federation to support the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition which is working to ensure Great Lakes restoration and protection continue to be a national conservation priority in the U.S.,
• Three multi-year sustainable business grants to Inforum, Lawrence Technological University, and People First Economy to strengthen the ecosystem for small businesses,
• Southeast Michigan Foundation for Public Spaces to finish construction of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park which will feature the Barbara Erb Cove where visitors can touch the water, get close to aquatic wildlife, and engage in educational programs,
• Jazz at Lincoln Center to send 10 Detroit Tri-County-area band directors to a professional development workshop in New York for jazz educators from across the country, and
• Alzheimer’s Association to support early-career dementia scientists awarded the Fred and Barbara Erb Clinical Research Science Fellowship

See Grants List