Insights

• Posted on July 07, 2014 – Posted by: Lori Dykstra

  Bethany Teaches the Value of a Life-Long Education

  It was the second day of a summer of opportunity and I could feel the energy stirring. Students of Bethany Christian Services' summer employment program trickled in and sat around the U-shaped table, respectfully chatty [...]

• Posted on June 26, 2014 – Posted by: Lori Dykstra

  Grants in Action

  Hi there, I am Lori Dykstra, the summer PR & Marketing intern here at Grand Rapids Community Foundation. Welcome to “Our Community Matters,” our new blog! We reconfigured this page so that various staff and [...]

• Posted on June 03, 2014 – Posted by: Meredith Fennema

  Meet Our Grantmakers: Marcia Rapp

  Everyone, meet Marcia Rapp. She's been with Grand Rapids Community Foundation since 1988, and while she would never admit it, she knows the Grand Rapids community incredibly well to say the least. As Vice President, Marcia administers [...]

• Posted on January 31, 2013 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  Are you a woman of faith?

  My blog postings have been infrequent at best in the past few months and I hope to step it up. This does take discipline and I need to buckle down to take a moment to [...]

• Posted on December 19, 2012 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  Dreams can come true!

  This morning brought great news that our colleague organization, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), received a phenomenal stock gift of $500 million from Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook.  This gift will definitely help to [...]

• Posted on June 06, 2012 – Posted by: Laurie Craft

  Changing how we think of homelessness

  At Grand Rapids Community Foundation, we work to create a community that has all of the great qualities that West Michigan has—and to make it better. As an optimist, this is a great place to [...]

• Posted on April 27, 2012 – Posted by: Kate Luckert Schmid

  Get Out There and Hug a Tree Today!

  Arbor Day is the perfect time to stop and take notice of the tremendous value trees have on our community.  While the beauty of a tree is evident, only recently has research begun to prove [...]

• Posted on April 16, 2012 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  News at the ground level! The Rapidian is all about our community!

  My dad was an editor extraordinaire.  He was a valued employee at The Detroit News for more than 45 years starting as a carrier and climbing the ladder to become the highly regarded Sports Editor retiring [...]

• Posted on February 15, 2012 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  The Social/Nonprofit Sector - what will it look like decades from now?

  Provocateur: a person who provokes trouble, causes dissension, or the like; agitator.  OR, according to the Sieger definition, is it a person who causes one to step out of their zone and look at the [...]

• Posted on January 10, 2012 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  What was your first job? What summer jobs did you have? How did this impact your life?

  Shelley Irwin, host of WGVU Radio Morning Show as well as WGVU-TV programs, has had me on every month on her radio show in a segment known as “Perspectives in Philanthropy” for a number of [...]

• Posted on December 02, 2011 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  You Poor Souls! ;-)

  It's time for Diana's Soapbox! For years, I have been on a mission to help people understand that the nonprofit sector is not second class! While the sector has been hit hard by the recession, what [...]

• Posted on November 26, 2011 – Posted by: Diana Sieger

  Lessons learned from a Generous Man

  Fred Meijer passed away on November 25th a few days shy of his 92nd birthday. He was a staunch and generous supporter of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. My memories of Fred are so wonderful [...]