The rarely told and inspiring stories of Michigan philanthropists will be heard on Michigan Radio the week of October 29 during the 7:00 a.m. hour as part of an innovative venture called the Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project.
The broadcasts will feature Michigan foundation leaders and philanthropists, including Russ Mawby, former president and chairman emeritus of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Kari Pardoe, former youth grantmaker; John Frey and his daughter Ellie Frey of the Frey Foundation; John Colina and his daughter Jomie George of the Colina Foundation; and Katelin Griffin and Breannah Alexander, youth grantmakers from Eaton County and Saginaw respectively.
Based on the StoryCorps model, familiar to most NPR listeners, the oral histories are conversations between friends, family members or colleagues focused on their motivations, experiences and aspirations related to their experience with philanthropy.
The project is the result of a partnership between the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF), StoryCorps, Michigan Radio and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University. More information about the Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project is available
here.
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John Colina & Jomie Goerge
John Colina and his daughter Jomie George give money to programs that benefit children through their Colina Family Foundation. They spoke with one another at the Storycorp booth in Kalamazoo.
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Russ Mawby & Kari Pardoe
26 year old Kari Pardoe brought her 78 year old mentor to the booth. He’s Russ Mawby and he was the head of the WK Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the world, for over a quarter century. During their conversation Russ asked Kari how getting involved in a youth advisory committee for a foundation in her hometown changed her.
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Katelin Griffin & Breannah Alexander
This week we're hearing conversations about philanthropy that StoryCorps recorded at stops in Michigan. Breannah Alexander and Katelin Griffin are members of a council of youth groups that offer grants to community service projects around the state. They talked about what philanthropy means to them as young people.
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John Frey & Ellie Frey
Ellie Frey spoke with her father, John Frey, about how the practice of giving has changed over generations. He’s in his late 60s and she’s in her early 30s. The family runs the Frey Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by John Frey's parent's in 1974.
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