Community Foundation of Greater Flint

The foundation's investment strategy is overseen by its Board of Trustees and professional staff, led by President and CEO Dan Kildee and Interim President Mark Miller. The board includes local business leaders such as Chris Graff of Hank Graff Chevrolet and Mark Piper of Piper Realty. The foundation pools its assets and likely uses external investment consultants, though specific internal investment committee members are not publicly detailed.

Grantmaking is sourced through a community foundation model — local donors establish donor-advised, designated, and unrestricted funds, and the foundation distributes grants based on donor intent and community needs assessments. It runs multiple geographic sub-funds for Clio, Davison, Fenton, Flushing, and Grand Blanc, and thematic funds like the Flint Kids Fund. This structure creates a built-in pipeline of locally identified priorities rather than a centralized top-down sourcing process.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a frequent co-investor and business partner in Flint-based philanthropic initiatives. The two foundations collaborate on major community projects, including the Foundation for Flint and the Flint Center for Educational Excellence. Mott Foundation funding helped establish several of CFGF's endowment initiatives.

The foundation invests through a mix of direct and fund commitments. Its strategy includes buyouts, fund-of-funds, natural resources, and secondaries, which implies a blend of direct co-investment, pooled fund commitments, and secondary market purchases. The exact split is not disclosed, but the structure is typical of community foundations that use investment consultants to build diversified institutional portfolios.

Governance rests with a Board of Trustees that includes representation from local business, real estate, and automotive sectors. As of late 2023, the board appointed retired GM executive Mark Miller as Interim President and CEO, with Mark Piper and Mark Miller serving as board co-chairs and Chris Graff as Chair. This draws operational leadership heavily from Flint's legacy industrial and commercial base.

The foundation has not published a formal exclusion list. However, typical community foundation portfolios prioritize long-term total return with an emphasis on capital preservation and income generation for grantmaking. The presence of natural resources and secondaries in the strategy suggests comfort with less-liquid, longer-duration assets, while the absence of venture capital tags may indicate a tilt toward more established, cash-flowing strategies.

The foundation administers several named community funds — including the Clio Area Community Fund, Davison Community Fund, and Flint Kids Fund — that operate as sub-accounts under the main investment pool. It does not maintain separate operating businesses. The Gen Forward Network, a member of Philanthropy Together's Thrive cohort, functions as an engagement platform rather than a separate investment vehicle.