# Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area

Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area is a Community Foundation based in Holland, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Community Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Holland, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 85 East 8th Street, Suite 110, Holland, MI 49423
- **Founded:** 1951
- **Assets under management:** $100M - $150M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** cfhz.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/community-foundation-of-the-holland-zeeland-area

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area was established in 1951 and took its current bi-community shape in 1996, when the Holland Community Foundation merged with the Zeeland Community Foundation. President and CEO Patrick Cisler leads the organization alongside a board chaired by Scott Brooks, with trustees drawn from local industrial and healthcare leadership including Kenowa Industries owner Ed Amaya and Agritek Industries co-owner Diane Kooiker. The foundation's wealth does not trace to a single family but aggregates donor-advised funds, bequests, and corporate partners — notably the Haworth Helps Donor Advised Fund linked to office furniture manufacturer Haworth Inc. The foundation pursues an unusually direct investment strategy for a community-scale endowment. Asset-class exposure spans mixed-use real estate through positions including Metropolitan Real Estate Partners III, farmland preservation via the Ottawa County Farmland Preservation initiative, and private credit through instruments such as the Kandu Industries Loan. The Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area Endowment extends the portfolio into conservation-linked assets in partnership with the City of Saugatuck. The foundation accesses real estate transactions through membership in the Investing In Communities platform, which brokers property deals that generate philanthropic proceeds. With an estimated endowment of $112 million, the foundation is accredited by the National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations and holds membership in the Council on Foundations. It operates a single office in downtown Holland, Michigan. The Holland/Zeeland Promise Scholarship represents the organization's flagship post-secondary education initiative, funded by the Community's Endowment. The foundation participates in regional economic networks including the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce and the People First Economy coalition, linking its capital to local sustainable-business priorities. In 1996, the merger that created the modern foundation was catalyzed in part by challenge-match funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. What distinguishes CFHZ structurally is its blend of a perpetual community endowment with direct, named investment holdings typically associated with a small family office — farmland, private real estate partnerships, and local business loans that sit on the foundation's own balance sheet rather than in externally managed commingled vehicles. This operating-company adjacency, reinforced by board members who own local manufacturing firms, embeds the foundation's capital inside the same regional economy that its grants serve.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Farmland
- Private Credit
- Energy Transition & Renewables

## People

- Patrick Cisler — President and CEO
- Scott Brooks — Chair of the Board of Trustees
- Diane Kooiker — Board Chair (Co-owner, Agritek Industries Inc.)
- Ed Amaya — Board Member (Owner, Kenowa Industries)

## Questions

### Is CFHZ structured purely as a grantmaker, or does it make direct investments?

Unusually for a community foundation of its size, CFHZ holds direct investments alongside its grantmaking pool. The portfolio includes mixed-use real estate (Metropolitan Real Estate Partners III), private credit (Kandu Industries Loan), farmland preservation, and conservation endowments. The foundation accesses brokered real estate transactions through its membership in the Investing In Communities platform.

### How does the foundation source deal flow in real estate?

CFHZ sources real estate transactions through Investing In Communities, a platform that brokers property deals to generate philanthropic proceeds. The foundation also partners directly with municipalities — the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area Endowment is managed in partnership with the City of Saugatuck, and farmland preservation work occurs in collaboration with Ottawa County.

### What is the relationship between the foundation and Haworth Inc.?

Haworth Inc., the Holland-based office furniture manufacturer, is a corporate partner through the Haworth Helps Donor Advised Fund housed at the foundation. This fund channels corporate philanthropy into the foundation's grantmaking structure.

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Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:32:24.474Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/community-foundation-of-the-holland-zeeland-area

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