# Peter C. and Emajean Cook Foundation Peter C. and Emajean Cook Foundation is a Foundation based in Grand Rapids, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Foundation - **Headquarters:** Grand Rapids, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 2900 Charlevoix Dr SE, Suite 130, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, United States - **Founded:** 1987 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** cookfoundationgr.org ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Peter C. Cook, who built his wealth as the owner of Mazda Great Lakes and Import Motors, founded the Grand Rapids-based foundation with his wife Emajean in 1987. The Cooks embedded their Christian values into the foundation's mandate, concentrating its grantmaking on education and religious organizations. The foundation remains tightly held, with second and third-generation family involvement through President Thomas H. Claus and Treasurer Carrie L. Boer, who also oversees investments at the affiliated Cook Holdings entity. Unlike a broad-based endowment, the Cook Foundation's activity is heavily weighted toward direct community transformation in West Michigan rather than diversified grantmaking across unrelated geographies. Its asset mix includes minority stakes in local institutions — notably through Boer's role as a director of Northpointe Bancshares — as well as direct ownership of several property assets. The foundation's real estate footprint includes the ICCF Community Homes Initiative in Grand Rapids and Lansing, The Highlands property on Leonard Street, Cook Village apartments in Holland, and the Cook Library Center and Cook Arts Center on Grandville Avenue. These holdings reflect a posture that blurs the traditional line between a grantmaking foundation and a place-based community developer. The foundation operates alongside Cook Holdings, which shares the same Charlevoix Drive office and management team. Claus and Boer are the public faces of this compact structure, with a supporting staff that includes Becky J. Mikowski and Laura Matonich. Ryan Cook also serves on the board, continuing the family's direct governance of the entity. A significant past philanthropic partnership links the Cooks with the Van Andel family — co-developers of the Van Andel-Cook Center — and with the DeVos family on other West Michigan capital projects. Where most private foundations operate as pure grant distributors, the Cook Foundation's direct-property-holding model sets it apart. It does not outsource community development; it acts as a property owner, landlord, and neighborhood investor. The foundation's board retains family majority control, and its executive functions are run through the related Cook Holdings, ensuring investment decisions and grant strategy remain a single, integrated operation rather than a bifurcated family-office-plus-foundation structure. ## Sectors - Education - Healthcare Services - Real Estate ## People - Thomas H. Claus — President and Director - Carrie L. Boer — Treasurer and Director - Robert D. Brower — Secretary - Peter C. Cook — Founder and Past Chairperson - Thomas M. Cook — Past Chairperson ## Questions ### How is the Cook Foundation's investment portfolio structured alongside its grantmaking? The foundation does not separate its grantmaking from its investment posture in a traditional sense. Through the affiliated entity Cook Holdings, the foundation maintains direct ownership stakes in community real estate assets — including ICCF Community Homes, The Highlands, and Cook Village — and board-level links to local financial institutions like Northpointe Bancshares through Treasurer Carrie Boer's director position. ### What is the relationship between the Cook Foundation, Cook Holdings, and the Cook family's business interests? The foundation and Cook Holdings share the same Grand Rapids office suite, phone line, and key personnel — Thomas H. Claus as president and Carrie L. Boer as treasurer serve both entities. This integrated structure means the foundation's operational functions, property management, and investment oversight run through a single family-controlled administrative core rather than through separate, outsourced providers. ### Does the Cook Foundation accept unsolicited grant proposals from organizations outside of West Michigan? No. The foundation's explicit geographic mandate centers on West Michigan, with a stated emphasis on Grand Rapids. Its grantmaking supports education and religious organizations alongside select human services and arts organizations, but its publicly available materials do not describe an open application process for entities outside this regional focus. ### Which Grand Rapids families does the Cook Foundation co-invest with or partner alongside? The foundation has a documented history of co-philanthropy with the Van Andel family — co-developers of the Van Andel-Cook Center — and with members of the DeVos family on various West Michigan community projects. These relationships reflect a pattern of coordinated place-based capital deployment among Grand Rapids' prominent families rather than participation in formal co-investment structures. ## Related profiles - [Pesca Equity Partners](https://altss.com/profile/pesca-equity-partners) - [Peter J. King Family Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/peter-j-king-family-foundation) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/peter-c-and-emajean-cook-foundation Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology