2025 Annual Report
People
In 2025, CMF continued its commitment to cultivating and celebrating the leadership of all those who power our sector. Through peer community gatherings, fellowships, mentoring relationships, awards celebrations and more, CMF provided spaces for learning and collaborative opportunities to connect with colleagues and grow together.
"As a corporate member of CMF, I value the opportunity to connect with peers across corporate philanthropy and the broader foundation community. CMF creates space for meaningful relationships, shared learning, and collaboration that strengthens our collective impact. Participating in the 2025 Leader Cohort was the most impactful professional investment I’ve made since graduating college, providing relationships and perspective that continue to shape my work at Dawn and in our community."
Cherie Good
Head of Corporate Giving, Dawn Foods
“The professional development and social interaction opportunities provided by CMF’s peer communities have given me the opportunity to connect with peers from across the state on matters related to the work, as well as building my confidence as a practitioner in the field.”
Kenneth S. Frierson
Program Officer, Ruth Mott Foundation
Peer Communities
Our peer communities connect CMF members across shared interests, roles, issue areas and identities to network, build relationships, collaborate and learn from one another and together. Each of our peer communities hosts online conversations via a listserv – a resource to learn from one another, sharing timely questions, relevant updates and upcoming event information.
Pictured right: CMF members connecting during a Latinx Affinity Network gathering.
Impact Investing Peer Community
CMF has launched a new platform to better serve and connect you and all members of the Michigan impact investing ecosystem. The Impact Investing Peer Community connects stakeholders including nonprofits, foundations, advisors, fund managers and beyond. This shared space is designed to engage in relationship building, resource sharing, idea exchange and collaboration.
![As of 2025, the Community Philanthropy Award has been renamed to The Dorothy A. Johnson Community Philanthropy Award in honor of our founding CEO and a Michigan philanthropy champion, Dottie Johnson! Dottie's servant leadership has spanned decades, touching countless organizations and the lives of so many people. [NEED PHOTO]](https://annualreport.michiganfoundations.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Sara-Morley-LaCroix-image-1024x683.webp)
Philanthropy Awards
Our community of philanthropy celebrated the exceptional service and outstanding leadership of four practitioners during the CMF 53rd Annual Conference in Kalamazoo in October 2025. We are grateful for our partners Michigan Nonprofit Association, Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Michigan, CMF’s Community Foundation Committee and CMF’s Michigan Forum for African Americans in Philanthropy for supporting our Philanthropy Awards. Learn more about our philanthropy award honorees here!
We are now welcoming year-round nominations for our Philanthropy Awards. Submit a nomination form today!
CMF Fellowship Program
CMF’s fellowship program, sponsored by CMF members, is designed to support emerging leaders with the experience and skills to advance their careers in the sector while making meaningful contributions to their home foundation and the larger nonprofit community. Each cohort of fellows supports areas of work at their sponsoring foundation and receives comprehensive, wrap-around professional development support coordinated by CMF, including site visits. In 2025, CMF expanded its program with support from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, The Skillman Foundation, the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation and the Hudson-Webber Foundation.
Pictured right: CMF’s 2025 cohort of fellows visited Ford Philanthropy to learn more about its work and corporate philanthropy broadly.
Youth Grantmakers Summer Leadership Conference
Youth Advisory Councils (YAC) and YAC advisors from around the state gathered in June 2025 for the 33rd Youth Grantmakers Summer Leadership Conference. The convening, hosted for the first time at Saginaw Valley State University, featured three days of engaging peer-led programming centered on the theme Untitled: writing our own script. Over 175 attendees explored strategies for proactive and reactive grantmaking, the use of various social media platforms to effectively recruit new YAC members, ways that young people can engage in policy and advocacy to make their voices heard, and more.
For the first time in recent memory, this year’s conference welcomed a broader audience of CMF members invited to join, with foundation staff and youth partners from foundations beyond our community foundation membership engaging in sessions focused on youth engagement and leadership.
Youth Philanthropy Peer Community
Our newly created Youth Philanthropy Peer Community is open to all CMF members as a space to seek and offer related resources, exchange ideas and pose questions to colleagues across the CMF community of philanthropy to invite their thought partnership. Whether you’re just beginning to explore opportunities for centering young people in your philanthropy or have been a long-standing champion in this space, all are welcome.
Youth Philanthropy Advisor Hub
This online hub, designed for advisors who work with youth grantmaking organizations, launched in 2025 with a set of curated resources for supporting equitable youth engagement, amplifying youth voice and much more.
This evolving resource library is a collaborative effort informed by a range of perspectives, including youth philanthropists and their advisors, as well as members of the CMF Michigan Community Foundations Youth Project (MCFYP), with support from CMF Russell G. Mawby youth philanthropy interns and CMF staff.
Supporting Connections at Conference
At CMF’s 53rd Annual Conference, CMF members were invited to support peer connections and serve as a PhilanthroPEER or “ambassador” to colleagues who are newer to the field. 83 CMF member volunteers were paired with fellow attendees, which provided an opportunity to connect at the conference. Many members volunteered to continue participating to help welcome new individuals to our membership.
Leadership Development & Mentoring Program
We are proud to recognize the emerging and experienced leaders who engaged in our 2025 Leadership Development & Mentoring Program!
This six-month program features one-to-one customized coaching, leadership style and 360-degree leadership assessments and a curriculum that centers on principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), exploring topics such as emotional intelligence, personal values and career development.
CMF is deeply committed to ensuring a pipeline of diverse, adaptive leaders have access to tools, skills and opportunities to advance their leadership in the philanthropic sector and grow their professional network. In the spirit of continuous improvement, over the past year, our team has engaged in a step back to further refine and enhance this outstanding program. We look forward to opening the application process this year for our 2027 Leadership Development & Mentoring cohort.
2025 Emerging Leaders
Vadim Avshalumov
Program Officer, William Davidson Foundation
Grace Brooks
Program Manager, Michigan Health Endowment Fund
Amanda Bruner
Program Manager, Shiawassee Community Foundation
Kallista Fernanders
Senior Finance Officer, Kalamazoo Community Foundation
Diana Giles
Scholarship Program Coordinator, (Formerly) Community Foundation for Muskegon County
Ceara King
Program Specialist, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Roxana Martinelli
Program Manager, New Economy Initiative, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Channing McKay
Associate Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Jennifer Popielski
Senior Program Officer, Michigan Gateway Community Foundation
Johnathan Shearrod
Grants and Finance Manager, Rocket Community Fund
Emily Waldschmidt
Communications and Program Specialist, Delta Dental Foundation
Paris Wilson
Senior Program Manager, Gilbert Family Foundation
2025 Mentors
Kyle Caldwell
President & CEO, CMF
Maria Gonzales
Senior Director, Fremont Area Community Foundation
Cindy Hales
Vice President of Community Investment, Capital Region Community Foundation
Audrey Harvey
Executive Director and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation
Ashley Johnson
Program Officer, The Kresge Foundation
Rima Meroueh
Director, National Network for Arab American Communities, ACCESS/Center for Arab American Philanthropy
Camarrah Morgan
Program Partner, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
Mackenzie Price
Executive Director, Huron County Community Foundation
Raquel Robinson
Vice President of Programs, Ruth Mott Foundation
Leslie Schoen
Grants and Operations Manager, Steelcase Foundation
Michael Shaw
Vice President of Programs, Hudson-Webber Foundation
Lydia Stars
Senior Program Officer, Community Foundation of Greater Flint
