Jazz McKinney started as executive director of the Grand Rapids Pride Center on March 15 after previously serving as the organization’s interim director and chair of its Transgender and Gender-Non-Conforming Committee. Originally from Detroit, McKinney — who uses they/them/their pronouns — is a Grand Valley State University graduate and longtime Grand Rapids resident.

KALAMAZOO — The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition has taken ownership of the 168-year-old First Baptist Church downtown and seeks to raise millions of dollars for renovations and expanded programming.

GRAND RAPIDS — The city of Grand Rapids is partnering with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation on what has been a years-long process of creating a fund to increase the amount of affordable housing.

MUSKEGON — In mid-March the Muskegon Museum of Art announced a $9.9 million expansion plan to add additional gallery space to the facility, which — according to museum officials — has already been mostly funded. 

Earlier this month, Kent and Ottawa counties separately released results from their Community Health Needs Assessment reports, which compile data from surveys of county residents, health care professionals, and community leaders. 

GRAND RAPIDS — New City Neighbors is in the process of relocating its operations from Fourth Reformed Church following a dispute last year over the church’s position on sexual orientation and gender identity.

GRAND RAPIDS — Bethany Christian Services’ announcement this month that it would begin to help LGBTQ parents nationwide adopt children was a major policy reversal for the global adoption agency and, for civil rights advocates, appeared to be a step toward progress.

Grand Haven-based nonprofit Do More Good has merged with a Nebraska organization that provides educational resources to nonprofits across the U.S., a move that officials say will expand their reach and mission.

GEORGETOWN TWP. — Hudsonville-based nonprofit Hand2Hand recently purchased a former Aldi grocery store to consolidate its office and warehouse space into one location.

The full effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy was still largely unknown when the first round of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans was announced in late March 2020.

GRAND RAPIDS — After acquiring two other Grand Rapids nonprofits over the last year, Mel Trotter Ministries is considering plans for a housing development after purchasing an abandoned property on the city’s south side.

The corporate foundations of the state’s two major energy utilities have distributed nearly $26.5 million in direct relief funds to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and personal protective equipment since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

An online simulation tool rolled out by Heart of West Michigan United Way in September is designed to build empathy and help people understand what it’s like to live as an ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) household.

Some nonprofits survived the first nine months of the pandemic relatively unscathed while others are hanging on in hopes that a widely distributed vaccine lifts capacity restrictions and renews confidence in gathering indoors.

Michael Layton looks forward to the day when he can walk around downtown Grand Rapids or join colleagues for a coffee or beer in person. Originally from Philadelphia, Layton is Grand Valley State University’s new W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair, the nation’s first endowed chair focused on community philanthropy. He joined GVSU’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy in early September, but his relocation is on hold because of the pandemic. Layton founded and directed the Philanthropy and Civil Society Project at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, where he developed a groundbreaking research and advocacy program to understand and strengthen philanthropy and civil society.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit eight months ago, many Latinx and Black business owners missed out on federal loans and other relief because they didn’t have relationships with local bankers or didn’t have financial statements in order.

A national organization and a Michigan-based nonprofit are partnering to raise $30,000 in support of people currently or formerly incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes, hoping to bring an element of justice for those jailed for offenses that would now be legal in Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS — United Methodist Community House will receive $1 million in state funding for an early childhood education and senior activity center planned on the city’s disadvantaged southeast side.

Michigan nonprofits operating in the workforce development and housing sectors see a need to raise awareness among clients following new statewide criminal justice reforms.

State lawmakers advanced a pair of bills last month that nonprofit organizations across Michigan say would help restore charitable contributions to community foundations, homeless shelters and food banks.

GRAND RAPIDS — Nonprofit In the Image is in the process of moving locations after the city of Grand Rapids bought its aging building along South Division Avenue to relocate a fire station. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand River has historically divided the city of Grand Rapids in multiple ways, but as redevelopments have ramped up in recent years, leaders of a restoration plan are stressing the importance of making the river accessible to all residents. 

Housing nonprofit leaders say the temporary halting of residential evictions issued recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a positive short-term move, but could cause a large wave of evictions at the end of the year.

The Steelcase Foundation is launching a search for a new president after president Julie Ridenour announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

GRAND RAPIDS — Nonprofit housing organizations will now have the ability to purchase and redevelop up to 60 different foreclosed properties for affordable housing projects.

Muskegon’s Lakeshore Museum Center had big plans for the 2020 season. 

Sheldon Schwitek is among a number of West Michigan nonprofit executives who found themselves in new leadership positions in the middle of a pandemic.

A robust stock market, strong economy and low unemployment rate in 2019 created a trifecta that is credited for the second-best year in recorded history for charitable giving in the United States.

Two Grand Rapids youth housing organizations and longtime partners have merged into one organization after years of consideration, aligning with recent consolidation trends among nonprofits.

The announcement last month that five of the most influential U.S. charitable foundations would be substantially increasing their giving levels was met with gratitude by philanthropic leaders in Southwest Michigan.

One week before schools throughout Michigan were ordered to shut down, leaders with Kids’ Food Basket had already begun to put a plan in place to meet the needs of the children they serve on a daily basis.