Reprinted with permission from the National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy’s journal, Responsive Philanthropy, Spring 2008.

TROY, MICHIGAN – For more than 83 years, the Detroit-based Kresge Foundation has helped build the country’s nonprofit infrastructure, from libraries and schools to food banks and community centers. This $3.9 billion private foundation recently unveiled a new values-centered approach to its grantmaking as its way of responding to the pressing needs of our society. The nine values that represent its strategic priorities are: creating opportunity, community impact, institutional transformation, risk, environmental conservation, innovation, collaboration, underserved geography and diversity.

NCRP communications director Kristina Moore interviewed Kresge Foundation president and CEO Rip Rapson about Kresge’s new approach to grantmaking, the challenges it faced in implementing the changes and lessons learned.