1
12
2
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d33728234815cc2c734f899298c67df.pdf
39905213ab501d557907b6d59801a539
PDF Text
Text
Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project
Johnson Center for Philanthropy
Grand Valley State University
Oral History Interview with David G. Frey, May 7, 2010
The Council of Michigan Foundations, Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley
State University (GVSU), and GVSU Libraries’ Special Collections & University
Archives present:
An oral history interview with David G. Frey, May 7, 2010. Conducted by Dr. James
Smither of the History Department at GVSU. Recorded at David Frey’s office in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. This interview is part of a series in the Michigan Philanthropy Oral
History Project documenting the history of philanthropy in Michigan.
Preferred Citation: Researchers wishing to cite this collection should use the following
credit line: Oral history interview with David G. Frey, May 7, 2010. "Michigan
Philanthropy Oral History Project", Johnson Center Philanthropy Archives of the Special
Collection & University Archives, Grand Valley State University Libraries.
James Smither (JS): Now Mr. Frey, can you begin by giving us a little bit of
background on yourself, start with where and when you were born?
0:00:18
David Frey (DF): I was born January 1942 in Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
(JS): And what did your family do at that time, what was your?
(DF): My father was President and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank and Trust
Company, which his father had actually started in 1918. And he had gone to the
University of Michigan, graduated in the class of 1932, and actually did some graduate
work, received a Graduate Degree from Rutgers University in banking, and served in the
Navy during World War II, and raised four children, and lived primarily in East Grand
Rapids throughout my younger years, and then moved elsewhere within the city. He also
founded Foremost Insurance Company after World War II, 1952, which became the
nation’s leading insurer of recreational vehicles and mobile homes, and other sorts of
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
1
�small boats, small yachts, motorcycles and all the related sorts of vehicles that were very
popular.
(JS): How many children were in the family?
(DF): Four children, my sister is the oldest. Mary Caroline, she goes by Twink, and then
my older brother John, and I’m the third. And my younger brother is Edward Frey, Jr.
who goes by Ted.
(JS): And what kind of education did you have?
0:01:42
(DF): I went off to private school, at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield, Michigan and then
proceeded to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from which I have a A.B.
in 1964 and a JurisDoctorate degree in 1967.
(JS): How did you pick North Carolina as the place to go?
(DF): Well, it’s an interesting story, but I was on the track team at Cranbrook School for
boys, and the track coach had gone to North Carolina in the early 1940s, and we’d spend
every Spring vacation, we would drive down to Chapel Hill and spend a week in the field
house at the football stadium. We’d practice twice a day, and then we’d run against the
Duke freshman and the North Carolina freshman and we would go up and run against
some of the prep schools in Virginia, and then come back to Michigan two weeks later, or
three weeks later and we would be in great shape and there would always still be two feet
of snow on the ground, so were really ready for the track season. It gave us a great
advantage though. My time at Chapel Hill was very persuasive and I had a great
experience there. In fact, some of my children have attended the university, so we have
had a great relationship with the university.
(JS): Did you go straight into Law School after undergraduate?
0:02:56
(DF): I did. I was deferred through Law School during the Vietnam War, a bachelor but I
signed up for the Navy in the spring of my third year of Law School, and was given a
deferral through the bar exam, passed the bar exam, and proceeded to Newport, Rhode
Island to get a commission in the Navy, six [correction: three or four] months later.
(JS): Were you doing an Officer Candidate School there?
(DF): I was. OCS in Newport, Rhode Island.
(JS): Well, since you are talking to the Director of the GVSU Veteran’s History Project,
I’m going to have to ask you a few questions about that. What did your training program
consist of?
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
2
�(DF): Well, I think I reported right after Labor Day of the fall of 1967, the bar exam was
in mid-August and graduated in February of 1968, commissioned as an ensign. It’s a
basic training about navigation, all different, sort of the basics of what a naval officer
needs to have to be qualified to be an officer. And then proceeded to San Francisco where
I went to a Damage Control School for two or three months I think it was. Treasure
Island is in the bay underneath the Oakland Bay Bridge, and then I was assigned to a ship
in the Pacific and flew to Guam, and met my ship in Guam.
(JS): Did you choose Damage Control as an area that you?
(DF): I was assigned Damage Control School. Almost every newly commissioned ensign
went to some sort of a school for some specific training.
(JS): So you weren’t getting to pick off of a list, you were just sent somewhere?
0:04:42
(DF): I may have, it has been a number of years, but it was a good experience, I’m glad I
did it. It’s very practical and useful in case there is some sort of a problem at sea, as you
can imagine. So you really do have to know where to go and what to do if for some
reason you have to - if the ship’s been compromised in some fashion.
(JS): Had you chosen the Navy specifically?
(DF): I did.
(JS): And what motivated that?
(DF): Well, my father was in the Navy. He had a great experience; I had an equally great
experience. And I like the traditions of the Navy. I have a lot of respect for their roles in
both peace time and war time. It was my only choice, my first choice, and only choice. It
was the right choice for me, and I never look back except with great appreciation for my
experience during the Vietnam War.
(JS): What ship were you assigned to then?
0:05:37
(DF): The first ship I was assigned to was actually a research vessel. We were doing antisubmarine warfare research in the Pacific. I was only on the ship for a portion of the West
Pac tour, then I went back to San Francisco, she went in the dry dock. Then I went out for
the second tour, and in the middle of my second Pacific tour, I was reassigned to a staff
position in Sasebo, Japan, which is a Naval Base on the west coast of the Kyushu Island,
the southernmost of the three Japanese Islands, where I served as an aide and flag
lieutenant to Rear Admiral A.A. Burgner, class of 1940 Naval Academy.
(JS): What sort of place was Sasebo when you were there? How could you describe it?
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
3
�(DF): Sasebo was a very special Japanese naval base which we commandeered after
World War II. The Admiral staff was embarked on a large A.R., which is a repair ship,
and they alternated every, for six months out of San Diego, California. We had an
Admiral staff was embarked on the flag ship, he had a staff of a dozen or two young
naval officers, and some not so young, and we were responsible for all of the logistic
ships of the seventh fleet as they came into the seventh fleet, and we also had the two
hospital ships off of Vung Tau where soldiers and civilians were medevacked after being
injured by the Viet Cong or Viet Cong’s related…
(JS): The North Vietnamese.
0:07:18
(DF): Right, the North Vietnamese. We also had some repair ships up in the Mekong
Delta for the swift boats. If a swift boat hit some sort of a mine in the Mekong and was
compromised, it could get to a repair ship; we could turn it into a war ship relatively
quickly. So we traveled a lot in country, almost every month and sometimes twice a
month either to Yankee Station and/or up into the Mekong Delta, or the hospital ships
down near Vung Tau. So we spent a lot of time in the war zone, never in combat per se,
but a considerable amount of time in the war zone.
(JS): What sort of understanding did you have at the time of what the war was about or
why you were there or were you not thinking about that so much as doing your job?
(DF): Well, I think that you do your job because of why you are there, and we were there
to protect the political sovereignty of the South Vietnamese, as it turned out as we all
know, we were unsuccessful in doing that for lots of reasons which lots of people have
written about and will continue to write about for a long time. But I think it was a seminal
event in the history of, certainly the twentieth century, of our history and produced some
very difficult, I would say, byproducts, if you will, socially in this country. It was a very
difficult situation, but I must say I was mightily impressed by the caliber of the forces
that were in Vietnam and of the Seventh Fleet or wherever I went. There’s some
remarkable young men, mostly men at that point in time, or in the late 1960s, however,
on the hospital ships were staffed male and female and they operated around the clock. It
was an incredible facility, it saved a lot of lives, and it was an amazing bunch of
dedicated men and women. I was proud of them then, and I’m proud of them today. We
sent the best of our American youth over, unfortunately some did not come back.
(JS): Did you have much occasion to work with any of the South Vietnamese Naval
personnel?
0:09:32
(DF): On a very limited basis. Most of our time, when we weren’t in country or visiting
hospital ships or out on the carriers on the Seventh Fleet, or actually touring on some of
the supply ships, the ARs, the AEs, the AOEs, and so on and so forth, was spent in Japan.
So most of our interaction, proportionately was probably with some of the Japanese, and
even that was rather modest, because we were on a US Naval Base in Japan.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
4
�(JS): And actually on a ship a lot of the time.
(DF): On a ship. And that’s where most staff were, although he [the Admiral] and his
wife lived in Naval housing, as did most of the married members of the staff. I was single
at that point, so I lived on ship board.
(JS): How long did you stay in the Navy?
(DF): I was in almost three and a half years, or something like that. Six months getting
commission and I got out about a month or two early, early release because by the late
1960s we were starting to down-size our commitment to the South Vietnam and troops
started getting early outs and we started to shrink our force and our presence in South
Vietnam. So I did get out a month or two earlier than planned, which I think I got out in
January, February, excuse me December of 1970. About three months early.
(JS): Did you give any thought to staying in?
0:10:58
(DJ): I did. I had a great tour of duty; I had some great bosses and senior officers. I was
impressed with them then and I’m just as impressed with them today. They were
committed to representing their country, and they did a masterful job under very difficult
circumstances.
(JS): So, why did you decide then just to…?
(DJ): Well, I think I was a little older than most of my contemporaries in terms that I had
already received a graduate degree and was probably one rank behind some of my peers
who had gone right from either the Naval Academy or undergraduate degree. So I was a
little bit behind and my real passion since I was a little, young boy was to be in the
banking business, which I did.
(JS): Did your family want you to come back too? Was that…?
(DJ): I don’t know. You will have to ask them. Both of my parents have been gone now
for 20 years. I think they were glad that I did not come back immediately. Actually, I
moved to New York City, and lived in New York for three or four years and worked for a
bank in New York City on Park Avenue and got some training and had a lot of fun. I met
a lot of my, actually, a lot of my friends from the University of North Carolina and some
from Virginia and Washington Lee, some of the schools in the southeast, had already
started in New York. Some didn’t go into the military for medical reasons or because of
their marital status or one thing or another. So it was sort of like a reunion when you got
to New York because there were all these great friends that had been there for one, two,
three or four more years and starting their careers in banking, finance, investment
banking. Some worked for the District Attorney’s offices in lower Manhattan. Great
experience.
(JS): How long did you spend in New York then?
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
5
�0:12:53
(DF): Three or four years.
(JS): So, when did you move back to Michigan?
(DF): I moved back to Grand Rapids in 1974 I believe it was, in the spring of ’74.
(JS): Was that right about the same time that your parents established the Frey
Foundation?
(DF): It was. They didn’t include us in a lot of those discussions, but I was included in a
couple discussions. Actually, in New York with the Council of Foundations which was
then headquartered in New York, as I recall. But they talked about it, not frequently, but
they were not secretive about it, but they were also private people and they did not share
with us the scope of their philanthropy or necessarily the donees or grantees of their
philanthropy. But, mostly within the city and selectively other places. And we don’t even
have all of those records, and I don’t know that it would shed a lot of light on it. Because
once it was permanently funded when my father passed away, we had to reestablish, or I
would say establish the four of us our focus areas. What were we interested in? What
were our passions? What could we agree on in terms of focus areas and try to chronicle
those so that we started bring some discipline to the grantmaking process. And while
you’re doing that, we also had diversification issues within my father’s estate. Some of
which were easily done, others were more complicated. So, we retained Goldman Sachs
to help us diversify the assets so we could get a more mature and diversified asset
portfolio from which we would make our grants.
(JS): As best you know, while your parents were alive, how did they run the foundation?
How did they manage things?
0:14:42
(DF): I think the two of them just sat down and either proactively, in some issues I’m
sure, or passively. It’s sort of an awkward word because they weren’t passive people, but
when somebody comes to you for example, for a gift to the new public museum, that’s
called passive grantmaking. I would chose a different term, but that’s the way that it’s
generally described, and I think they did some of both. And as I said, we don’t have all
the records and I’m not sure we need to. They did it quietly, they did it, I think,
effectively, and they used assets of my mother’s and father’s estate that would lend
themselves to their philanthropy. They did it very quietly for fifteen years until my father
passed away, from 1974 to 1988. He passed away in July of 1988. So, for those fifteen
years they really ran it themselves and those decisions were private decisions that they
make just between the two of them.
(JS): Do you have any sense as to what kinds of causes or issues they were particularly
interested in?
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
6
�(DF): I think they have always been interested in the future of the city. I mean, they had
deep roots in the city and believed passionately in the city, and believed passionately in
Grand Valley State University. They were in the forefront of those who worked very
hard, both in Lansing and in western Michigan to garner support for the founding of the
University. So, they had some passions, the Episcopal Church was one of them, and my
mother went off to prep school at Emma Willard in Troy, New York, and I think they
made some gifts to her private school that she had great affection for. Most of it was
within the city or within the western Michigan community. That’s where their roots are,
that’s where their passion was. They believed in it, they appreciated what the city and
region had done for them, and they were just sharing their good fortune with others.
(JS): Now, you get to the point there when your father dies, was that in 1988 when it
happens?
(DF): Right.
(JS): And then, this is now being thrust upon you. You talked a little bit here just a
moment ago about some of the stuff that you had to deal with. How much time and
energy did it require for you and your siblings to get this foundation set up?
0:17:20
(DF): It took a lot of time because we were settling the estate; we had meetings almost
weekly with lawyers and accountants to deal with a myriad of issues. And so it was very
time consuming and doubly so because of this foundation which required a lot more
effort on the part of the four of us because of the mandatory IRS requirement that you
must distribute five percent of the average assets of the previous year. So, there is a
draconian penalty for not doing that, we chose to try to do that, which we did. And I have
to give high credit to my sister and two brothers, they were, I was on a full time career,
traveling a fair amount, and not here when I was on business activities in Detroit,
Chicago, or elsewhere. So, it took a lot of time and energy. Plus, at the same time we
were doing that we were having an executive search for an Executive Director. We had to
have somebody that could actually do this day-to-day, and none of us, or I should say it
the other way, all of us wanted to have a dedicated Executive Director, a non-family
person who could really run a small office of about five or six people and manage those
people every day so that we could do the things that our lives required us to do, raising
families, whatever.
(JS): How did you go about actually finding an Executive Director?
(DF): We talked to Russ, the first phone call actually that I made was to Russ Mawby,
who was then the head of the Kellogg Foundation. He gave us some names, we hired a
search firm as I recollect, and gave that name to a search firm, and this was 22 years ago.
We hired someone who had Kellogg Foundation connections and then we found an
office. We had to find a space downtown, we wanted to be in the city, which was the
focus of our parents’ passion, and get an architect to design us some offices, build it out,
decorate it, and so on and so forth. This - are very time consuming and sort of all in a
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
7
�relatively short time frame, but at the same time dealing now with my mother’s newly
diagnosed terminal illness, which just added more on top of more. So it was a very hectic,
sort of stressful year or two in there.
(JS): About how long did it take then to actually get to the point where you had the office
set up and staffed and up and running?
0:19:55
(DF): Well, I think, I can’t recall exactly. I would say within the year I think we had a
staff. And we had a lot of friends of the family who were very helpful who had some
great suggestions on some staff people. We were able to find some pretty talented people
who were looking for a different challenge, and you know family foundations are unique
in many respects. There are three basic kinds of foundations: there are corporate
foundations, family foundations, and community foundations. We are obviously one of
those three, but because it is a private family foundation and has different grantmaking
requirements per the IRS and different, as you can imagine, DNA issues if you will.
(JS): As this got going, how did you define what the foundation was going to do? You’ve
set up this foundation, what kinds of activities will it target, and how will it determine
what it does?
(DF): We started to work on that ourselves, we found out that we needed to get
somebody, a third party, if you will, somebody who had some real family foundation
insight, experience, so we found a very talented individual who helped us walk through
some of that. It really does take a non-family member to be that impartial…
(JS): Arbitrator?
(DS): Guide to sort of help you focus in on what it is that you want to do, and it’s turned
out really, extremely well, being we have five focus areas, and we all have our different
within those five. We probably each have different priorities, so what might be my
number one priority might be my sister’s third priority and my brother’s fifth priority. If
you add them all together, there is a concentric circle where we all buy in to these five
areas, and the only difference amongst the four of us is, which is your priority, and rank
them. And as they say, they don’t all coincide, so what we basically do is in the fifth one,
it is support philanthropy, and so it is a relatively smaller piece of our annual activity. But
the other four, we all allocate the same number of grant dollars every year, even though
every year we may not use that allocation because the way the grants come in aren’t
always in perfect proportion to one other. So, over some reasonable period of time, it all
averages out and we keep very close tabs on it so that we don’t, for any extended period
of time, or at least unwittingly, over-allocate to one of the four focus areas.
(JS): What are those four focus areas?
(DS): Well it’s changed a little bit, but it’s women’s and children’s issues, civic issues, an
all-other category, environment, we are very passionate about the environment, and the
fifth is the support and embrace philanthropy and promote it where we can do so
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
8
�reasonably and get some outcome out of it. We do believe in outcome, so I refer to it as
outcome-based philanthropy. We want a high, what I call stick figure factor, stick factor
so that when you distribute funds for a specific purpose, for a grant, then it actually gets
done the way the grantseeker has suggested it should or would get done. That does
require a lot of front-end research, and that’s the way you need to do it. You need to front
load your grantmaking process so that you err on the side of overdoing the front end a
little bit so that you’ll like the outcome a lot better. And then in fact, in many cases we
are able to vie some suggestions to the grantseeker as to how they might alter their thing
a little bit to get a better outcome than they originally envisioned.
(JS): For people who are coming in from outside of this field who are not used to this
particular kind of work, when you are talking about front-loading and so forth, what does
that actually involve and who is doing what, sort of…
0:24:25
(DF): Due diligence, we have staff; we have some people who specialize in the
grantmaking process. They do on site visits, they take the grant application, in the case
that someone is coming to us, and review it, ask the right questions, do their due
diligence, interview the grantseeker, or grantseekers if it’s more than one. We do a quick
but thorough study on the composition of their board, and make sure that it’s got some
gender equality to it, some ethnic equality to it, or balance I should say, and that the
application itself is well thought out, that the numbers, that the budget that they’ve
prepared for this project, whatever it might be, is sound, defensible, and will achieve the
desired result. So, it is really about asking the right questions. We try not to overdue it,
but you have to have some core information upon which you, they can make a
recommendation to the trustees. We meet four times a year, we do our grantmaking in the
afternoon, we do our investment activity in the morning. It’s taken a while to get there.
We used to try to do it over two days, but now we got it to the point where we can
actually do most of it in one day, which is, you know, for people who have careers, jobs
and other commitments, which we all do, time is important. So, we try to make it a time
sensitive and time efficient process, but still be effective in our grantmaking, and we
really do think we are effective in our grantmaking. We are very pleased with almost all
of our grants’ results. Every now and then a problem arises and we can approve a grant
extension because we have some rules about when you must comply with a grant and if
you don’t, we are more than willing to give you an extension for six months, a year, or
even eighteen months, but at some point if you don’t fulfill your original mission then the
grant will be cancelled. We don’t distribute our funds, our grant if we make a grant for
$100,000 or a million, we don’t write that check until you’ve raised 80% of the overall
budget. So, until you get to the 80% mark, we are still holding the funds. When you get to
80%, that is a clear enough signal to us that you can have a successful program and
successful support from whatever your sources of support are, that we feel comfortable
then writing the check.
(JS): So you generally look at what you’re doing as helping somebody who is already
getting support from other places or has other resources and then you put in something on
top of that.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
9
�(DF): Right. We believe very strongly in partnering, and we think strong partnerships
create better outcomes. It also makes the grantseeker do their homework more thoroughly
and more completely. There are some who for reasons of time and other reasons would
like to have their project or program supported by a relatively modest number of
grantmakers. It requires less time, and so on and so forth. We would, in most cases, not
all, would rather see a broader base of support where more people are buying into the
thing, more people are watching the process and making sure that the outcome is as
promised. And that all goes to the credibility and the integrity of the grantseeker. We
want these grantseekers to be successful. We will help them be successful in a couple of
different ways. One is doing our homework up front, one is not distributing our grant, if
it’s approved, until they have commitments for 80% of the total budget, and then we do a
follow-up at the end of each project. They are required to submit a report, asked to submit
a report of the project once it’s funded and running.
(JS): Now, is this set of practices, as far as you can tell, is that fairly typical of
reasonable-sized foundations or do you do more of this kind of homework than a lot of
family foundations do?
(DF): I’m not the one to ask that question. I think you will find a range of processes. We
try not to be overly burdensome to the grantseekers, but we still, there is a fine line
between getting the information you need so that you can ask the right questions because
it really is all about making them successful. We want them to be successful. If we do
sufficient homework and request sufficient information, we can ask the right questions,
make some suggestions perhaps, and have a higher probability of a successful outcome. I
think everyone, there probably are some basic rules out there. We’ve sort of developed
our own but I know that we all talked to other individuals involved in foundations and
they all have a little bit different take on it depending on where they’re located, what their
focus areas are, you know, whether it’s for operations or for capital or whatever or some
combinations. Most of ours are capital related, but not all. Or, many of ours are capital
related, but not all.
(JS): Let’s steer the course a little bit back sort of to your own career trajectory a little bit.
We have gotten you into a period of 1988, 1990, in there some place. You worked with
your family to get the foundation set up and so forth. In your own career at this point,
what are you doing, what position are you in at about 1990?
0:29:58
(DF): I’ve got two young sons and four step children, some are in college and some
aren’t. The two young boys are ten and seven, so you know, and I’ve got a full time
career. I am very busy, and enjoyably so. I like challenges and I like being a dad. I try to
be a good one. So I had to fit the foundation activity in with a lot of other things.
Meanwhile I was on the Board of Trustees with the Grand Rapids Community
Foundation, ended up being the Chairman of that foundation, had already done my
United Way thing. I was on the Board of United Way for several years. I chaired a
campaign in the early 1980s so, I always had lots on my plate. I did everything I could to
be a good trustee of the Frey Foundation. I didn’t have perhaps quite as much time to
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
10
�devote to it as some of my siblings, and I thank them for doing what needed to be done
because it wouldn’t have gotten done without them. It really had to be a family to get it
organized and get it up and running, and to set up the board meetings, and so on and so
forth.
(JS): Was the United Way the first larger scale rather charitable foundation or work that
you got involved in or were you doing things before that?
0:31:25
(DF): Well, it was the first, we were sort of raised in the culture that you get engaged, if
you want to have a successful community you better get engaged in the business about
what’s going to make it great. The United Way is one of those things and has been for
years, decades, important to our family, then and now. It was something I wanted to do,
and I was asked to participate. I was asked by the campaign leadership in the early 1980s.
I was happy to do it. It was a great experience, great experience. I met some incredible
people. It’s a little bit of a different organization today than it was then, but you know,
the world has changed. So, you know, how they allocate their funds is different now then
it was then, and that’s fine. That’s the primary foundation activity that I was involved
until the Frey Foundation came in seven or eight years later. I think by having done that,
there are certain parts, even though that’s a community foundation as opposed to a
private family foundation, there are certain principles of process and so on and so forth
that were very helpful to me and providing maybe some suggestions in regards to the
Frey Foundation when it was first starting.
(JS): Where does the Michigan Community Foundation, or was it the Grand Rapids
Community Foundation that you were involved in as well?
(DF): Yes.
(JS): When did you get involved with them and how did that happen?
(DF): That was…
(JS): Because at the United Way and then you kind of carried that over…
(DF): Right, into the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. I started in the late 80s in the
Grand Rapids Community Foundation. I think I chaired it in 1992 while I was still a
trustee then of the Frey Foundation, so I was sort of wearing two hats at the time. That’s
where I really learned some processes about investment committee activity and the
committee’s structure in the Grand Rapids Community Foundation that were very helpful
I think in terms of the Frey Foundation. If I misspoke myself I apologize.
(JS): That’s okay. It seemed to kind of follow logically, but we wanted to make sure we
had the right sequence.
(DF): It actually followed sequentially. I mean, I learned a lot from the United Way too,
but that’s a different sort of, you know they allocate funds in a different way, with a
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
11
�different process. They are very much community-based, so on and so forth. The Grand
Rapids Community Foundation has some similarities to it but, you know, it’s been a
phenomenal success, has had great leadership, and now, interestingly enough, we partner,
we the Frey Foundation partner with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and with
Steelcase and DeVos and some of the other private foundations or corporate foundations.
Once again, we find some concentric focus areas, and some non-concentric, but some
very concentric which we could all sort of get involved in and make a difference. And a
big difference in some cases.
(JS): Now, you had mentioned early on that your parents kind of kept a lot of their own
activities and priorities barred to themselves, but at the same time on a broader level, they
were communicating to you the idea that you need to give back or to be involved in the
community.
0:34:41
(DF): Yeah I think so. That was a dinner table conversation before they ever thought
about having a private family foundation. It was just part of what makes communities
great. It was imbued in us that if you want to have this great community wherever you
are, that you have to be a participant. Bystanders don’t get things done. You have to roll
up your sleeves and get engaged in some way or another with whatever your passions are.
Whether it’s the arts, whether it’s social issues, whatever it is that drives you. Get
engaged; balance it with your other priorities and with your other responsibilities to your
family, your profession, so on and so forth. But there is a piece of you that you should
share with the community or with your church if that is what you choose. You do have to
sort of balance yourself, and I guess the people that I would consider the most successful
are those people who have the balance in their lives that makes them a fuller, more
complete, more well-rounded individual because they’ve done that or are doing it.
(JS): Do you think that it helped you at all in terms of your own activities locally that you
had seen as much of the world as you had and gone and done and as many things as you
had at different places first. Do you have a perspective that might be different than if
you’d stayed in Grand Rapids the whole time?
(DF): I think so. A lot of people think I’ve never left. I went away for twenty years. I left
to go off to private school. That was a great experience for me. It was a game changer, an
absolute game changer for me. It opened my eyes, gave me a whole new vision for the
world and where I could go. Then I lived in Japan for two years, lived in San Francisco
for six months, then in Japan, then in New York. I lived in North Carolina for seven
years. So I have lived in some, and enjoyed every place I have lived. I met some
phenomenal people, and I’ve enjoyed my experiences, and I’ve encouraged my children
to do the same. I think you are a more rounded person if you’ve had the opportunity and
taken advantage of the opportunity to go out and see what’s out there in the world. So,
my two sons, and some of the step children, we try to travel with them so that they would
feel more comfortable traveling, that they would be more comfortable with different
languages, different currencies, different dining habits, different cultures. It makes you
appreciate what is out there. It’s a phenomenal planet, for all our woes, which there are
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
12
�many; there are just lots to learn and lots to experience. I think you’re a better parent,
you’re a better citizen, you’re a better corporate person if that’s what you do, or a better
government or whatever you are if you can have some worldly experiences.
(JS): In addition to the United Way, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the
Frey Foundation, you have also been involved in different kinds of civic organizations
and things. You were with the Grand Action at some point…
0:38:00
(DF): I remain at Grand Action. We are getting on close to twenty years. Dick DeVos,
John Canepa and I started in I think it was 1992 or 1993. It followed the Grand Vision
Committee, which Dick DeVos chaired, so but for Grand Vision, there wouldn’t be a
Grand Action. We’ve been doing it now for eighteen years plus, and it’s been a great
experience. All three of us I would say are about twelve years difference in age, very
different in many respects, but we are committed to the city and committed to the region.
We’ve tried to help build the city and help create some energy, and we hope we’ve been
successful. We’re not done yet. We’re now working on the urban market, and we think
it’s got tremendous support from the general population and we’re at the early stages of
trying to get some funding from a half a dozen foundations, the seed money that we can
hire an architect and start getting organized. In the past, in our other three major projects,
we’ve had an anonymous donor that gave us the seed money, and then subsequently
down the road they would identify themselves, but at least initially they chose to be
anonymous. In this case, it doesn’t lend itself to being a donor-driven or a named
opportunity. I think it’s going to be very successful and very exciting, and it sort of
stretches the footprint of the city to the south a little bit to Wealthy Street. We’re very
excited about it; we’ve had a consultant who has been terrific. We think it’s a $27 million
project, probably $30 if you add in the real estate, but we think it is going to be very
exciting.
(JS): A certain portion of people who may view this interview and so forth are likely to
be from outside of the Grand Rapids area and west Michigan and so forth. Fill in a little
bit of the background, for instance, what exactly was Grand Vision and what was it
expected, intended to do, or what was the idea of it?
(DF): Grand Vision was designed to explore the feasibility of a large convention center
and an arena. They went about that for two years, hired Rossetti Associates, an
architectural firm out of Detroit, who actually did Auburn Hills Arena, and Deloitte and
Touche to do some economic [forecasting]. So, two years later they came up with the
recommendation, the conclusion that yes, we could build an arena and yes, we do need an
enlarged convention facility. So, some of us said well look, here is the recommendation,
now who is going to do something with it? So we morphed Grand Vision into Grand
Action and John Canepa, Dick and I got together and said why don’t we just take the
recommendations and get going here, which we did. Initially, in hind sight, we were
going to try to do the arena and convention center at once. We unbundled them,
thankfully, because of the time it took. The arena went first, because we had a clean site.
It was a parking lot at a sight of the former Union Station which was a train station here
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
13
�for a hundred years or more, and it was taken down several years ago. That was the
easiest piece of real estate to deal with, and the city was a great partner, the county was a
great partner, the state was [too]…it worked out well. That was the first one, and when
we got that one done and open in ’96, we went to the convention center. That was a
bigger project and much more complicated because it required the movement of the
County Court House and the Grand Rapids Police Department to new locations.
Complicated on top of that was the site, which is bounded by Michigan on the north,
Lyon on the south, the river on the west, Monroe on the east, had some sub soil issues,
erosion issues, which we had to shore up and it got more complicated, but we go it done.
So, in exchange for a convention center, we got a new police station, we got a new
courthouse, and it worked out great.
(JS): And in some way, I’m someone who has lived now in this community for twenty
years and has seen a lot of this happening, actually in the process of moving some of
those things out, you helped to redevelop or reuse some other parts of the city. The police
department went into a failed downtown mall complex, for instance and so forth.
(DF): Right. There you go. You got it.
0:42:46
(JS): I, having been from the Midwest, having seen plenty of Midwestern and
northeastern, west belt cities, I kind of look at Grand Rapids and look at a lot of these
other places and think it’s really pretty remarkable what’s happened here.
(DF): It is. We are counter-trending is what we are doing. We’ve always, our unspoken
byline is let’s not let the economic woes of the state, which are substantial and they’re
real, restrict our activity or our commitment to the city. We’ve been able to do this with a
lot of private dollars. We got a fabulous new J.W. Marriot Hotel because of the
convention center. A lot of things have resulted from it. We’ve had tremendous
development south of Fulton Street because of the arena. Twenty years ago you may not
have chosen to walk down that after dusk. One of the really interesting little side stories
about the arena. When we built the arena, we made a promise to the Heartside
neighborhood, that a lot of people who live in Heartside, unemployed, partially
employed, underemployed who have various disabilities, and are medicated for some of
those disabilities. So, a certain percentage of the employees at the Van Andel Arena
today are hired from the Heartside neighborhood. They can walk to work; they don’t
have to rely on public transportation or their own transportation. They have a job, in
some cases for the first time, many of them are part time employees. But it has given
these people a sense of self pride and purposefulness that they maybe have never had
before. Those are the little stories that you don’t read much about. We read about Elton
John and the Eagles and the great, you know Faith Hill. But, every day there’s some
people that will walk to work at that arena who are doing meaningful work and taking
enormous pride in themselves, and that’s just really important.
(JS): Now, you are also involved with the Downtown Development Authority in Grand
Rapids.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
14
�(DF): No
(JS): That is more of a public partner in some ways with what…
0:44:47
(DF): They have been a great partner with Grand Action. The city, the county, the DDA,
the State, and even the Feds, the Federal government helped us do some, about $7 million
of infrastructure for the convention center. We had to redo some, move a lot of stuff
around below grade. We’ve had great partners; Governor Engler was a great partner for
the convention center. We’ve just had great partners all the way. The interesting thing
about Grand Action has been in that all of these three projects, the one we didn’t talk
about was the Meijer Majestic Theater, the Civic Theater, fabulous restoration, very
different. We’ve always, particularly in the first two, always got private sector
commitments, pledges, before we went and asked the city, the county or the state to do
anything. We always told them what we were doing, we were very open. So I think we
had a lot of credibility when we went to Lansing, or to the county or to the city saying we
have raised X millions of dollars, we’ve got pledges for X millions of dollars. Please
partner with us and either donate the land or do something to help us get this thing done.
We’ve been met with very welcoming yeses.
(JS): You had mentioned at the beginning of the interview that you were sort of retired
out of...
(DF): Right.
(JS): What kind of official positions or responsibilities do you hold now?
0:46:15
(DF): I was chairman and CEO of Union Bank Corp. when we merged in 1986 with NBD
Bank Corp. out of Detroit. My job after that merger was to manage the western Michigan
part of that corporation. Four mergers later, we are now part of J.P. Morgan Chase. I
retired about five years ago, and I keep an office in the Chase building, and I have lots of
activities on my… I still spend a lot of time on Grand Action, I currently am chairman of
the Frey Foundation, I have done some fundraising in the past for the University of North
Carolina Chapel Hill, I have a great commitment to that university. I have been active in
the University of Michigan campaign that was recently completed very successfully. My
wife went to Michigan, I have a couple kids who went to Michigan, my sister went to
Michigan. We’ve made some wonderful grants to the University of Michigan from the
Frey Foundation, both for the Ford School of Public Policy, and we recently endowed the
Deanship at the Business School in honor of my father who was in the class of 1932 and
a passionate Wolverine.
(JS): As chairman of the Frey Foundation, what do you actually have to do?
(DF): I chair the meetings, I help coordinate the agenda. Because I’m in town, my two
brothers are out of town, my sister is a trustee emeritus and not as active, she has her own
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
15
�foundation, Nokomis Foundation which she chairs, I get involved in some things that I
wouldn’t be involved in if I lived some place else and was sort of a non-resident
chairman. I do a lot of things in terms of some of the grantmaking activities or the special
needs that I have to get involved that normally I wouldn’t necessarily because I’m
available, I’m in the city and I’m downtown. I do keep very busy; I try to take a little
time off. We have a winter place, residence in Florida, and I’m back and forth every ten
days or two weeks for three or four or five days. In the summer time I’m here Mondays
through Wednesdays, sometimes Mondays through Fridays. I am trying to take a little bit
of time to have some fun. I’m passionate about the city, and actually as we speak I’m cochairing the Capital Campaign for the new Seidman Business School with Doug DeVos.
We are trying to raise $25 million of private funds for what will be a $35 to $40 million
project on the west side of the river. It is going to be a stunning, a stunning building
designed by Robert A.M. Stern, one of the great American architects in New York City.
He is also the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, and he did the Ford School of
Public Policy in Ann Arbor. We had interviews with some terrific national firms. It’s
going to be a great project. I’m still raising money for Grand Valley and trying to raise
money for Grand Action when we get into the fundraising mode. These projects that we
get, like Urban Market, take a considerable amount of time to get them positioned right
and in some cases to get the private donor involved and so, I’m fully engaged.
(JS): Yeah. Yeah. There is retirement, and there’s retirement.
(DF): I’m flunking retirement. Everyday I flunk retirement.
(JS): Right. You are talking about building the Seidman Business School for Grand
Valley State University. Grand Valley, when it was established, was built out in the
middle of a cornfield in between Holland and Muskegon and Grand Rapids in part
because the land was cheap. But, over the course of the past several decades, it has built
up a very substantial presence in downtown Grand Rapids.
(DF): Right.
(JS): It’s on the west side of the Grand River, which is opposite of where the proper
downtown activity mostly is. And that’s another area, kind of like the area around the
arena on the south side of downtown that has really changed a lot with that investment
building in.
0:50:20
(DF): Right. It’s interesting. I had expected that with the downtown campus that we
would see perhaps more development of the west side. We have seen some development,
it has been very positive, but it has not been on quite the scale that I had expected. Maybe
when the Business School, again I think we need some more dormitories or family
housing, married housing, or whatever, just on the south side, immediately south side of
Fulton Street. Maybe that will spur some more development of the other commercial
activity, restaurants, other sorts of stuff. But, it has developed some, not quite to the
extent that I had envisioned.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
16
�(JS): But you didn’t have as much of the core downtown infrastructure right there, which
you had with the arena and the convention center. You do get into residential
neighborhoods or some kind of industrial districts pretty quickly.
(DF): Very quickly. My grandfather was born on the corner of Straight and Douglas
Street. I know the west side pretty well. In 1880, believe it or not.
(JS): Alright. Now, is there any kind of advice that you might give to somebody, say,
second or third generation member of the family who has a family foundation who is
going to be getting involved in that, or maybe they’re facing the prospect of a changeover
from the first generation, the founding generation over to them. Are there things to watch
for, or prepare for that could help them as they move forward?
(DF): We invite all of the next generation to our meetings and they are spread all over the
country. There’s nine I think, and they can’t all attend every meeting. We have four
meetings a year. Some can attend on a more regular basis, others, some have young
families, some have careers that don’t permit them to attend very frequently, but we try to
encourage them to so that they can see what the process is like. I encourage all of them to
get engaged in some volunteer activities so they can see how volunteer organizations
work, whether it’s a community foundation in the community in which they live, or
something so that they develop a sense of contributing, volunteering, and start to learn
about committee structure and so on and so forth. They may learn that in their day job,
whatever that may be, but if they don’t, this is a great way to learn it because we should
not be the sole source of their training or their experience. They will be much more
effective trustees of the Frey Foundation if they’ve had experience elsewhere. I think this
is certainly true of me, and I would think it would be true of others if their schedules and
personal life permit it. So I encourage that greatly, but I think the biggest challenge,
unless it is prescribed in the document itself by the initial grantors or donors who endow
it, unless it’s in the documents the transition from one generation to another is the most
challenging. Who should be? Who should not be? How do you pick who gets picked?
How long should they serve? You know it’s serious stuff. There’s serious thought, and in
some cases there are room for some very helpful consultants who can help you avoid
some of the problems that other families have had for lack of good counsel. It can be
done. The question is who and when, and for how long, and particularly if you have
multiple branches, who don’t necessarily live in the same, and even if they do live in the
same general community. That is the process we are in as we speak.
(JS): Are there concerns about losing sort of the focus on the particular area? In this case,
this was very much a kind of Grand Rapids and west Michigan-oriented foundation that
your family has kind of spread itself into different parts of the country. Do you have
things in place that will help to keep the focus?
0:54:42
(DF): We think, I think you’ve got to define focus a little bit, but we are in agreement that
the headquarters of the foundation will remain in Grand Rapids. We do our grantmaking
spread throughout western Michigan, really on the north western quadrant of the state of
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
17
�Michigan so far. But, we make exceptions like the University of Michigan; we actually
sent a very nice grant to Detroit to help send a strong message that it’s important for this
entire state that Detroit be successful. So, when they started redeveloping their riverfront,
we sent a pretty significant grant to help them do that, even though it wasn’t in the total
scheme of things huge, but it was an important message and a pretty good sized number.
We want the office to be here. Will the grant making mix change? It could. Too early to
say. But, we think we’ve got it pretty well honed right now. We partner with the Kellogg
Foundation, in fact, to start the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Foundation as well as the
Charlevoix Community Foundation. We have been major funders along with Kellogg to
get those two foundations up and running. Since then, they’ve grown exponentially with
the State gifts, inter vivos gifts, and gifts from all kinds of people who all of a sudden,
who had no exposure to the world of community foundations to embracing them and
advancing them in an enormously rewarding way. It’s been a real experience because
neither of those counties or communities had community foundations. So, we were able
to partner, and it’s been a great lesson in the benefits of the foundation.
0:56:36
(JS): One other grant that your foundation has made was to create the Frey Foundation
Chair at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley.
(DF): Right.
(JS): Can you explain a little bit what that chair is and what it’s for?
(DF): Based on our experience, that we think that if we can get the right candidate, or
series of candidates over some period of time, that we can bring a lot of enlightenment to
the process so that family foundations, and even non-family foundations for that matter,
will have a resource that they can go to when they have some of these issues that we’ve
faced. We’ve resolved some of them on our own, but some we’ve asked consultants to
help us with. They’ve been very helpful. We think it’s a great teaching platform. There
has been a huge increase over the past fifteen years in the number of family foundations
that have been created. There is a different mentality out there in the new generation of
family foundations, much more demanding, much more outcome-based for their grants,
and much more, you know, diligent and disciplined in their expectations of their grants.
We try to do that. There’s a new generation’s even more determined to ensure the right
outcome. We think Grand Valley is the right place to do it. The Johnson Center’s going
to be terrific. We are hoping that somewhere along the line we will have a chair for each
of the three kinds of foundations. A Professor of Corporate Foundations, a Professor of
Community Foundations combined with a Professor of Family Foundations. So you will
have all three legs of the stool, and you will have an absolute phenomenal resource that
can compete with any other university who holds themselves up to be the preeminent
source for all foundation knowledge and wisdom. I think we can respectfully challenge
those institutions if we get the right candidate here and a little bit more heft, if you will,
within the faculty at the Johnson Center.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
18
�(JS): This is also a period now where you are getting increasing numbers of people
actually getting professional training and education to actually go and work for nonprofits
and for foundations and so forth. And part of what we are trying to do here is that. So you
are starting to get students who are learning this and being part of this program and
connected with it. There’s still not a whole lot of programs out there yet that do that, so
you are in a position to promote something that is still…
0:59:14
(DF): There are a couple of universities that have carved a niche out, and I am not
probably the greatest or the most knowledgeable on who’s the best of the best. But, as I
said, I think with this professorship and a few other key positions created and filled,
Grand Valley can respectfully challenge whoever is out there and do it I think with great
integrity. Interestingly enough, for basically a regional university, this is one discipline
that doesn’t require gaggles of professors and assistant professors and so on and so forth.
With a relatively small number of professors, you can be a national force. You can be a
national name in a niche, unlike the History Department or the English Department.
There are so many great universities with great English Departments and History
Departments or Math Departments that requires a lot of people, a lot of professors. This
takes fewer people. You can take a regional university with a national, much like you
know the Athletic Department at Grand Valley has had enormous success, a Division III
school, very successful, made a real name for themselves and the university. I think the
world of the Johnson Center can be equally as effective, and we are going to actually,
part of the grant is to encourage and promote some symposiums on philanthropy in Grand
Rapids and elsewhere, and elsewhere, but in Grand Rapids. Bringing in the best talent
that we can periodically to have symposiums and conventions or whatever it is to
stimulate philanthropy and to make it more effective than it already is.
(JS): I think that has done a pretty good job of laying out here what your vision of things
is.
(DF): Right.
(JS): And certainly what your own experiences have been. I would just like to thank you
for taking the time to talk with me.
(DF): You are welcome. One of the things that you didn’t say, the interesting thing about
family foundations as opposed to the other two is, we are really not in the development
business, so our staff looks a little bit different than the community foundations.
(JS): You don’t have to raise money.
(DF): We don’t have to raise money. Some family members may chose to give gifts
while they are living or are testamentary when they pass away. Corporate foundations are
even different, because some of them are funded with the stock of the corporation, and
dependent on dividends, some are not. It’s a whole different world. They are very
different, but the good news is in this particular part of the world, we have some
overlapping and concentric focuses that allow us to do some really great stuff, and not
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
19
�compromise the areas where we don’t have concentric or nonconcentric focus areas. Do
your own thing over here. I think we have a great camaraderie and great partnering with
the foundations in central-west Michigan and it has been very rewarding, very satisfying.
(JS): Thank you.
(DF): You’re very welcome. Thanks for the opportunity.
Edits from David Frey were incorporated into this final transcript.
Oral History Interview with David Frey, May 7, 2010
20
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c60617cf09e61060a765e10495ce0f14.mp4
7dde7e6f3ba1bf8c20ff7d5b3f0a3544
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project Interviews
Subject
The topic of the resource
Philanthropy and society--Personal narratives
Family foundations--Michigan
Charities--Michigan
Description
An account of the resource
The Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) was initiated in 2006 as an innovative partnership between the Council of Michigan Foundations, StoryCorps, Michigan Radio and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University to create an oral history of Michigan philanthropy. Additional video interviews were created by the Johnson Center for Philanthropy to add to the depth and breadth of the collection.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/516">Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) (JCPA-08). Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Sound
Text
Moving Image
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
audio/mp3
application/pdf
video/mp4
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
JCPA-08
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
2006-2008
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Johnson Center for Philantrhopy
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
StoryCorps (Project)
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Source
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/516">Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (JCPA-08)</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frey, David, G. video interview and transcript
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Frey, David G.
Description
An account of the resource
David Frey is chairman of the Frey Foundation, a Grand Rapids, Michigan based family foundation. He discusses his early life, education, service as an officer in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and work as chairman and CEO of Union Bank, now part of J.P. Morgan Chase. He discusses how his parents established the Frey Foundation and how they inspired their children to participate in the community. He shares how he and his siblings built the foundation and how they are involving the next generation. He discusses the foundation’s focus areas and outcome-based philanthropy. He discusses his service with the United Way and Grand Rapids Community Foundation, partnerships with other foundations, fundraising for universities, co-chairing the capital campaign for the Seidman Business School, and establishment of the Frey Foundation Chair at the Johnson Center. As one of the founders of the Grand Vision Committee, which became Grand Action, he was interested in building a convention center and arena with a promise of employing those living in the Heartside neighborhood of Grand Rapids.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Smither, James
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Philanthropy and society
Personal narratives
Charities
Michigan
Associations, institutions, etc.
Family foundations
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Frey Foundation
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
JCPA-08_FreyD
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Relation
A related resource
Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2010-05-07
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a24b96b8c010d334f839b51cc74caa29.pdf
b9befcdc9bc502b46021cc808f8d468f
PDF Text
Text
The Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project
Interview Log Sheet
Storyteller: John Frey
Interviewer: Eleonora Frey
Date: 6/25/07
Time: 44:40
Facilitator: Rachel Falcone
Location: Charlevoix, Michigan
(0:00) Introductions
(1:00) Discuss his mother and father that founded the Frey Foundation, then the
children took over
(2:40) Didn’t have a definite plan for the foundation after their parents passed away.
Dorothy Johnson helped the family with the direction of the foundation
(4:29) Discussed the passing of the mother, and how their grandfather and uncle were
into philanthropy also
(5:59) Discussed the early projects of the foundation, redevelopment of Grand Rapids
and quality of the area
(7:40) Generation of giving- John’s generation- to help strangers and those in need
(8:57) Story of hay, everyone helping in a farm
(9:46) “Fill the Gap” understanding grants as part of the process- grant makers become
social investors. Grandmother was on the board and chose 5 area in spirit of their
passions- environment, arts, children, civic progress, furthering philanthropy
(12:16) Discuss how the foundation world falls into its own language
(13:40) Look at the interests of the trustees, family dynamics with the family foundation,
interaction of the family for greater good of the community
(15:34) Family
(17:17) Discuss the family involvement in the foundation, round table, how John’s
generation has given a voice to the foundation, young generation now involved with the
changes
(19:39) John talks about the gentlemen with ideas. Zoo, Grand Rapids Civic Theater,
Santa Maria, St. Mary’s. Development of the Community Foundations- YAC
(21:16) Michigan was the foundation of YAC- Mott and Kellogg
�(22:48) Formalization of the process of grant-making
(24:40) Frey Foundation has become a model for other foundations
(26:33) John’s favorite memories of Philantrhopy, family portrait
(27:37) John hopes that later generations don’t start off with criticisms like his
generation did
(29:30) Lead with positives instead of negatives
(30:43) Discuss John’s passion- families helping families
(32:16) Tough questions and tough answers to be made, but not being afraid to make
decisions. Education is key to getting people involved and understanding philanthropy
(36:26) Challenges for philanthropy in the next generation
(37:21) Discuss taking positions, speak to politicians
(38:27) Discuss how John would like to see foundations connect with politicians
(42:06) International community
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4063b41a324847c21cc4d45153650204.mp4
db887f4a93188978859fad51791bb406
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project Interviews
Subject
The topic of the resource
Philanthropy and society--Personal narratives
Family foundations--Michigan
Charities--Michigan
Description
An account of the resource
The Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) was initiated in 2006 as an innovative partnership between the Council of Michigan Foundations, StoryCorps, Michigan Radio and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University to create an oral history of Michigan philanthropy. Additional video interviews were created by the Johnson Center for Philanthropy to add to the depth and breadth of the collection.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/516">Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) (JCPA-08). Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Sound
Text
Moving Image
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
audio/mp3
application/pdf
video/mp4
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
JCPA-08
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
2006-2008
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Johnson Center for Philantrhopy
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
StoryCorps (Project)
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
JCPA-08_Frey
Title
A name given to the resource
Conversation with John and Eleonora Frey
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Frey, John
Frey, Eleonora
Description
An account of the resource
Father and daughter pair John Frey, Vice-Chairman, and Eleonora Frey, Next Generation Trustee of the Frey Foundation, talk about the founding of the Frey Foundation in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the importance of the next generation's participation in the foundation's giving.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Philanthropy and society--Personal narratives
Family foundations--Michigan
Charities--Michigan
Frey Foundation
Women
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives, Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives, Council of Michigan Foundations StoryCorp Interviews
Relation
A related resource
Johnson Center Philanthropy Collection (JCPA-08)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sound Portraits Productions
StoryCorps (Project)
Michigan Radio, Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2007-06-25