Herrick Foundation

The Herrick Foundation is a family-controlled private foundation founded in 1949 by Ray W. Herrick, a Michigan industrialist with ties to the automotive manufacturing era. Today the foundation is governed by three Herrick family trustees — Lisa Herrick Parker (President, $120K annual compensation), Todd W. Herrick II (Vice President, $48K), and Linda J. Herrick (Trustee, $12K) — alongside CEO/Secretary Wendy Brightman, who receives no compensation. This structure tells you everything about how the foundation operates: decisions flow through family relationships, not a professional program staff.

The single most important fact for any grant seeker is that the Herrick Foundation accepts applications by invitation only. There is no grant portal, no open LOI cycle, and no unsolicited review process. As of 2025, the foundation has stated it is pausing new invitations due to existing multi-year commitments, meaning the cultivation window has effectively extended to FY2026-FY2027 for first-time applicants.

The foundation's three stated priority areas — Education, Community Wellbeing (healthcare, domestic violence services, food security, public spaces), and Housing — are interpreted broadly. A review of 127 grants across the dataset reveals giving that spans major academic medical centers, arts and cultural institutions, conservative civic policy organizations, environmental conservation groups, and workforce-aligned education initiatives. The common thread is not sector but geography and relationship: 86% of grants go to Michigan organizations, concentrated in Southeast Michigan (Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland counties) and Northern Michigan (Petoskey, Charlevoix, Traverse City corridor).

For first-time applicants, the relationship progression typically requires: (1) sustained visibility within grantee community networks, (2) an informal introduction facilitated by a current grantee organization, (3) a small exploratory grant in the $50K-$150K range, and (4) a deepening multi-year relationship for organizations that demonstrate high impact and alignment. Top grantees like University of Michigan and Interlochen have accumulated $2M+ in cumulative gifts across multiple grant cycles.

Organizations outside Southeast and Northern Michigan, or those led without any personal connection to the Herrick family network, face a significantly longer cultivation horizon. Budget time accordingly — 18-24 months of relationship-building before any realistic expectation of an invitation.

The Herrick Foundation has distributed consistently between $7M and $9M annually over the past decade, with a notable spike to $11.5M in FY2021 when net investment income hit $63M (COVID-era market recovery). From FY2018 through FY2024, grantmaking normalized: $8.4M (FY2018), $9.3M (FY2019), $9.4M (FY2020), $11.5M (FY2021), $8.5M (FY2022/23), and $8.17M (FY2024). Foundation assets have grown from $124M (FY2012) to a peak of $187.8M (FY2021) before stabilizing around $179-181M.

Across 127 grants totaling $23.1M in the available dataset, the average grant is $182,134 — but this is skewed by large capital campaign gifts. The median grant is $70,500, and typical first-time awards cluster in the $50K-$175K range. The foundation regularly extends multi-year, multi-grant relationships: University of Michigan received 3 grants totaling $2.2M; Interlochen Center for the Arts received 4 grants totaling $1.875M; Henry Ford Health System received 3 grants totaling $1.5M across two organizational entities.

Sector distribution (estimated from grantee analysis): - Healthcare and Medical Research: ~28-32% of total dollars. Includes major capital campaigns for hospital facilities (Packard Health $1.5M, McLaren Northern Michigan $1.32M) and precision medicine programs (Henry Ford $1.5M). - Education: ~22-25%. K-12 (Aim High School $362K), higher education (Interlochen $1.875M, Ashland University $825K, Wayne State $250K), and trade/workforce (Lawrence Technological $170K). - Housing and Human Services: ~10-12%. Northwest Michigan Habitat $750K, Old Pueblo Community Services $510K, Ozone House $500K. - Food Security: ~5-7%. Gleaners Community Food Bank $950K (4 grants), amplified during COVID period. - Policy and Civic Organizations: ~7%. Mackinac Center $1M, Ashland Spirit of 76 $825K, Conservative Partnership Institute $100K. - Arts and Culture: ~5-6%. Great Lakes Center for the Arts $1.075M cumulative, Detroit Symphony Orchestra $150K. - Environment and Conservation: ~3-4%. The Stewardship Network $500K, Grand Traverse Bay Alliance $100K.

Grant floors of $5,000 exist for small community organizations, but the realistic entry point for serious relationship-building is $50,000+. Grants above $500K are reserved for capital campaigns at flagship institutions with deep family relationships.

The following table compares Herrick Foundation to four similarly-scaled Michigan private foundations. All figures are approximate based on most recently available public 990 filings.

The Herrick Foundation occupies a mid-tier asset position among Michigan private foundations and most closely resembles McGregor Fund in scale and community-focused orientation. Unlike McGregor (which publishes an LOI process and open deadlines) or Hudson-Webber (which runs competitive cycles), Herrick is the most opaque of the peer group — no published guidelines, invitation-only access, and no staff program officers who respond to prospect outreach. The Erb Family Foundation is the closest structural parallel in terms of invitation-based giving, though Erb is larger and environmentally focused. Organizations that can credibly qualify for two or more of these foundations should prioritize McGregor and Hudson-Webber as entry points for Michigan family foundation relationships while cultivating Herrick over a longer horizon.

No major public announcements, leadership changes, or new program launches were identified for Herrick Foundation in 2025-2026 through web research — consistent with a foundation that maintains an extremely low public profile.

The most current financial data (Form 990-PF, fiscal year ending September 2024) confirms $8.17M in charitable disbursements, $7.18M in revenues, and total assets of $179,053,825. The fiscal year ending in September means the foundation's most recently completed grant cycle ran October 2023 through September 2024.

FY2024 notable grants confirmed by CauseIQ data: Interlochen Center for the Arts received $1,000,000 for the 'Envision Interlochen at 100 Campaign' — an ongoing capital initiative as the institution approaches its 100th anniversary. Great Lakes Center for the Arts received $750,000 for a sustainability campaign. The Stewardship Network received $250,000 for capacity building. These awards reflect the foundation's deepening multi-year commitment to Northern Michigan arts and conservation infrastructure.

Leadership has been stable: Lisa Herrick Parker has served as President/Trustee since at least the mid-2010s. No trustee changes have been announced. The CEO/Secretary Wendy Brightman continues in an unpaid operational role.

The foundation's primary philanthropic footprint appears unchanged since its COVID-era expansion into food security and domestic violence response (2020-2021). Those areas remain funded but at lower absolute levels than the acute crisis period.

Because the Herrick Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, standard grant-writing advice is largely irrelevant. The applicable strategy is relationship cultivation.

Get on the foundation's radar through grantees. The fastest path to an invitation is a warm introduction from a current grantee. University of Michigan's development office, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Gleaners Community Food Bank, and Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity are among the most consistent multi-grant recipients. If your organization has any board, programmatic, or community overlap with these institutions, map those connections deliberately and activate them.

Align to one of three explicit priority pillars. When you do get a conversation, your organization's work should clearly fall under Education, Community Wellbeing, or Housing as defined by the foundation — not just thematically adjacent. Study the grantee list: the foundation funds precision medicine programs, arts capital campaigns, conservative civic research, food banks, and domestic violence services — the common thread is that each grantee had someone in the Herrick family network who could speak to their value.

Timing relative to fiscal year. The fiscal year ends September 30. If cultivating toward a first invitation, aim to be in active dialogue with foundation contacts by late spring (April-June) of the year you hope to receive consideration, allowing internal discussion during summer trustee meetings.

Frame capital needs when possible. The foundation's largest gifts — $500K to $2.2M — are almost exclusively tied to capital campaigns: new medical facilities, building purchases, endowments, and major expansion projects. Operating support grants exist (general charitable purposes appears frequently in smaller awards) but the most significant giving is capacity-building in nature.

Do not use generic grant language. References to 'underserved communities,' 'systems change,' or 'equity-centered approaches' are not visible in the foundation's grant purpose language. Descriptions like 'support for new medical facility,' 'support for precision medicine,' 'support housing recovery,' and 'general charitable purposes' suggest the foundation prefers direct, concrete impact framing over theoretical frameworks.

Contact for relationship, not application. The email admin@herrickfdn.org and phone 734-646-3281 are appropriate for a brief, informational outreach — not an application submission. Frame any initial contact as a request for background information or a brief introduction, not a proposal request.