Communities don’t change by magic — they transform when leaders listen before they act. As President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Nicole Sherard-Freeman knows that true impact doesn’t happen in boardrooms — it happens during real conversations with people, while wearing sweatpants and a baseball cap. In this episode, Bob and Nicole talk about her organization's role in helping donors invest in causes they believe in, from vibrant parks to thriving arts; her mission to strengthen communities and rebuild institutions; and, if medical advancements at Henry Ford Health allow, her plans to stick around until she’s 115.
Communities don’t change by magic — they transform when leaders listen before they act. As President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Nicole Sherard-Freeman knows that true impact doesn’t happen in boardrooms — it happens during real conversations with people, while wearing sweatpants and a baseball cap. In this episode, Bob and Nicole talk about her organization's role in helping donors invest in causes they believe in, from vibrant parks to thriving arts; her mission to strengthen communities and rebuild institutions; and, if medical advancements at Henry Ford Health allow, her plans to stick around until she’s 115.
:00- Introduction
:55- Bob Riney expresses excitement about interviewing Nicole Sherard-Freeman, President and CEO of Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
1:42- Nicole shares her personal connection to Detroit, having grown up in various parts of the city and the suburbs
2:22- Nicole explains the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, which she describes as a funding organization with contributions from thousands of donors
3:29- Nicole provides examples of how small and large donors contribute to various causes, such as scholarships, animal welfare, local parks, and arts
3:59- Bob discusses the importance of community support in health outcomes, mentioning Henry Ford Health's role in providing innovative care
4:41- Nicole highlights the potential for regional partnerships and the importance of collaboration between organizations like Henry Ford and the Community Foundation
5:17- Bob asks Nicole about the Community Foundation's proudest moments, and she cites the role of founding CEO Mariam Noland in the Detroit bankruptcy and the Riverfront project
8:03- Bob shifts the conversation to politics, asking about the attributes needed in the next Detroit mayor
8:36- Nicole emphasizes the importance of leadership skills, understanding large operations, and the ability to run things at scale
9:30- Nicole shares her thoughts on running for mayor and the importance of young leaders stepping forward
10:15- Nicole discusses the Community Foundation's approach to understanding stakeholders and the importance of listening to real stories from the community.
11:51- Bob Riney asks Nicole what advice she would give to her 25-year-old self
12:04- Nicole and she advises traveling more, listening more, and being less critical
12:38- Nicole- “I want to be on the clinical trials so that I end up with the technology upgrades in my body to live till I'm 115”
12:59- Nicole expresses her passion for rebuilding institutions and systems to support communities better
13:44- Bob Riney asks Nicole about navigating the noise and distractions in today's environment
14:15- Nicole shares her approach of listening to the noise and reprocessing it to identify the kernels of truth
16:20- Bob Riney reflects on the conversation, highlighting Nicole's call to get out of one's bubble and listen to diverse perspectives
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 00:00
I also just share my cell number. I mean, most of Detroit has my cell number from my city days. Anyway, I'm at 313-319-5831.
Bob Riney 00:08
And that is not for Uber rides. That is for information on the Community Foundation.
Bob Riney :16
Welcome back to the BOBcast. I'm your host, Bob Riney, President and CEO of Henry Ford Health, and I am thrilled to have you joining us today. The BOBcast is where Detroit's future comes into view. It is where you'll hear the big ideas, bold voices and crucial conversations that are shaping our city, our region, and beyond real and unapologetically focused on creating a stronger, more vibrant future with grit and grace, this podcast introduces you to the relentless visionaries who are driving change and tackling some of the biggest challenges we face today. I have been really anticipating today's interview with Nicole Sherard-Freeman, because she is a dynamic leader. She has worked in government, she has worked in for profit business. She's been an influential voice in policy making, and now she's leading one of the most creative and innovative foundations in the country. Nicole Sherard-Freeman, President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. I am so excited to have you. Welcome to the BOBcast.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 01:32
Well, first Bob, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure and an honor to be here. I'm excited about this conversation.
Bob Riney 01:37
Nicole, what drives your passion for this region?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 01:41
So, I'm a daughter of 48214, grew up in Detroit on the East Side and the West Side. I moved to the suburbs when I was in my early adulthood, and I see what's possible. I remember my grandfather, who was very influential in my life, and my mom talking about the river and the city as a jewel in the center of Michigan. And I believed them.
Bob Riney 02:05
That's really fascinating to hear, because they gave you a different narrative than probably was happening at many other households. There's going to be a lot of our listeners that may not know what the Community Foundation is. So tell us a little bit about it.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 02:21
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is really, I believe, one of Michigan's best kept secrets. There are 67 community foundations across the state of Michigan. There are about 900 across the country. We are essentially contributions from donors into an organization that then makes grants out to grantees. So we are a funding in, funding out organization. We are different from private foundations, in that private foundations have one donor who is oftentimes deceased. We are 1000s of donors who make gifts as small as $250 to their favorite charity. And we hold endowments for organizations so that they have a way to provide operating capital for their nonprofit into perpetuity. So it's a really fascinating model that helps sustain communities. We want to be your go to place.
Bob Riney 03:17
Can you give a couple examples of where might a donor that's donating $200 look to put their donation, and then where do some of the seven figure donors look?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 03:28
We have small dollar donors who might choose to give to a scholarship fund. We might have small dollar donors who really care about animal welfare, or maybe they care about programming in their local park. Larger donors, you know, some of the causes that people care about include art and supporting local artists. We have donors who care a lot about and do estate planning around the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The choices are endless.
Bob Riney 03:59
What I love about that is, I think that we've always had great heart and passion in this community, and we've had great giving. I look at my company, Henry Ford Health, and you know, obviously you could come into our facilities and get just outstanding care, the most innovative approaches, and you could leave really healthy. But if you're going back to a food desert, or you're going back to an enterprise where you don't have money to pay for basic services, guess what?, that health status is going to deteriorate. So I think this power of it takes a village to really lift. This is something It turns me on, and I can tell it turns you on too.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 04:41
It's really exciting to think about how many partnerships are possible in our region because of leaders like you and others who are part of the development here. I think we have this opportunity, if we really lean into it, to figure out how to make regionalism work. And if we're honest, we haven't always been so good at that. I certainly don't think we've nailed it, but I think we're more aware of how important partnerships between Henry Ford, for example, and CFSME on the Michigan opioid partnership work like just how important those partnerships are.
Bob Riney 05:17
When you think about the work of the Community Foundation, is there something in its history that you guys hold with just tremendous pride to say, Wow, we were a catalyst for this. We were a player in this space, and we can't imagine the outcome being what it is today. If we hadn't had such an impactful role.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 05:39
There are a couple of those. One of them is during Mariam Noland, our founding CEO.
Bob Riney 05:46
Great, great person,
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 05:49
Just a powerhouse, and the role she played in bringing other partners to the table, some of the pivotal conversations that she initiated with others in philanthropy around the Detroit bankruptcy. Maybe I'm biased, but there is an argument to be had there that if Mariam hadn't pulled folks together, things might not have gone as smoothly or as quickly as they did. And then our role in what's happening now with the completion of the riverfront and the Ralph C. Wilson Centennial Park, and just getting people to the table to appreciate the gem that the riverfront is for all of us, and getting us to all lean in. That's one thing we figured out when the chips are down and we're facing a big challenge as a region that somehow galvanizes us and we tend to rally around shared problems.
Bob Riney 06:45
You know, I think we both would agree that if the unfortunate challenge that was discovered at the Riverfront Conservancy had happened 10 or 20 years ago, there would have been not only a lot of haranguing, but there probably would have been a lot of people that would jump off the ship, because it's like, you know, I told you so, and the opposite happened this time. We leaned in, we rallied, and it was kind of like, not on our watch, we're not letting this go. What do you think has caused that change?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 07:18
I think we started to build that muscle right before the bankruptcy, so philanthropy coming together and working with the state during that period of time. I mean, one argument to be made is that those relationships started forming before the bankruptcy, because you need to build the bridges before you need them. I think that fresh out of COVID, we've just reached a point where number one Riverfront for I don't know what is it? Fourth year, fifth year in a row?
Bob Riney 7:47
Five years in a row.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 7:48
Yeah, we knew what would happen deep within our psyches, and we felt it in our bones, like we knew what would happen if we didn't. And to your point, we couldn't let that happen, not on our watch.
Bob Riney 08:03
Let me talk politics for a minute, and I'm not going to put you on the spot and ask you to endorse a candidate, but we are going to be migrating in the city of Detroit past what everyone would I think state were 12 very successful years under the leadership of Mayor Duggan. What do you think are the most important attributes that we must maintain in the next leader, and are there some things that we should be looking for that maybe are that next iteration of some things that we haven't quite accomplished yet?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 08:35
I feel so strongly about having a mayor who knows how to run large things, someone who understands how big machines operate. At the end of the day, the city of Detroit, it's a massive operation. And understanding how to get the trains on the track so that they run on time, how to get them back on track, figuring out where there aren't any trains, knowing how to do big things, knowing how to do things at scale, quickly, efficiently, really focusing on the metrics that make the business work. That is, for me, among the most important attributes of the next mayor.
Bob Riney 09:19
Something tells me along your journey, there's been people that have said, you need to run for mayor. If I'm accurate, how have you processed that?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 09:30
I did have the privilege of talking with a handful of people before, and as I was leaving the city about that privilege, you know, I told him, I said, you know here. So here's the thing, I know too much about what it actually takes to run the city, and I've watched it done remarkably, working directly for the mayor, just changed my perspective on and gave me a lens into a whole lot of ways of thinking. I thought about it long and hard and felt privileged at the question and thought, you know, we need young. Leaders to come forward and have opportunities.
Bob Riney 10:05
As the Community Foundation goes about its priorities, how do you make sure that all stakeholders are understood?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 10:14
We spend a lot of time listening to grantees and would be grantees and talking them through what would make them more competitive and what they're trying to accomplish. But what's important to me and what's important to the rest of my team is that we get even closer to community. You know, I spent a couple of hours at the State of the County address in Oakland County, and what I loved about being in that room was hearing real stories from real people. That's the next frontier for the Community Foundation.
Bob Riney 10:45
This movement towards just getting with a group of people in their living room and having some real talk about what matters. I think it's a way of us staying accountable to each other in a way that's very intimate. You know, you can't hide behind a TV screen or something like that. And, boy, I think we need more of that at all levels of government.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 11:07
Yeah, it isn't often that we push ourselves to get outside of the normal, regular boundaries. So I need to spend time in Livingston County. I need to spend more time in Macomb County. I want to know what people's experiences are. I want to understand the stories that, quite frankly, people might not talk about with the nonprofit they're getting service from. And quite frankly, I can't show up as the President of the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan. I've got to be at a baseball cap and sweats sitting in the back if I want to hear the real stories. But I think it's that absence of listening to the stories of others, without any expectation that you're going to be able to tell your own story. Just go listen.
Bob Riney 11:49
Let's go back in time. What would you tell Nicole at 25 years old based about what you've learned today, of course, at 27 years old (laughter).
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 12:04
What would I tell a 25 year old? Nicole, holy smoke. I tell her to travel more, listen more, to be more curious and less critical of others and self. Man, I wish I could talk to her.
Bob Riney 12:20
What’s left on your professional impact list? What are the things that you really want to continue to push, lead or be an integral part of?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 12:33
Well, let's start here. I am tuning in to Henry Ford clinical research because I want to be on the clinical trials so that I end up with the technology upgrades in my body to live till I'm 115.
Bob Riney 12:46
That's a great goal.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 12:47
And the second thing is, I fully expect to be rolled at the end of my journey from a lectern directly to the morgue. So I want to work until I'm done. There's so much that I think is possible now that we find ourselves in this moment of maybe taking apart and putting back together the institutions that support our city, our state, our region, nationally, I think we're going to find ourselves in this moment of rebuilding the things that we need, the institutions we need to support our communities. I'm doing that through Community Foundation now. I get all charged up about rebuilding systems and practices and institutions. I believe that we can build something better than we've had. I want to be part of it.
Bob Riney 13:44
We're in a time right now where, for a lot of different reasons, people are anxious, confused, conflicted. How do you determine how to distract noise that's going to just get in the way of you working on the things that you know are going to make a difference, versus empathizing with the real issues that are out there, and then navigating your own emotions about just the times we're in?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 14:14
I started this moment in time that we're in, listening to the noise, and that was hard, and that's where I came to some I don't know, a different set of conclusions about whether I am traveling in circles that are too small, with perspective that is too narrow, and whether I need to get out in the world more. And that's really helped me sort through maybe what I think is noise actually has some kernels, some elements, some big rocks in the bucket of truth that I need to reprocess. I always bring it back to what can I do to make somebody's life better today.
Bob Riney 14:54
If listeners want to understand more, learn and be thinking about their own philanthropic efforts. What's the best way to learn more?
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 15:03
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan on the web. We are at C-F-S,-E-M.org, we're happy to come out and talk. And I also just share my cell number. I mean, most of Detroit has my cell number from my city days. Anyway, I'm at 313-319-5831.
Bob Riney 15:22
That is not for Uber rides, that is for information on the Community Foundation. You are such a influential leader, and one of the things that I've always really enjoyed about your leadership is you're obviously extremely intelligent and competent, and you know how to go after strategies, but you're a great person at bringing a broad audience in to why change is needed or why this approach is needed, and this role that you're in now as President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan gives you the tools to Use that secret sauce in such a great way. So we're thankful that you're doing what you're doing, and thanks for being on the BOBcast.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman 16:07
Thanks for having me. I got to tell you, I feel like favor wrapped in privilege. I'm so fortunate, Bob. Thanks for having me. Thank you.
Bob Riney 16:20
Thank you. You know, as I think about my conversation with Nicole, the thing that really strikes me is her call out about all of us getting out of our bubbles and really being purposeful about listening and really learning from people that are different than our normal group we hang with, and the consequences that we pay if we don't do that, and the dividends we receive if we do. I have always tried to do that, but hearing her talk about it as one of the solutions to try and help us get out of this divisive time that we find ourselves locked into. I just loved that she was calling that out and actually challenging herself to do more of it. Because the other thing that I believe is you start with yourself. And so her call out was to others, but it was also by saying, I'm going to start doing more of that. I'm going to go to this county. I'm going to go to that county. And that's a powerful, actionable lesson for all of us. If you enjoyed this episode, please click follow so you will never miss a future episode. Share us with your friends and leave us a five star rating and review, which will help others find us. If you have suggestions for a topic or a guest, email us at bobcast@hfhs.org. Remember, every action we take today is a step towards the future we're building together. Let's keep striving, keep believing and keep moving forward. Let's use positive momentum to carry us through an era that's filled with troubling questions. Until next time, take care and keep making a difference.