Grand Haven, MI – John Erb has been named the 2019 recipient of the Russell G. Mawby Award for Philanthropy by the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF) and the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA).
Erb is Chairman of the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation. He was honored at CMF’s 47th Annual Conference on October 7, 2019. The award was presented by Donna Murray-Brown, president and CEO, MNA, and Erb’s colleagues Thomas Cook, executive director, Cook Family Foundation, and Jon Aaron, a member of the CMF Board of Trustees, and chairman, William Davidson Foundation.
Given annually since 1995, the award honors individuals with a demonstrated commitment to leadership, impact, creativity and collaboration in their philanthropy. The award is named for Dr. Russell G. Mawby, chairman emeritus of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and founder of both CMF and MNA. The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation was established in 2007; John Erb was its founding president and leader. The foundation focuses its grantmaking primarily in three issue areas: the environment, arts and culture, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
“We look to the Erb Foundation as a real model in how to engage the community, and we really appreciate their leadership when it comes to water issues, and the Great Lakes, and promoting the environment throughout the state of Michigan,” Cook shared. In a video shared at the event, Marian Noland, president, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, shared, “For those of us who knew Russ Mawby, it really is a pleasure to see someone like John Erb get this award. He embodies so much of the spirit of Russ, which was to invest in the future of all of us and the well-being of this state. That is so true of John and of the foundation.”