How This 100-Year-Old Foundation Helped Save Detroit

credit: Flickr photo by Rob Colonna

Detroit's Kresge Foundation turned 100 this month, and while the foundation's $4.3 billion endowment is sizable, it's less than a tenth of the size of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, per Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Still, the foundation, named after Kmart founder Sebastian Spering Kresge, is known for its work in cities around the world, including a $100 million contribution to Detroit's "Grand Bargain" to help the city out of bankruptcy in 2013, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Kresge President Rip Rapson tells Fortune that the foundation's focus has shifted in recent years from infrastructure projects to helping cities and communities in need.

"We want to be a force for good in the world," he says.

"We don't want to be in the business of trying to solve the problems of the world.

We want to be in the business of helping people solve the problems of the world."

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