For the past 30 years, James B. (Jim) Nicholson has served the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan with a steady voice and a generous spirit, through both good and challenging times.
Nicholson, a civic leader and the chairman of PVS Chemicals Inc., joined the Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 1994 and was elected chair in June 2014. He became only the fourth person to hold the leadership position since the Community Foundation was established in 1984. David Provost, a retired CEO of TCF Bank, succeeded him as chair last year.
After decades of helping the Community Foundation build permanent community capital for our region, Nicholson retired as a Trustee during the Board’s annual meeting in June.
Nicholson says highlights from his Community Foundation tenure include: supporting projects that expanded access to the outdoors, seeing the organization’s assets surpass the $1 billion mark and reach approximately $1.3 billion currently, and helping to navigate the Grand Bargain. The Community Foundation was a key partner in the more than $800-million collaboration that helped Detroit exit bankruptcy while preserving cultural assets and securing retiree pensions in 2014.
Today, the Nicholson family name is synonymous with philanthropy in southeast Michigan.
“Jim lives his values and sets an example for his family, as well as many others in the community,” says Community Foundation President and CEO Richard (Ric) DeVore, who cites Nicholson as a mentor. “As a philanthropist, Jim has given more than just his money. He has invested his time and his talent, and has planted seeds of benevolence throughout his family tree. I really admire him and his wife, and how they’ve influenced their four boys. In fact, their son Tim recently joined our Board of Trustees.”
When asked what advice he’d give to the next generation of philanthropists, Nicholson says: “Stay the course. Don’t give up. It’s worth the effort.”
- Q: What kinds of conversations have you and your wife, Ann, had with your sons about creating a philanthropic family legacy?
- A: We are very blessed as a family, and we owe it to our community, our employees, our friends — everyone — to make it a little better place than we found it. It’s certainly what we feel obligated to do. Your children watch what you do, not what you say. You can never start too early setting values for your children. Sometimes you think they’ll never take. But then, lo and behold, 10 years later, you hear them saying something you had said that you thought went over their head. We’re committed to philanthropy and all four of my sons are very much involved.
- Q: This is a pivotal election year, fraught with disinformation and polarization. How do you believe we can overcome these challenges and strengthen our democracy?
- A: I think speaking the truth to power, no matter what, is key, because honest communication is fundamental to our democracy. I’m very worried about our democracy at the moment. The role philanthropy can play is as the honest broker, as the person or institution that tells the truth as it is, not as people would like it to be. We need people who are committed to the Constitution and not to an individual.
- Q: What is your hope for the Community Foundation and our region during the next 10 years?
- A: I would love to see the Foundation grow and continue to be the permanent capital for our community that we envisioned long ago. … As I look back over my 50 years in the region, there was a lack of growth and a little bit of despair, but that has changed. There’s a really positive vibe in our seven counties. We need to continue to support that.
This story was first published in the 2024 Summer REPORT newsletter.