Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan President and CEO Nicole Sherard-Freeman, from left, is seen with Minerva Education and Development Foundation (MEDF) member and donor Edythe Hayden Friley, and MEDF President Dr. Earlene J. Hall.
After Edythe Hayden Friley’s husband of 50 years passed away in 2023, she found a way to transform his loss into a living legacy.
First, she packed up his clothes and personal items and donated them to local charities where they could be put to good use. Then, she combined the monetary gifts people had made in his honor with a donation of her own and worked with the Minerva Education and Development Foundation (MEDF) to create an endowed fund at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
“The flowers are gone. Whatever happened in ’23 is done,” Friley says. “But the memory of myself, the memory of that man I dearly loved, will live on forever.”
Endowment is a gift that lasts forever
In 1992, a group of women from the Detroit Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. founded the MEDF to promote education and economic development by raising money and making grants to deserving students and organizations.
To support this aim, the MEDF established a nonprofit endowment fund at the Community Foundation, creating a permanent home for its members’ generosity. An endowment is a gift that gives forever. It is invested for the long term, and a portion of the fund is available annually through a grant to the MEDF to support its mission.
Over the years, MEDF members have established 14 endowed subfunds, nested under the organization’s main nonprofit endowment. For as little as $10,000 and with a simple, two-page agreement, donors can establish a subfund and choose a name that reflects their legacy and values. Once a subfund is established, the Community Foundation handles all the administration, with no ongoing burden on the donor or their family. Donors also get the added benefit of a tax deduction, where applicable.
“We tell people, ‘You can continue your work even after you’re gone. Create an endowment,’ ” says Jenice Mitchell Ford, who serves on both the Community Foundation and MEDF boards. “I don’t know which hat I wear when I say this, but nobody does it better than the Community Foundation as far as endowment — the management, the discipline that we have with managing our funds, and the care that we take in carrying out someone’s desired mission.”
Couple’s community commitment lives on
To ensure her work as a civic leader will continue and to honor her late husband, Friley created the Edythe Hayden Friley and Grant A. Friley III Fund in support of the MEDF, about which she is passionate. Awards from the fund help returning citizens access education, transportation and housing as they rebuild their lives after incarceration.
“I ask you to think about how you would like to have your legacy and perhaps, through the Minerva Education and Development Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, you will consider joining us as a funder for charity work that will help so many other people,” Friley says.
The Community Foundation makes it simple to create lasting impact through affordable, professionally managed endowments like the Edythe Hayden Friley and Grant A. Friley III Fund. If you’re ready to talk through what a lasting fund could look like for you, email our Donor Services team at [email protected] to begin the conversation.
This story originally appeared in our Fall/Winter 2026 REPORT Newsletter