ABOUT SHANNON POLK:
Shannon Polk serves as President & CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF), leading one of Washtenaw County’s most enduring and trusted philanthropic institutions. A licensed attorney in the State of Michigan and an ordained minister, Shannon brings a rare and powerful combination of legal acumen, pastoral grounding, and philanthropic leadership to her role - allowing her to navigate complexity with both strategic rigor and deep humanity.
Since assuming leadership of AAACF, Shannon has guided the Foundation with a clear focus on advancing opportunity, strengthening nonprofit capacity, and cultivating partnerships that deliver lasting, community-centered impact. Under her leadership, AAACF continues its longstanding role as a permanent source of charitable capital for Washtenaw County, serving as a trusted partner to donors, nonprofits, and residents since 1963. A recent example of this work includes AAACF’s investment in Apple Playschools, providing a $750,000 loan and $100,000 in development grants to expand access to high-quality childcare, create new jobs, and support working families across the county.
Shannon’s career spans influential leadership roles across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Her experience includes work with the C.S. Mott Foundation, the Michigan Breastfeeding Network, and consulting for Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders Program and the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF). She most recently served as Executive Director of The Witness Foundation, where she helped cultivate the next generation of civil rights leaders, and partnered with the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area to support staff competency and leadership development in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A respected thought leader in the field, Shannon currently serves as Vice Chair of the Council of Michigan Foundations, representing community foundations statewide. She is also the creator of CMF’s Passing the Leadership Baton program—now adopted across the organization—which supports thoughtful leadership transition and executive sustainability in philanthropy. Her leadership and impact have been recognized through numerous honors, including the 2023 Shero Award from Washtenaw Community College, recognition as a Top 40 Under 40 honoree in Genesee County, selection as an Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) Connecting Leaders Fellow, and being named a 2025 Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Leader in Philanthropy. She has also been featured in Hour Magazine’s Faces of Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor City Lifestyle.
At the heart of Shannon’s work is a belief that effective philanthropy is rooted in empathy, equity, and community voice. A national faith speaker, she is passionate about creating spaces where donors, nonprofits, and residents come together to address shared challenges and build a more just and connected future.
Shannon lives in Scio Township with her husband, daughter, and Tony—their rescue puppy from the Humane Society of Huron Valley - and is actively involved in the Junior League of Ann Arbor and The Links, Incorporated.
RESOURCES:
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF)
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and welcome to our weekly exploration of equity and opportunity in our community. I'm David Fair, and this is Washtenaw United. Today, we're going to look at community needs, and we're going to do so through the prism of philanthropy. Since 1963, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation has been investing in people and the organizations that serve our neighbors. Over the decades, some priorities change, but the need has never gone away. Our guest today is Shannon Polk. Shannon was named President and CEO of the foundation back in November of 2021 and took over leadership duties in January of 2022. Today, she's on the other end of the WEMU phone line. Thank you so much for making time for us today, Shannon! I appreciate it!
Shannon Polk: Thank you so much, David!
David Fair: It's been more than four years at the foundation now. You came to the organization just as we were exiting a pandemic and community need was on high. Affordability is an even bigger issue now--accessibility to housing, transportation, healthcare, education, all diminishing, particularly for those on the lower income scales. In your assessment, is community need now greater than when you started?
Shannon Polk: You know, I would say that what we're seeing right now is a difficult situation where you see government funding being eliminated, or at least severely reduced, for many organizations and, thereby, impacting the programs that they provide to the community. At the same time, we see the impact of inflation and even job reduction in certain sectors. So, when you have those things coming together, what we see is that the need is increasing, but it's increasing in part because of the economic pressures that people are facing and then the limited resources that our nonprofit organizations have to meet the needs in the community.
David Fair: So, with that in mind, as you go through a funding cycle, how do you go about choosing which nonprofits in which area of community need you're going to invest?
Shannon Polk: That's such a great question! Oftentimes, people aren't always as familiar with how community foundations work. So, the beauty of community foundations is that we don't make the decisions by ourselves in the vacuum. Often, we have community members who are serving on committees, and those community members review the applications that are submitted. And they come to us from all walks of life. They are the residents who are your neighbors, they might be your professor, they might be a retail shop owner where you shop. And those people are reviewing the applications, and they are saying, "Hey! Based upon this application, here's where I see where they can have great impact." But they are also informed, not only by their lived experience, but by the data that we have collected and the data that comes to us. And so, they are making a data-informed decision while doing it through the lens of a local resident. So, it isn't someone who doesn't understand and have to deal with the impact of these decisions. They're the people, as I used to say, that you see every day when you're walking down the street, right? And so, it's great to know that with community foundations, that process is very democratized when it comes to grant making.
David Fair: You called it local impact investing. What exactly do you mean by that? How do you define the impact investment?
Shannon Polk: Well, that's a really interesting question as well, David. So, when you think about impact investing, what you're really looking at is, when we think about the 5% that the IRS requires all foundations to get out in order to maintain our 501c3 status, the question is what do we do with the other 95% of our corporates? And so, many foundations, community foundations and other types of foundations, have decided to utilize impact investing as a means to do that. When we say what do we mean by local impact, what we mean is, what are we doing that is going to have a similar impact as the kind of impact we would have with grant dollars. But instead, we're going to make low interest, moderate interest rate loans. So, for example, we made one of those loans to Apple Playschool in order for them to be able to expand the number of preschool slots they would have available. We know how important childcare is in a community. And so, by having those additional slots, that's creating impact on having high quality, pre-K education for children. Some of those slots are going to be for low-income families, thereby helping to reduce the educational gap outcomes by making those early investments in children. That's what we mean when we say local impact.
David Fair: And when you assess the tangible impact it is making, is it about return on financial investment or is it return in community evolution?
Shannon Polk: I think it's both. So, when we think about investments that we are making, oftentimes, we're looking at the market, right? But then, there are also investments that are going to have that amazing social return. What we hope for our impact investment is that we're having both.
David Fair: Our Washtenaw United conversation with Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation President and CEO Shannon Polk continues on 89.1 WEMU. If I'm not mistaken, Shannon, since the foundation was created in 1963, it's pumped in in excess of $100 million into the community. Am I about right?
Shannon Polk: You are absolutely right, David!
David Fair: How much money will be awarded out and invested in Fiscal Year 2026?
Shannon Polk: We are expecting to make over $10 million in Branson scholarships to award that this year. And we are very excited about that!
David Fair: In doing so, the hope is not only to meet immediate need but to create generational difference. How do you directly serve that part of the mission?
Shannon Polk: When you say generational difference, I so appreciate that because, often, as we have to understand, that we're making investments all along that life continuum. So, we're investing in children. We do the pre-K investment. We're investing in high school students. We are doing the work with our youth council, which they grant out over $100,000 every year to youth-serving organizations. We were making investments in our young adults through our community scholarship program. And then, we're making investments all along to continue with the various nonprofits, as well as our continued investment in seniors. So, when I think about that, I think of the intergenerational longitudinal impact of someone from 0 to 99 in the community.
David Fair: Some of the young people that have earned scholarships and you have invested in their educational future may be graduating from college this year. And have you gotten to meet any of the recipients and hear their stories as they begin and then continue their journeys?
Shannon Polk: Oh, yes! And it is so heartwarming to hear about a young person who was able to then say, "Let me tell you how this scholarship impacted me!" And it comes at so many different times, right? So, I was out to dinner on Main Street and talking with a young woman who said, "You work where? I was the recipient of one of your scholarships. It helped me go through school. So now, I am working part-time here, but I'm able to have my own business of doing consulting in graphic design. And I would not have been able to finish my degree, except for the scholarship dollars that you were able to award." Likewise, I heard from a young lady, who's now in her second year of medical school, she was a first-generation college student, low-income. And she said, "As a result of being part of the CSP program, I was able to go through school. And now, I'm pursuing my dream of becoming a medical doctor." And it's those kind of stories that really give me hope. And I really get excited to share that because we not only are making these investments, but we're hearing about how we're impacting residents locally, right? And I just want to emphasize that, again, because it's not that we're giving scholarship dollars away to people that we will never see, we know we're making a difference in the lives of Washtenaw County residents.
David Fair: And, as you take these stories, individually and cumulatively, where do you find your greatest sense of hope and optimism for the future of the people here in Washtenaw County?
Shannon Polk: I think my greatest optimism comes when I talk either with donors, who we have helped identify impact with their legacy of giving, and they begin to say, "You know? I know what I'm passionate about. And you all have helped me really have that conversation and really be able to have an impact in the areas that matter most to me." Likewise, it's impactful when I talk to that nonprofit leader who said, "I had a vision for being able to make an impact. And now, after five years, ten years, twenty years, I'm still seeing that impact in the community!" And then, sometimes, it's talking with a family of someone who says, "My child received a scholarship, and I can't tell you the difference that it's making because I didn't have that opportunity and my daughter did. My son did." So, the optimism that I have is that we can continue to work collectively to help build an amazing future for our residents and really be as neighborly as possible in that sense of community and really create a sense of belonging for everyone who lives here.
David Fair: I love ending on a positive note, and you have helped us do exactly that! And we will certainly hold forth with the optimism alongside you in hoping that that is exactly the direction we continue to head. Thank you so much for the time and perspective today, Shannon! I appreciate it!
Shannon Polk: Thank you, David!
David Fair: That is Shannon Polk. She is President and CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. For more on Shannon and the world of the foundation and its work, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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