Tom and Sue (Miller) Den Herder and their families have been giving back to our community for generations. The connection between the Den Herder and Miller families stems back many generations to the roots of the City of Zeeland. Tom’s great-grandfather, Christian Den Herder, invited Sue’s great-grandfather, Herman Miller, to come to Zeeland.
The two families became involved in business, public, and charitable organizations, and have been mainstays in the community ever since. It would be difficult to find a major initiative or institution in Zeeland that didn’t involve a member of one of these two families.
The Miller family was involved in the formation of Herman Miller and Howard Miller companies. The Den Herder family, who founded Den Herder Bank that ultimately became First Michigan Bank, was instrumental in start-up support to several very iconic businesses in our community.
Through their service in publicly elected positions and on nonprofit boards, each of these families developed a sense of ownership for the Zeeland community. They cared deeply and wanted to see it thrive.
These values have been passed down from generation to generation and further converged when Tom Den Herder and Sue Miller got married. Tom and Sue both credit their families for “instilling in us the value of community and giving us the opportunity to give back.”
Giving back is a large part of their lives, and it goes far beyond financial resources. When Tom and Sue support an organization, they immerse themselves by giving their time, talent and treasure. Being personally involved with an organization they support is even more important to them than the financial contributions they can make.
Sue is a trained educator and Tom currently serves as President of the Zeeland Public Schools Board. This very naturally leads them to prioritize education as their philanthropic passion. Whether it is medical, environmental, or post-secondary, the common thread for Tom and Sue is education.
One of their most memorable gifts of personal time and financial resources was helping with the formation of the Zeeland Public Schools Education Foundation. With cuts to education resources over the past decade they knew that there were some important programs that the school would have trouble funding. They made the founding gift to the Zeeland Education Foundation which is held at the Community Foundation.
Another tradition passed down the family line is involvement with the Community Foundation, specifically through Donor Advised Funds they’ve established. Tom’s mother, Barbara Den Herder, established a Donor Advised Fund through her estate plan that named her three children as advisors for the fund. Sue’s mother, Betty Miller, also holds Donor Advised Funds at the Foundation. Tom and Sue find that their own Donor Advised Fund makes their giving easier. “We only have to keep track of a few contributions a year to the Community Foundation instead of lots of checks to many different organizations.”
In the beginning of 2013, Tom and Sue decided to involve the next generation of their family in the Community Foundation by establishing Donor Advised Funds for each of their children, Martha Menerick and Matt Den Herder. Both Martha and Matt have already begun forming their own philanthropic priorities and will be further involved in giving back to the community through these new funds.
Holland/Zeeland has always been home to Tom and Sue, and their funds at the Foundation ensure that the community will benefit from their family’s generosity forever.
“A Donor Advised Fund lets us control the timing of when we make the financial contribution for tax purposes while allowing us to distribute the funds to nonprofit organizations on our own timeline.”
– The Den Herders
Donor Advised Funds: offer the opportunity to create a low-cost, flexible method of charitable giving as an alternative to direct giving or creating a private foundation. With a Donor Advised Fund, donors make a contribution to the fund during the year that is most convenient or tax advantageous for them. Each year, they recommend the nonprofit organizations in which they want to invest, and Foundation staff administer the grants for them. They may choose to give anonymously or in the name of their fund. If they are doing their charitable giving with gifts of stock, a Donor Advised Fund allows them to make gifts using their preferred asset and still support local nonprofits that might not be accustomed to accepting non-cash gifts. Ultimately, the donor enjoys administrative convenience, cost savings and tax advantages by conducting their giving through this type of fund.Donor Advised Funds also offer the option of allowing children to participate as advisors during the donor’s life or to become advisors after the donor’s death. Many people are choosing this option as a way to include the next generation in the family’s philanthropy, passing along the joy and values of charitable giving.
