April 2, 2025
As an intermediary, Michigan Community Resources occupies a specific space in the nonprofit sector. Our work helps foundations deepen their impact, and provides nonprofits with access to skills and resources when they would otherwise have no means of making those connections.
Coupled with the deep relationships that we have formed over more than 25 years, Michigan Community Resources powers the work of our partners in philanthropy and allows our nonprofit clients to focus on their crucial programming.
By working to align with other intermediaries and partners across the sector, MCR works to improve how the relationships between funders and organizations function, and pushes our city and society toward a vision where all organizations have the support they need to thrive.
Since joining Michigan Community Resource's Board of Directors in 2021, Robin Toewe has been all in on supporting our work. A consultant in the nonprofit sector, Toewe (pronounced "two-E", the namesake of her own firm, 2E Advisory LLC), came to MCR already equipped with an understanding of the nuances of navigating the space between funders and organizations doing work to build and grow their communities.
In her new role as Board Chair, Toewe leverages those skills to help MCR navigate the challenges and changes in the sector to come in 2025 and beyond. She took the time to sit with our team and discuss what excites her about the work and what she envisions for the future for MCR.
What is your background, and how did you come to be part of the nonprofit sector?
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and moved to the city. I lived in Chicago for 20 years. I’m a city girl—I like living in cities, I like grappling with the challenges they bring. More importantly, I appreciate their benefits. I also lived in Minneapolis for several years. I've lived in Detroit now for seven years.
I first entered the nonprofit sector about 20 years ago, after leaving a communications role in the for-profit sector. At the time, I needed to find a job that aligned with my values. I ended up in a marketing role with an intermediary that did community development work.
From that job, I found myself exploring more deeply the work they were doing. As a result, I shifted from communications and marketing to community development and urban planning. I got my master’s degree in urban planning, and have worked in the nonprofit sector ever since.
How did you get involved with MCR?
IFF, where I worked for several years, hosted a capacity building program, and MCR was a cohort member. That’s where I first met MCR's co-CEOs Alisha and Shamyle.
After the capacity building program, IFF stayed in touch with MCR. Alisha and Shamyle shared with us their needs in terms of office space, and what kind of space they were looking for to best meet the needs of their clients. We had some really good conversations about space and community development.
After those conversations, Shamyle reached out when there was an opening on MCR's Board of Directors and invited me to join. I joined the board in late 2021.
More recently, as members of the board's executive committee were completing their terms, I offered to step into the role of board chair. I was voted in as board chair in January 2025.
Why does MCR appeal to you? In what ways does MCR stand out?
There’s so much need for capacity building services, and so many nonprofit leaders must continuously reinvent the wheel because they don’t know where to look for capacity building support.
MCR serves as a hub for services and works to support community leaders who are busy, centering around how we harness the power of people. They've developed good relationships to understand the needs of community leaders (something addressed recently on their blog), and have been responsive to what they've heard. There is core programming, like the pro bono legal programs, but their work explores so many other nonprofit needs.
MCR has pushed for sector growth over the years from initiatives like the Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit Plus (KIP:D+) partnership, to widespread support of community development initiatives in Detroit, to human capacity support like last year’s Rest and Liberation Initiative. They’re running an organization that serves as a consultant, convener, and connector.
Even MCR's co-directorship model itself is pushing the boundaries of how this work is done. I think Shamyle and Alisha are both phenomenal leaders. I’m enamored with what the co-leaders have done; it's really visionary work. They stand shoulder to shoulder to lead the organization, which helps to split the burden of leadership in a way that is sustainable and liberating.
Pictured right: MCR meets with clients to stay connected and understand pressing needs. At our coffee hours, MCR gets the opportunity to talk with clients in informal, open settings.
What excites you about your new role as board chair?
I want MCR's board to bring the skills they have to support the organization. The skills are there—we have people with backgrounds in finance, banking, real estate, city governance, community development, and more. We can use those skills to lift up and drive MCR's strategy. We can take some of the burden off the organization's leadership so they can focus on MCR's mission and programs. We can do for MCR what MCR does for the organizations they serve.
I’m restless to get involved. I’m excited to support in areas like strategy and organizational sustainability. I’m excited to help MCR work with its partners to align in response to the challenges of 2025 and beyond.
How do you understand the role of intermediaries in the nonprofit sector? How are intermediaries uniquely valuable?
The services intermediaries provide allow nonprofit organizations—whether small or large—to have access to specific resources in a way that enables their success and sustainability. It doesn't make sense for community leaders to have deep expertise in every element of nonprofit operations. Organizations can focus on community-centered programming and meeting the needs of their constituents, and organizational infrastructure can be supported by organizations like MCR.
There are specific situations where specialized skills might be required. For instance, unless you're a housing developer, many nonprofits will only take on real estate projects once, to meet their own space needs. Likewise, a daycare provider may not have a need for a full-time legal expert, but will require legal guidance in specific instances. Ultimately, intermediaries provide expertise in those areas where it doesn't make sense for any given organization to have those skills in-house.
For foundations—intermediaries can help deepen their impact. There is no way a foundation can be intimately familiar with the needs of every organization in their grant service area. Foundations, like nonprofits, have capacity limits. They can't, for instance, consult with each grantee to make sure they are easily able to meet reporting requirements, and are producing reports that align with the expectations of the foundation. That kind of direct technical assistance is something MCR specializes in.
Finally, intermediaries like MCR can stand apart from both grantmakers and grantees and bring attention to sector-wide trends that neither entity has the time, capacity, or perspective to address. This is a position that can be fairly specialized, and implementing that vantage point is really important when it comes to making sure community work can be supported in perpetuity.
In any of these contexts, intermediary organizations like MCR have either the skills in-house or intimate relationships with experts across their networks that they can leverage to offer specialized services so that nonprofits or foundations don't have to spin their wheels trying to do something they’re not designed or equipped for.
What is your understanding of the role Michigan Community Resources plays in the ecosystem?
MCR has a proven track record of working with foundations to make sure their grants have deep impact. They have proven that through their role in programs like KIP:D+. They know how to set up those programs on the front end, they know how to communicate with grantees, they know how to provide technical assistance. They offer expert support to both grantees and grantmakers.
Then there is, of course, their legal programs and the pro bono support they provide. Specific support like that can be extremely important for organizations that are overwhelmed with other considerations. This support can make the difference between meeting a community need and closing their doors for good.
MCR has deep relationships with both foundations and nonprofits. Those relationships, along with the expertise of the team in a variety of fields, give them the ability to inform foundations and partners across the sector regarding emerging needs and trends, and how everyone can align and respond.
What is your hope for MCR's future, and the future of the nonprofit sector in Southeast Michigan?
I am most hopeful about continuing to do what MCR is already doing, and the ways we can align across the sector. I think it's neither new nor radical to support community work in the way MCR has been doing it, but I think what's exciting to me is to continue exploring different ways we can continue to support community leaders carrying out visionary work in their communities.
