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Detroit Pistons owner Gores says he’ll commit $100 million to envisioned charity

June 02, 2022

By Kurt Nagl – CRAIN’S Business Detroit

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Detroit Regional Chamber
Mike Tirico interviews Tom Gores on Thursday at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores said he will commit $100 million and create a new national charitable organization inspired by a $20 million donation for a recreation center in Detroit that was announced Wednesday.

Gores, who is also chairman and CEO of California-based Platinum Equity, made the announcement at the end of a discussion at the Mackinac Policy Conference, though details of the new organization were not immediately clear.

“So, in the next several months, and I think probably by the end of the year, I want to create an organization that the community center is just the first of it,” Gores told broadcaster Mike Tirico during the onstage interview. “I’ll personally put $100 million in myself. This is an announcement.”

Gores said he has a name for the organization that he cannot disclose until it is trademarked. He said it would be a “one-of-a-kind” charitable organization composed of two divisions and two leaders, and that it would operate like a business.

“I really want to have an organization like Platinum that …handles problems,” he said. “Now, I’m really thinking about the future, and one of the things that concerns me about the future is that I feel like in our world, we are controlled by crisis. And while we are controlled by crisis, we don’t explore opportunities.”

The announcement follows the Pistons’ $20 million commitment to fund a new community center in Rouge Park on the west side of Detroit. The 25,000-square-foot, multi-use facility is to be the first in an expected series of initiatives for the Tom Gores Family Foundation, according to a Wednesday news release.

In remarks following Gores’ announcement Thursday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he did not know details of the $100 million commitment but that it was a national effort.

“We’ve had lots of conversations about lot of projects,” Duggan said. “There’s going to be, I believe, a great deal more investment from the Pistons, but it’s not for me to make that announcement.”