Tom Gores with the press (Photo: Mike Ferdinand)
A new, "one-of-a-kind" charity announced by Piston's owner Tom Gores during an interview at the Mackinac Policy Conference this week will be run like a business. It will be about handling problems and exploring opportunities. And it will be inspired by his new $20-million donation for a rec center in Detroit.
But that's about all we know of the national organization to be seeded with $100 million of the Pistons owner's money.
Here's how the Platinum Equity CEO described whatever he's up to, per Crain's:
"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 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."
In addition to failing to provide specifics, Gores also declined to provide a name for the organization. That, he said, will have to wait on a trademark.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan doesn't quite know what the team owner is up to either, but expects it's a national effort, not a city-specific one. However, he told Crain's, "We've had lots of conversations about lot of projects."
