Our History

It is not often that a community identifies a long-range problem, rallies around a plan to tackle it and then creates a new institution they believe will address the problem for many years to come. The volunteers and supporters who worked together to establish Friends of Lake Leelanau did just that—in three years!

They helped breathe life into a practical solution to a complex problem—a solution which will not only provide the resources needed to protect the waters of Lake Leelanau from current threats, but from future challenges as well.

The catalyst for the community’s concern was Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM), which was discovered in Lake Leelanau in 2019. This aggressive plant, classified by scientists as the single most invasive aquatic plant in North America, had already overtaken many lakes, large and small, across North America. Thanks to the decisive and coordinated action by the Lake Leelanau Lake Association, the spread of EWM has been contained. However, the rapidly growing cost of this work quickly outstripped the Association’s capacity to raise funds to pay for it. It became apparent to the community that a long-term source of funding was needed to address this and other problems the Lake might encounter in the future.

The groundwork for Friends of Lake Leelanau, an independent public foundation, was initiated in late 2021. Fundraising began in earnest in January 2022 when a Campaign Committee was formed and began work. Friends’ Board and the Committee set an ambitious goal of raising an endowment of $5 to $8 million, the income from which was to be used to counter any challenge which might threaten the lake in the future.

Thanks to the passionate engagement of many thoughtful and generous people in the community, Friends surpassed its fundraising goal at the end of December 2024. Including investment returns, Friends’ assets had grown to $9.1 million by December 31, 2024, the year the campaign concluded.

Friends made its first grant to the Lake Leelanau Lake Association in January 2025 in the amount of $291,380. The purpose of the grant was to cover the costs of the Association’s lake stewardship program in 2025. Specifically, the funds were used to finance the Association’s programs to monitor and control aquatic and terrestrial invasive species in Lake Leelanau, as well as to evaluate and potentially upgrade the Association’s water quality monitoring program. In addition, grant funds enabled the Association to continue to educate residents and visitors about the importance of washing their boats and protecting the lake’s shoreline, which acts as both a natural buffer and water filtration system to help keep Lake Leelanau’s water clean and clear.

Friends has received gifts and pledges from 575 donors. As of December 31, 2025, Friends’ assets totaled approximately $9.5 million.