OVERVIEW: The Lilly Endowment is an important source of funding for Indiana nonprofits. The endowment makes grants for education, community development, arts and culture and racial justice.
IP TAKE: Lilly makes around $500 million a year in grants, more than half of which stay in Indiana. This is a surprisingly approachable funder; it accepts two-page letters of inquiry by mail at any time and responds in writing to each of the thousands it receives every year. It’s very responsive, though it might take a bit to hear back.
The foundation’s robust religion funding initiative features a broader geographic scope and supports organizations representing a broad range of Christian denominations. Lilly also supports a small selection of national education organizations that prioritize the achievement of students who are underrepresented in higher education.
PROFILE: The Lilly Endowment traces its roots back to 1937, when J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons, J.K. Jr. and Eli, established it with stock from their pharmaceutical business. Although the endowment is now independent of its parent drug company and the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation , Eli Lilly stock is still its main source of revenue. This funder aims to “help individuals reach their full potential, families to thrive and communities to flourish through grants to a range of charitable organizations.” Its funding initiatives are education and youth, religion and community development. More than half of this funder’s grants stay in the state of Indiana.
Grants for Early Childhood Education
The Lilly Endowment names early childhood education and services in the state of Indiana as a main focus of its education and youth funding program. Areas of interest include increasing the accessibility of high-quality programs for low-income and disadvantaged families, program development and teacher education. The endowment recently made a $20 million commitment to Early Learning Indiana, which helps early learning centers throughout the state improve and expand their programming. The foundation has also supported early childhood initiatives at the United Way of Central Indiana and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis. Also, in partnership with Indiana Department of Education, it gave $85 million to support early literacy in the state.
Grants for K-12 Education
Lilly’s K-12 education funding is mainly limited to the state of Indiana and supports a broad range of initiatives for quality K-8 instruction and curricula, college readiness and teacher and administrator development. The foundation has also supported initiatives that provide counseling and guidance to K-12 students. One grantee, AskRose Homework Help, coordinates college tutors with K-12 students for online homework help and tutoring. Another grantee, Central Indiana’s Center for Leadership Development, provides in- and out-of-school programming for students in grades 4-12 with the goals of “personal development, academic achievement, career preparation and community leadership.” Other grantees include the Comprehensive Counseling Initiative for Indiana, the Teacher Creativity Fellowship and the University of Indiana’s Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning, a teacher and administrator development program.
Grants for Higher Education
Lilly supports higher education through its education and religion programs. The education initiative prioritizes the state of Indiana and minority students across the U.S. Operating exclusively in Indiana, its Higher Education and Intellectual Capital sub-initiative supports Indiana institutions to “create world-class facilities, attract and retain top research and teaching talent and enhance the academic experiences of their students.” Through this subprogram the endowment has made a $25 million commitment to the Indiana Collaborative Initiative for Talent Enrichment and a $40 million commitment to Purdue Moves Indiana Forward, which supported the creation of several technology and engineering laboratories at Purdue.
The endowment’s Higher Education and Workforce Readiness program works with organizations in Indiana and in other parts of the U.S. to support initiatives that increase college completion and career readiness, prioritizing groups that are underrepresented in higher education. The endowment gave $50 million to the Career Pathways Initiative, a national program that helps historically black colleges align liberal arts curricula with the development of skills that help students gain meaningful employment after graduation. Other grantees include the Hispanic Career Pathways Initiative, Conexus Indiana and Techpoint, an organization for college students who are pursuing degrees and careers in the technology sector.
A third sub-program, Strategic and Community Advancement, funds “strategic initiatives in Indiana that build on the work of community foundations, educational institutions and other local and regional community organizations and partnerships to plan for and build greater community and regional prosperity.” Funding from this subprogram overlaps significantly with the endowment’s community development funding for Indiana, which focuses on supporting industry, talent pipelines and quality of life in the state. Through this program, the Endowment has supported the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, the Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation Network and Indiana Uplands, which coordinates industry, education and community programs to “enhance the quality of life” in eleven Indiana counties.
Lily’s religion program aims “to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians, principally by supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations.” To this end, the foundation has supported theological seminaries, divinity schools and associations of religiously-affiliated colleges and universities. Recent grants have gone to the Duke University Divinity School, the Association for Theological Schools and Wabash College’s Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness and Community Development
The Lilly Endowment does not name housing and homelessness as areas of grantmaking interest but has supported several initiatives for affordable housing in Indiana via its community development initiative. Grantees include the Indianapolis Housing Agency, the Mapleton-Fall Creek Housing Development Corporation and Indianapolis’s Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Lilly supports a broad range of arts and culture organizations within the state of Indiana. Recent grantmaking has prioritized programs and initiatives with broad audiences and those that “seek to make arts and culture a larger part of the lives of individuals and families.” Grantees include the Indianapolis Parks foundation’s Taggart Memorial Mainstage Amphitheatre, Indy Art and Seek and Third Space, a visual arts initiative that brings art installations to public schools.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Rather than name racial justice as an area of grantmaking focus, the Lilly Endowment supports organizations involved in equity and social justice across all of its grantmaking areas. Grantees include 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, the National Association of Black Accountants, the Indiana Black Expo and the African American Experience of the 19th Century program at the Conner Prairie Museum in Indiana.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
Lilly’s religion funding program is national in scope and supports leadership development, congregations and initiatives that support “public understanding of religion.” Recent grantees include the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the National Interfaith Cable Coalition and the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board of the American Baptist Churches.
The Lilly Endowment has also given millions to Indiana-based and national organizations involved in COVID-19 response and relief efforts. In Indiana, the endowment has supported the Central Indiana Community Economic Relief Fund, the India United Ways COVID-19 Economic Relief Initiative, Indy Arts and Culture Restart and Resilience Fund and the Indianapolis E-Learning Fund. Nationally, Lilly has supported the relief efforts coordinated by the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Services Organization.
Important Grant Details:
In a recent year, the Lilly Endowment made over $500 million in grants, spread about evenly over its three grantmaking areas: community, education and religion. Grants range from $5,000 to several million, with many of the endowment’s largest grants representing multi-year commitments. Most of this funder’s grants support Indiana-based organizations, but a selection of national organizations with strong reputations and broad impact have also received funding. The endowment maintains a searchable database of past grants on its website as well as its most recent annual report.
The Lilly Endowment accepts letters of inquiry of no more than two pages by mail at any time. All inquiries will receive written responses, and some will be invited to submit full proposals. The Endowment cautions prospective grantees that while it receives thousands of worthwhile inquiries each year, it can only fund a small percentage of these. General injuries may be directed to the endowment’s staff via its contact page.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: