Lilly Endowment Offers $500,000 to Pulaski County

Lilly Endowment Inc. has announced a sixth phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative for Indiana community foundations. The new phase includes a total of $66 million dollars across the state, covering every county and 94 community foundations.

The Pulaski County Community Foundation (PCCF) is eligible to receive up to $500,000 under GIFT Phase VI, based on the county’s population.

Larger counties may receive between $1 and $2 million. To receive the $500,000 grant, Pulaski County must raise $500,000 in matching dollars from donors. 

“It’s been about 12 years since the last matching phase, and we didn’t know if or when there might be another,” said PCCF executive director Wendy Rose. “This is very exciting news for our county and for its community foundation.” 

Lilly Endowment launched the GIFT initiative nearly 25 years ago to help local Indiana communities develop the philanthropic capacity to address their own needs and challenges. The growth and impact of the state’s community foundations since then has been astonishing. The number of community foundations in Indiana has grown from about a dozen in 1990 to 94 today. 

At the same time, assets have increased from about $30 million to nearly $2 billion, and those foundations have paid grants totaling more than $915 million. Ace Yakey, the Endowment’s vice president for community development, stated that past success and the promise for Indiana’s community foundations to have even more impact led the Endowment to initiate this new GIFT phase.

At least half of the Phase VI grant must go to the community foundation’s unrestricted endowment. This underscores the Endowment’s belief that community foundations have unrestricted endowment funds to enable them to respond to critical local needs as they evolve. PCCF’s general unrestricted endowment fund recently underwent a name change to more clearly state its purpose, and is now entitled the “Community Grants Fund.” 

The other half of grant funds may be used for any charitable purpose chosen by the community foundation board. “The decision will require careful thought, additional meetings and discussion on the part of volunteer board members,” said Rose. 

“This is indeed a challenge for our county, but also a hugely generous opportunity at the same time,” said Rose. “What better reasons to give than to improve the communities we live in today, and at the same time strengthen them for tomorrow?” 

The deadline for community foundations to apply for Phase VI is Sept. 11. Lilly Endowment will start the matching period Aug. 1 of this year until March 31, 2016.