Lilly Endowment Awards $3.75M Matching Grant to Community Foundation of Elkhart County
The Community Foundation of Elkhart County has received a $3.75 million matching grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the ninth phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow initiative, known as GIFT IX.
The Community Foundation will use $2.25 million of the funding to grow the Fund for Elkhart County, the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment. Another $1.5 million will support three community initiatives:
- $800,000 for Countdown to Kindergarten programming
- $500,000 for Elkhart River District placemaking enhancements
- $200,000 for the Hunger Ends Here coalition
Qualifying matching funds raised to support the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment, the Fund for Elkhart County, will be eligible for a $2-to-$1 match from Lilly Endowment, helping generate an additional $2.6 million for Elkhart County, while qualifying matching funds raised for the three community initiatives will be eligible for a $1-to-$1 match.
“We’re deeply grateful to Lilly Endowment for believing in Elkhart County,” said Ken Julian, acting CEO of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. “This match means gifts of every size go further, whether someone wants to help a child get ready for kindergarten, make sure a family has enough to eat or strengthen the fund that lets us respond to needs we can’t yet see. We can’t reach the full match without our neighbors, and we’re confident they’ll show up the way they always have.”
To maximize the full grant, the Community Foundation must raise $1.125 million for the Fund for Elkhart County and $1.5 million for the three community initiatives by June 30, 2028, the foundation said.
The Fund for Elkhart County provides flexible funding that allows the Community Foundation to respond to the county’s most pressing needs and emerging opportunities. Countdown to Kindergarten helps prepare young children and their families for a successful transition to school. River District placemaking enhancements will support continued investment in downtown Elkhart, while the Hunger Ends Here coalition is working to address hunger and food insecurity throughout the county.
Through GIFT IX, Lilly Endowment has awarded matching grants totaling $124.5 million to community foundations across Indiana. Eligible community foundations submitted proposals requesting grants ranging from $250,000 to $13.2 million based on the populations of the counties they serve.
Lilly Endowment created the GIFT initiative in 1990 to help local communities in Indiana develop the philanthropic capacity to identify local needs and challenges and work with organizations and residents to help their communities thrive, the foundation said. Through GIFT IX, Lilly Endowment has awarded $259.7 million to support community foundations serving Indiana’s 92 counties. These grants help community foundations grow their financial resources and further strengthen their ability to address their communities’ highest-priority challenges and opportunities.
