August 15, 2024
Contact: Judith Cebula
317.916.7327 | cebulaj@lei.org

Lilly Endowment Initiatives Seek to Help Marion County Schools Improve Student Academic Achievement and Post-secondary Success

INDIANAPOLIS – Lilly Endowment Inc. is launching two new multi-year initiatives with the aim to help K-12 public and private schools in Marion County initiate, enhance or expand compelling programs and projects that show promise to improve their students’ academic achievement and prospects for success after high school.

The Endowment is allocating up to $600 million for these initiatives, including up to $450 million for the Marion County K-12 Public Schools Initiative and up to $150 million for the Marion County K-12 Private Schools Initiative. More than 80 eligible public school districts, charter schools and charter networks and private schools and private school networks are eligible to apply for planning grants, implementation grants and competitive grants under three phases within their respective initiatives. These eligible applicants represent or include more than 300 schools in Marion County.

In each initiative, Phase 1 planning grants will be available to support applicants as they engage in relevant research and analysis and prepare proposals for Phase 2 implementation grant funding of compelling programs or projects that show promise to improve their students’ academic achievement and prospects for post-secondary success. Eligible applicants also will have the opportunity to compete for larger grants in Phase 3 of the initiatives. In 2025, the Endowment will review implementation and competitive grant proposals, and it expects to approve and award funding by the end of that year. Funding awarded through Phase 2 and Phase 3 may be used over a 5-year grant period.

More details about the initiatives’ timelines, phases, applicant eligibility and grant proposal guidelines can be found on each of the initiatives’ webpages:

Given the many and varied needs of students, the diversity of schools, and the complex factors schools must address in order to carry out their missions, the Endowment expects that applicants will propose a variety of approaches that on the basis of convincing research or other evidence show promise to improve academic achievement and the prospects for post-secondary success. In some cases, the Endowment expects that school leaders will seek to improve academic achievement in the near-term through instructional programs or projects. In other cases, a longer-term approach may be more appropriate, as school leaders prioritize helping students prepare better for college or careers or tackle non-academic challenges of students that negatively affect learning, such as food insecurity, chronic absenteeism, mental and physical health concerns, lack of transportation, among others.

“Despite the best efforts of countless talented educators, too many students in Marion County K-12 schools are not achieving adequate educational success,” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education. “We are encouraging school leaders to take full advantage of the opportunities under these initiatives to identify and implement promising, local, national or global, evidenced-based approaches to address the relevant educational challenges and opportunities of their students. We hope that the programs and projects funded under these initiatives will significantly enhance their students’ academic achievement and prospects of success in their future endeavors.”

About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.