September 30, 2025
Contact: Judith Cebula
317.916.7327 | cebulaj@lei.org
Grants will help national youth-serving organizations strengthen work in character development
INDIANAPOLIS – Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded grants to six national youth-serving organizations to support their efforts to help young people develop positive character traits, such as compassion, courage, curiosity, empathy, honesty, kindness, responsibility, self-respect and respect for others.
Each organization will receive a $10 million grant through the Endowment’s initiative, Character Development Through Youth Programs. The initiative is designed to help youth-serving organizations create, test, implement and sustain strategies that support character development in the young people ages 5 to 18 they serve in chapters and affiliates throughout the nation.
Grants will support a variety of approaches to strengthen the organizations’ efforts dedicated to character development. Their approaches include enhancing staff and volunteer training and ongoing professional development; revamping or refreshing curricula; providing direct financial support to chapters and affiliates that choose to participate in enhanced character development programming; strengthening the organizations’ capacities to serve more youth; and evaluating the effectiveness of character development programs.
The funded organizations are:
- Camp Fire, Kansas City, MO
- National FFA Foundation, Indianapolis, IN
- Outward Bound, Boulder, CO
- Playworks Education Energized, Oakland, CA
- Positive Coaching Alliance, Oakland, CA
- YWCA USA, Washington, DC
“These organizations have long histories of supporting young people and helping them grow into healthy, resilient adults. Their efforts have included programs that model and encourage integrity, honesty, responsibility, humility, gratitude, perseverance, courage, empathy and other positive character traits,” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education and youth programs.
“With their distinctive missions and programs, they are embarking on new creative and strategic approaches to support youth in developing character traits that will enhance their prospects in life and help them develop into responsible citizens who will have a positive impact on the lives of others,” he added.
In 2024, the Endowment made grants totaling $30 million to eight youth-serving organizations through the first round of the Character Development Through Youth Programs initiative. Learn about those grants here.
The Endowment is also supporting other projects that encourage character development among young people. Since 2023, the Endowment has approved grants totaling more than $78 million to Wake Forest University to support its Educating Character Initiative (ECI). The aim of ECI is to provide a wide range of public and private colleges and universities in the U.S. with the resources, funding and other support needed to develop and implement ideas for integrating character education at their institutions.
Additionally, in 2024, the Endowment made 15 grants through its Fostering Character Through Children’s Museums, an initiative designed to help children’s museums nationwide develop new or expand existing efforts that explore character traits such as curiosity, honesty, empathy, compassion, integrity, kindness, teamwork, respect, responsibility, courage and community awareness, among others. In 2023, the Endowment made a $45.5 million grant to the American Camp Association to support the creation of Character at Camp, a multiyear initiative to grow, improve and celebrate character development among young people at camps across the United States.
About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private 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. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. Although the Endowment maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana, it also funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion.