Lilly Endowment is pleased to announce its Exploring Christian Practices Initiative, which aims to multiply opportunities and increase access to settings that help individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds explore and engage in Christian practices to address their spiritual interests and questions, find and build community with others, nourish their religious lives and grow in faith.

In this open and competitive initiative, the Endowment invites charitable organizations to submit proposals for grants of up to $2.5 million each that may be used for up to a five-year period to develop new and/or enhance existing programs that present promising strategies for advancing the aim of the initiative and provide compelling and thoughtful responses to the following guiding questions: 

  1. Who are the specific groups of individuals (both inside and outside the organization’s current constituents and the congregations that the organization supports) that the organization seeks to reach and serve, and what are the spiritual interests and questions of these individuals? 
  2. What Christian practices that are grounded in the organization’s theological and ecclesial tradition have played central roles in nourishing the faith of individuals in the organization’s community, and how can the organization retrieve, adapt, refine and deploy these practices in appropriate ways today to help individuals address their spiritual interests and questions, find and build community with others, nourish their religious lives and grow in faith? 
  3. What are the most appropriate and promising settings (both inside and outside of congregations) that are most conducive for individuals to explore and engage in a variety of Christian practices that the organization identified as most helpful and appropriate for today, and how can the organization both multiply opportunities and increase access to these settings to enable more individuals to explore and engage in these practices? 

The Endowment anticipates awarding approximately 60 grants and announcing grant awards in December 2026. 

Eligibility 

Charitable organizations in the United States that are tax-exempt public charities under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) and corresponding statutes and that have a demonstrated interest in nurturing Christian faith and life are eligible to apply for grants through the Exploring Christian Practices Initiative. 

Information Sessions 

The Endowment will host six identical virtual information sessions to discuss the Exploring Christian Practices guidelines for submitting a proposal. Due to high demand, spots have been added to accommodate additional participants. Organizations wishing to participate in a session must register by clicking on one of the links below. Please register no more than two people per organization.

Submission Procedures 

  1. Step One: Interest Form and Letter of Interest. Interested charitable organizations should complete and submit an Interest Form and a one-page Letter of Interest by March 25, 2026, through the form below. Although not a requirement, the submission of the Interest Form and Letter of Interest indicates the organization’s intent to submit a proposal and assists the Endowment in implementing the initiative. 
  2. Step Two: Proposal Submission. Interested charitable organizations should read the Request for Proposals to learn more about completing a proposal and submitting materials through the online Proposal Submission Form. Organizations must submit complete proposals by May 18, 2026. The form for proposal submissions will go live on this page on March 26, 2026, once the Interest Form has been removed.

Interest Form  

Interested eligible organizations should complete the form below and submit a Letter of Interest by March 25, 2026. 

Initiative Resources
Request for Proposals Exploring Practices FAQs Information Form Guide to Budget Preparation Exempt Status Charity/Foundation Status Information Form Sample IRS Exempt Status Determination Letter News Release
All Open Initiatives