In 2023, Lilly Endowment announced Phase VIII of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow community foundation initiative, (GIFT VIII). This initiative is based upon the Endowment’s longstanding belief that community foundations are uniquely positioned to play central roles in supporting and strengthening communities throughout Indiana.

The Endowment allocated up to $210 million for this multi-year initiative, which aimed to support Indiana’s community foundations in their efforts to:

• Grow their financial resources to promote long-term viability and sustainability.
• Further strengthen their leadership capabilities.
• Develop and implement strategic programs, projects and initiatives that enhance their communities’ quality of life.

GIFT VIII Funding Opportunities Overview

• Matching Fund Grants totaling nearly $133.8 million were awarded in 2024 to help community foundations develop unrestricted assets, implement projects and programs that address community needs, and build their internal capacity. Grants ranged from $100,000 to $15 million.
• Community Leadership Grants were meant to help community foundations continue to engage stakeholders in their communities and, if desired, seek funding to develop and implement large-scale action plans that address high priority community challenges and opportunities. These grants were available through two phases.

Phase 1 Planning Grants: More than $7.1 million was awarded in 2023. Grants ranged from $13,014 to $250,000 for community foundations to engage in planning activities aimed at envisioning and developing, in collaboration with community stakeholders, plans to enhance their communities’ quality of life.

Phase 2 Implementation Grants: Community foundations that participated in Phase 1 were eligible to participate in Phase 2. In 2024, more than $171.3 million was awarded through a competitive process to 30 organizations. Grants ranged from $467,327 to $20 million to fund a variety of projects and programs designed to address local and regional priorities in 41 counties across Indiana.

• Board Engagement Grants totaling $8.9 million were awarded in 2025 to encourage community foundation board participation and engagement by providing a $100,000 unrestricted grant opportunity to eligible community foundations demonstrating 100 percent board member giving.

Questions
Please email gift@lei.org.