The United Service Organizations, whose mission is to strengthen America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, has been awarded a $3 million grant to fund the Combat COVID-19 Initiative.

A $2.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to the Indy Chamber Foundation will support the five-year Project Amplify initiative, a digital first step for potential residents to “see themselves” in the Indianapolis region.

Grants are supporting 11 community foundations as they embark on large-scale leadership efforts. The grants – totaling more than $33 million – are being made through the seventh phase of the Endowment’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow, known as GIFT VII.

Lilly Endowment is making nearly $25 million in grants to 297 youth-serving organizations working in Indiana to help them face challenges caused by COVID-19 through the Youth Program Resilience Fund.

Friends of the National World War II Memorial has received a $2 million grant to add President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., restore the “Circle of Remembrance," and develop interpretative programming.

Johnny Pryor is joining Lilly Endowment’s staff as a program director in the education division. Pryor comes to the Endowment from an extensive career in higher education during which he has led multi-faceted programs designed to help students succeed.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields is inviting guests into a digital world of art with THE LUME Indianapolis. Set to debut in June 2021, the multisensory experience created by Australian-based Grande Experiences will occupy the museum’s entire fourth floor. The Endowment funded the project with a 2019 grant.

Lilly Endowment has awarded 92 grants to help congregations strengthen ministries to help people deepen their relationships with God, build strong relationships with each other and contribute to the flourishing of local communities and the world.

In the latest round of grantmaking for its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative, Lilly Endowment is awarding $10.65 million to community foundations across Indiana. The grants are designed to help community foundations address a wide variety of local priorities.

Colleges and universities in Indiana are planning new strategies to address the challenges affecting higher education, and Lilly Endowment is making grants to support their efforts through its initiative, Charting the Future for Indiana’s Colleges and Universities.

Lilly Endowment’s 2019 annual report reflects a belief in the power and potential of collaboration to address societal challenges and further important causes in its three areas of grantmaking as established by its founders: religion, education and community development.