2024 Annual Report: Churches in small towns and other rural areas fill important roles for communities   Christian congregations serving rural areas are places of worship, prayer and spiritual formation. Like churches everywhere, they make sacred…

Beginning in 2021, Lilly Endowment grants totaling $60 million to the National Trust have supported the Preserving Black Churches Project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust.

2023 Annual Report: When a quartet of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra performed the music of John Coltrane at the National Museum of American History, it shared one of the most famous works in American jazz,…

During three days in Washington, D.C., leaders from museums and cultural institutions around the United States gathered to exchange insights about innovative and varied approaches to exploring religion and spirituality in their collections and exhibitions, education…

2022 Annual Report: Planning helps organizations identify financial needs of pastors and congregations.   The Rev. Matthew Baker can’t remember the exact date that he was awarded the $10,000 that would change his family’s finances and…

2022 Annual Report: St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Goshen, Ind., is thriving. Nearly a century old, St. Mark’s hulking brick building is located on a busy street in Goshen, a northern Indiana town with an…

2021 Annual Report: During a four-decade career working in museums across the United States, Lonnie G. Bunch III has perceived an interesting gap in how museums have traditionally captured the history of the United States in…

2021 Annual Report: Five of the most influential theologians of the 20th century are featured in a series of documentaries produced by Journey Films with support from Lilly Endowment. Based in Alexandria, VA., the non-profit film…

August 2021: When his alarm buzzes at 3 a.m., Daniel Sanchez prepares for a day in the fields alongside migrants who pick cherries and apples in Yakima, Washington, a central valley community known as the nation’s…

“I thought I was going to come back full of ideas. Instead, I came back empty, my mind cleared of the clutter and ready for God to fill me back up.”

The National Fund supports thriving congregations and their mission to serve by helping churches strengthen their facilities and improve the vitality of their community engagement.

78 faith-based organizations participate in the Endowment's Thriving in Ministry initiative to help clergy support one another for excellence in their congregational ministries.

Since 2013, Lilly Endowment has made grants to theological schools across the U.S. to support their work to strengthen preaching as they work with peer groups of pastors.

Religious leaders want to reach young people to help them find meaningful work, enduring friendships, and clarity about core values and commitments.