Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative 2025
Large-scale Collaboration Grants
The Endowment invites eligible theological schools in the United States (including its territories) and Canada that are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools to apply for grants of up to $10 million each to support large-scale collaborative endeavors that will 1) strengthen the institutional financial and educational capacities of the collaborating organizations to prepare and support pastoral leaders into the future, and 2) offer compelling and sustainable models that, if successful, could be adopted by other theological schools and collaborating organizations.
Interested theological schools should review the Request for Proposals for guidance on submitting concept papers that provide initial sketches of potential large-scale collaborations that would strengthen their collective institutional capacities to advance the initiative’s aim. Concept papers are due by Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
The Endowment anticipates inviting approximately 35 theological schools that submit the most compelling concept papers to develop their concepts and prepare requests for large-scale collaboration grants of up to $10 million each that may be used for up to a five-year period to execute their proposed plans. The invited theological schools will receive planning grants of up to $50,000 each to assist them in designing their large-scale collaborations and preparing Large-scale Collaboration Grant proposals. Application guidelines for the large-scale Collaboration Grant proposals will be sent to the invited schools after their concept papers have been selected for further development. Large-scale Collaboration Grant proposals are due by August 15, 2025.
The Endowment anticipates awarding Large-scale Collaboration Grants totaling up to $250 million and announcing funding decisions for these grants in December 2025.
View the Request for Proposals
Information Sessions
A recording of the Large-Scale Collaboration Grants information session is available upon request. Please email Pathways@lei.org to receive a link to this video.
Submit a Concept Paper
Following the instructions in the RFP, combine the required materials into a single PDF and submit it through the application form below by Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Any documents provided by the Endowment to complete a concept paper submission can be found below in the Resources section of this page.