South Madison Community Foundation has received a grant of $250,000 as part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s seventh phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative.
South Madison Community Foundation has invested this matching fund grant to build our financial assets and support our charitable activities of the unrestricted Bright Future Fund, which provides flexibility to help the foundation to meet changing community needs.
The GIFT initiative is part of Lilly Endowment’s grantmaking to strengthen Indiana communities and has been a priority of Lilly Endowment since the first phase of GIFT in 1990. The initiative’s primary aim is to help Indiana community foundations develop the philanthropic capacity to identify, prioritize and address local opportunities and challenges.
The South Madison Community Foundation was begun as a result of the very first GIFT initiative, when a small group of local community leaders seized the opportunity to create a permanent source for charitable support to meet local needs or opportunities. Since that time, South Madison Community Foundation has awarded over $6 million in grants and scholarships while building assets of $12 million for future giving.
South Madison Community Foundation Executive Director Tammy Bowman said, “Our founders took on the original GIFT matching challenge because they recognized the opportunity to touch the future of their community. Because of that foresight, we have resources to support today’s residents and to build additional opportunities for tomorrow.”
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family – J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli – through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support causes of community development, education and religion. Lilly Endowment’s community development grantmaking is designed to support efforts that enhance the quality of life in Indianapolis and Indiana.