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Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a $30 million grant to United Way of Central Indiana to help fund construction and renovation projects for eligible not-for-profit groups.
The grant replenishes United Way’s Capital Projects Fund, which helps not-for-profits purchase, build, upgrade or expand their facilities to better serve their clients.
United Way of Central Indiana launched the Capital Projects Fund in 2000 with a grant from Lilly Endowment. Since then, the endowment has invested more than $190 million in the fund, which has supported more than 170 projects to date.
“Lilly Endowment’s continued investment in the Capital Projects Fund helps ensure that community organizations have appropriate facilities for providing high quality services to our neighbors who need them,” said Ronni Kloth, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for community development.
“United Way’s management of the fund, including the support and guidance it provides to local organizations undertaking capital projects, has a strong positive impact for human services in Central Indiana,” Kloth said.
The grant will fund capital projects for four years. For one year, the grant also will support United Way’s Technology Fund, which helps not-for-profits with technology assessments and projects.
The endowment is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in the United States, with net assets of $40.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2022. Last year, it paid grants of $1.3 billion to arts, education, religious and community development organizations around the nation.
In 2023, the capital projects fund supported efforts that included:
—Damien Center’s acquisition and renovation of a facility for a new Employment Services Center, where clients gain job skills training, employment experience and other support services.
—John Boner Neighborhood Center’s expansion and renovation of its Brookside Building to better accommodate its growing basic needs program and its administrative staff. Funding is also helping the center install advanced technology, expand a parking lot and convert a garage into a maintenance workshop.
—Public Advocates in Community Re-Entry’s (PACE) relocation of its offices into a newly renovated building after outgrowing its previous space. The new location is centrally located on a bus route with easy interstate access, making it more accessible for clients and staff.
—The Villages of Indiana’s expansion and renovation of The Children’s Village, a Level 4 Paths to Quality early childhood education center, enabling it to serve more children.
—Volunteers of America Ohio and Indiana’s construction of Legacy Recovery House in Plainfield, which provides safe transitional housing for mothers and their children as they work through the next stage of their recovery after completing residential substance use disorder treatment programs.
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Why not just give it directly to the organizations that need the money instead of letting UWCA cut 10% off the top for operations?
It takes staff to write RFPs, read them, do due diligence on the requests and organizations, verify that the projects actually cost the amounts requested, monitor the spending, and assure that the end product is what was promised.
When UWCI already has that capability, why would the Endowment staff up to duplicate it?
It’s like the difference between wholesalers and retailers: wholesalers deal with a limited number of customers in large quantities.