$2.1 million in new funds raised for the Monroe County community
With more than $2 million in new funds, the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County (CFBMC) has announced it exceeded fundraising goals set for the Lilly Endowment GIFT Phase VI matching challenge.
“Thanks to the foresight and generosity of donors and organizations in our community, the Community Foundation received the full $1 million dollars in match from the Lilly Endowment,” said President and CEO Tina Peterson.
“We’re grateful to these individuals, families and businesses who share our passion for Monroe County and a vision for its future.”
In total, 645 individuals and businesses gave $1.18 million in gifts. With the match provided by Lilly Endowment, the Community Foundation’s endowment has grown by $2.18 million total.
“The Lilly matching opportunity has allowed us to significantly grow our capacity to support our community and increase our grantmaking ability,” added Peterson. “It’s a game changer. Because of GIFT VI’s impact, the Foundation will be able to make $98,000 in additional grants to the community each year forever. That translates to an additional $1.8 million over the next 25 years to address the most pressing needs and compelling opportunities in our community.”
In 2014, Lilly Endowment Inc. announced Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) Phase VI, an effort to promote sustainable and effective community foundations in Indiana. Through this initiative, the Endowment made matching grants available to Indiana community foundations, with the amount based upon the county’s population. Monroe County was one of 17 counties eligible for $1 million in matching dollars to grow funds for strategic grantmaking in our community. The Phase VI Lilly Endowment fundraising challenge ended March 31, 2016. This phase was the sixth Lilly Endowment initiative to provide matching challenges to Indiana community foundations since 1990.
As part of the current Lilly Endowment challenge, CFBMC’s Board of Directors set a target of 65% in unrestricted funds. Of the $2.1 million raised in this time period, the Community Foundation exceeded its goal with 76%, or $1.4 million, to grow unrestricted funds. Personal gifts from the Foundation’s Board of Directors totaled $111,661 and board members established eight new named unrestricted funds.
“Unrestricted funds allow us the flexibility to address Monroe County’s ever-changing needs,” said Development Director Meagan Niese, “Through strategic grant making and leadership initiatives, the Community Foundation is able to facilitate innovative and proactive funding to respond to the community’s most pressing and compelling opportunities, challenges and urgent needs.”
The Lilly GIFT VI challenge also gave CFBMC momentum for its “Corporations for the Future” campaign. Corporations took advantage of the matching opportunity to create new funds and partner with CFBMC, often for the first time. The number of new companies that made gifts to CFBMC during this time period increased by 24% with a total of $484,450 from 17 corporations.
New donors also participated in the Community Foundation’s first match-day event, “Match Madness” in March 2015. Match Madness was an event to grow the endowments of 10 local nonprofit agencies. The Community Foundation offered $150,000 ($50,000 Lilly GIFT VI and $100,000 CFBMC) in match dollars. Combined, agency endowments grew by $280,000 in this 25-hour period.
“We are immensely grateful to the Lilly Endowment for GIFT VI,” Chris Cockerham, chair of the Community Foundation development committee. “This opportunity challenged and incentivized us to develop new and innovate ways to significantly grow for the future. We’re proud of the outcome, and thrilled that it gave us the opportunity to develop new relationships and increase awareness about the Foundation and the agencies and nonprofits that are so vital in our community.”
About Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County:
Created by individuals, families and businesses who share a passion for Monroe County and a vision for its future, the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County has granted $24 million to more than 400 local nonprofit organizations since its incorporation in 1990. With a growing $26 million endowment, the Foundation makes a difference by connecting caring people, important causes and community resources. We make grants, offer expertise and lead in collaboration with others to meet our community’s most pressing needs and seize its most important opportunities, including impacting education, healthcare, the environment, charitable economic development, social services, the arts and more.
About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. A separate entity from the pharmaceutical company, the foundation supports community development, education and religion causes primarily in Indianapolis and Indiana.
Lilly Endowment Inc. launched the Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative 25 years ago to encourage the establishment and strengthening of community foundations as vehicles to improve the quality of life in Indiana communities. The success of Indiana’s community foundations over the intervening years has far exceeded the Endowment’s expectations when GIFT began. With assistance from the Lilly Endowment, all 92 counties in Indiana are served by a community foundation or affiliate. The total value of the assets of Indiana community foundations that have regularly participated in GIFT has increased from an aggregate value of about $30 million to nearly $2 billion, and those community foundations have paid grants totaling more than $915 million. These results would not have been achieved without the imagination, generosity, commitment and leadership of thousands of donors, volunteers and foundation staff members throughout the state.