Lilly Endowment GIFT VII Initiative Launch

$500,000 Match Program Will Strengthen Marshall County 

The Marshall County Community Foundation has received a grant of $500,000 as part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s seventh phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative. With GIFT VII, the Endowment is making up to $125 million available to help Indiana community foundations strengthen the towns, cities and counties they serve.

The Marshall County Community Foundation (MCCF) can use this matching fund grant to build our financial assets and support our charitable activities. At least two-thirds of the matching fund grant must be designated to support the growth of the MCCF’s unrestricted endowments, which over time will provide flexibility to help the foundation to meet community needs.  The Endowment will provide $2 for every $1 contributed to the MCCF’s unrestricted endowments during the matching period, October 1, 2018, through December 31, 2020. 

The MCCF may choose to designate up to one-third of the matching fund grant to support the foundation’s own operating needs or specific community or charitable projects.  The Endowment will provide 50 cents for every $1 that the MCCF raises during the matching period for these purposes.

“We are grateful for the generosity and vision of the Lilly Endowment,” said Linda Yoder, Executive Director of the Marshall County Community Foundation. “The GIFT VII initiative presents us with a unique opportunity to take flight in Marshall County, growing and planning for our collective future.”

“The next two years will be an exciting time,” Kevin Boyer, Chair of the MCCF continued. “Marshall County’s potential is incredible. The Foundation is eager and willing to embrace this new community leadership role.”

The Marshall County Community Foundation is a public charity with local roots that helps great ideas take flight through endowment philanthropy. Since 1991, donors to the Marshall County Community Foundation have built the community’s assets currently valued at $34.5 million and have returned over $15.3 million to support charitable interests and causes throughout Marshall County, $3.9 million from Community Funds.

The GIFT initiative is part of Lilly Endowment’s grantmaking to strengthen Indiana communities and has been a priority of the 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.   


To encourage the engagement of the MCCF board of directors, the Endowment also will award an additional $100,000 unrestricted grant if the foundation achieves 100 percent financial support from our board members during the period January 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.   

Starting in 2019, the MCCF will have the opportunity to apply for more funds through GIFT VII’s community leadership grants.  This component includes both planning and implementation grants, which are available to help the foundation deepen its understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing its community; convene key local stakeholders and explore how it can effectively play a leadership role in implementing initiatives and strategies that enhance the quality of life in Marshall County.

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.