Wabash Valley Community Foundation Meets Grant Challenge

wabash-valley-community-foundation

TERRE HAUTE, Ind – The Wabash Valley Community Foundation has successfully met a $1 million challenge grant opportunity in Vigo County. This challenge grant was provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.’s GIFT (Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow) VII initiative.

That means the foundation was successful in raising $500,000 for local works and receives two-for-one matches totaling $1 million.

In October 2018, the foundation was challenged to raise $2 million in new unrestricted endowment gifts: $500,000 in Clay County, $500,000 in Sullivan County and $1,000,000 in Vigo County.

In the span of only 15 months, the Community Foundation has exceeded the $1 million challenge in Vigo County.

Lilly Endowment

“The GIFT matching opportunities from Lilly Endowment have allowed us to significantly grow our capacity to support our communities and increase our grant making ability,”  Nancy Rogers, president of the foundation’s board, said in a news release. “With GIFT VII, we will be able to continue facilitating innovative and proactive funding to respond to the Wabash Valley’s most pressing and compelling challenges, opportunities and urgent needs.”

Examples of how the Community Foundation has used its unrestricted endowment funds in Vigo County include the $50,000 challenge grant to Council on Domestic Abuse for the full restoration of its residential services, $25,000 to the Swope Art Museum in support of window and door replacement, $9,000 to Wabash Valley Health Center for colorectal and diabetic screenings for a healthier community, $25,000 to Wabash Valley Habitat for Humanity for a construction truck/trailer and more.

Lilly Endowment announced the statewide challenge grant totaling $66.9 million to community foundations in October 2018. The $2-for-$1 match included a focus on building community endowments that are unrestricted and have the greatest flexibility to respond to local opportunities within the communities. This matching opportunity is the seventh phase of the Endowment’s GIFT initiative for Indiana community foundations.

For more information on GIFT VII in Clay, Sullivan and Vigo counties, or for more information on the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, contact Executive Director Beth Tevlin at 812-232-2234 or visit online at wvcf.org.