Heritage Fund Receives Lily Endowment Leadership Grant to Collaborate with Landmark Columbus Foundation
Heritage Fund is pleased to announce that they have received a Large-Scale Community Leadership Grant of $3,498,824 through the seventh phase of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VII) initiative. The grant will support efforts enabling Landmark Columbus Foundation to fulfill its mission of caring for, celebrating and advancing the cultural heritage of our community.
Heritage Fund is one of 11 community foundations in Indiana to receive a Large-Scale Community Leadership Grant as part of a competitive component of the GIFT VII initiative. Through GIFT VII, Lilly Endowment encouraged Indiana’s community foundations to deepen their understanding of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing their local communities, prioritize them and develop plans to address the challenges and opportunities. The Large-Scale Leadership Grants are in addition to non-competitive GIFT VII Community Leadership Grants that Lilly Endowment made last year to 87 of Indiana’s community foundations. Heritage Fund received a $150,000 leadership grant in September 2020.
Announced at the start of Bartholomew County’s bicentennial year, this grant will significantly enhance Landmark Columbus Foundation’s mission and programs, including an in-depth survey and inventory of the cultural resources in the county, while the organization continues to activate the city’s downtown through its award-winning program Exhibit Columbus. This grant will help ensure that the unique architectural heritage remains a fundamental component of Bartholomew County’s economic success and compelling quality of life for all residents for years to come.
“We are thrilled by the confidence in Landmark Columbus Foundation represented by this generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s supercharged competitive grant program that speaks to the importance of maintaining the core of what has made our community so attractive to employers, talented individuals, design experts and those who seek a quality of life not typically found in a midsize Midwestern city,” said Rick Johnson, president of the Landmark Columbus Foundation Board. “This grant will allow us to work collaboratively with organizations and universities around the city, state and country.“
