The Clinton County Community Foundation has announced its receipt of a matching grant totaling $750,000 in partnership with Lilly Endowment for its Giving Indiana Funds for
Tomorrow initiative, known as GIFT VIII.
The inclusion of the Clinton County Community Foundation in the initiative marks the Lilly Endowment’s eighth phase of the project, and the matching funds will be utilized to further develop the Community Foundation’s unrestricted assets. The unrestricted funds are not required to be utilized in support of a specific cause and may be applied at the Foundation’s discretion as the Foundation develops its own initiatives that align with its mission.
According to the Foundation, the qualifying matching funds raised to support the initiative through the matching grant will be eligible for the Foundation to receive $2 for every $1 received through the matching aspect of the grant. Clinton County Community Foundation President Todd Moser elaborated further on the impact the matching grant will have for the Foundation as it heads into the future.
“Gift VIII is a unique opportunity to build endowed funds that will serve the community now and across future generations,” Moser said. “Unrestricted community endowment funds provide the ability to empower our local nonprofits with the support and resource they need to thrive, and Gift VIII gives us yet another opportunity to increase funds available to the needs of our community through grants.”
Through the matching grant initiative, Lilly Endowment has reported awarded matching grant funds totaling $133.8 million to community foundations across the state that serve all 92 Indiana counties. Eligible community foundations submitted proposal requests for grants ranging from $100,000 to $15,000,000 that reflect the populations of the counties they are located in and serve.
In 2023, Lilly Endowment launched the initiative to help the foundations strengthen their communities that they serve, and the matching grants are only one of the opportunities that have been designed to promote this long-term aid and viability.
The Clinton County Community Foundation holds several unrestricted endowment funds to which donors can contribute, providing ample opportunity to successfully raise the first $375,000 that is required to receive the complete $750,000.
The total amount granted to the Community Foundation of Howard County, Inc. is $3 million. The Community Foundation of Howard County, Inc. represents Howard, Clinton, and Carroll Counties and the amounts per county are determined by population size.