Philanthropy responds to needs in our society by reducing human suffering, enhancing human potential, and building community. The Center on Philanthropy is the source for objective, documented knowledge about philanthropy and provides education and training to ensure the health and continuation of philanthropy through the practice of effective, ethical leadership.

How are we funded?

Generous funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation established the Center and facilitated the emergence of a new field of study. Funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Lumina Foundation for Education, The Annenberg Foundation, and the McCormick Foundation followed, increasing the Center’s scope and impact and helping it advance to the forefront of philanthropic leadership. These organizations, along with many individual donors, share the Center’s commitment to ensuring that nonprofits have the capacity and training to fulfill their missions.

Why give now?

The need for knowledge, education and training is stronger now than ever before, as the complexity and size of the nonprofit sector continues to increase exponentially and extend around the globe. Recent significant grants from Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation confirm the Center’s leadership role in the field and have inspired others to join in creating greater impact. Additional support will strengthen philanthropy by ensuring that the Center’s research, academic, training and public service programs will endure and respond to future challenges.

How can I give?

There are many ways to make your gift to the Center on Philanthropy. Those ways include gifts of cash, appreciated property, tangible property and closely held stock. Planned or deferred gifts provide additional options for supporting the Center. The most common method is to establish a bequest in your will. Other options, such as life income plan gifts, provide income during your lifetime from the assets donated to the Center. We would be pleased to provide information about these options for your use in financial and estate planning.

We are grateful for what you do to advance the Center’s essential mission. Your gifts, like those before them, reflect confidence in our work. Your philanthropy nurtures the Center’s progress toward building a better world for all of us. Please contact , Director of Development and Communications, at 317.278.8918 for information about how your gift will make an impact.

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