Christian Organizations across the United States receive up to a $1.25M grant approved by Lilly Endowment Inc. to help parents share their faith with their children.
Lilly Endowment based in Indianapolis, Indiana has approved 77 grants to Christian institutions and ministries in the United States.
The foundation will be donating grants ranging from $240,000 to $1.25 million to Christian organizations through its parenting Caregiving Initiative  which focuses on helping “interested parents and other caregivers share their Christian faith and values with their children [to] build on recent research that affirms the pivotal role parents play in the religious lives of their children.”
Lilly Endowment Vice President for Religion Christopher L. Coble announced in a statement that the foundation has “heard from many parents who are seeking to nurture the spiritual lives of their children, especially in their daily activities, and looking to churches and other faith-based organizations for support.”
“These thoughtful, creative, and collaborative organizations embrace the important role that families have in shaping the religious development of children and are launching programs to assist parents and caregivers with this task,” he continued.
In addition, the “principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities.”
The endowment also looks forward to improving “public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays” in the U.S. and abroad.
However, the grant is only available for “organizations with public charity tax status” such as “theological schools, colleges and universities, church resourcing agencies, publishing houses, national and regional denominational judicatories, camps and retreat centers, and other religious organizations.”
Notable recipients include Asbury Theological Seminary, Marquette University, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, College of the Ozarks, Wheaton College, and the University of Notre Dame.