The Lilly Endowment, America’s largest private foundation, which has assets valued at approximately $102 billion, announced it has awarded $649 million in grants to 93 religious organizations to help prepare pastors for the future and tell stories about Christian life.
Just over $416 million of the funding went to 45 seminaries in the U.S. and Canada through the foundation’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. The initiative, which was launched in 2021, “aims to help theological schools in the United States and Canada strengthen their abilities to prepare ordained and lay pastoral leaders for Christian churches now and into the future.”
“Theological schools play a vital role in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders for Christian congregations,” Christopher L. Coble, the foundation’s vice president for religion, said in a press statement last week.
“We believe that one of the most promising paths for theological schools to carry forward their important missions and enhance their impact is to work collaboratively with other schools, as well as congregations and other church-related organizations. By doing so they can strengthen their collective capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for effective congregational service now and in the future.”
Since 2021, Lilly has provided grants totaling over $700 million to 163 theological schools for the purpose of supporting their financial and educational capacities, as well as supporting 61 schools in creating collaborative efforts.
The grants to seminaries this year ranged from $2.5 million to $10 million.
Seminaries that received the top end grant of $10 million are: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Biola University, Bethany Theological Seminary, Bexley Seabury Seminary, Campbell University, Concordia Seminary, Eden Theological Seminary, Emory University, Fuller Theological Seminary, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Grace Mission University, Howard University, Indiana Wesleyan University, North American Baptist Seminary at Kairos University, LOGOS Evangelical Seminary, Loyola University of Chicago, Luther Seminary, Mount Angel Abbey, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Pacific School of Religion, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Roberts Wesleyan University, Saint John’s University, Santa Clara University's President-Board of Trustees of Santa Clara College, Southeastern University, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Baylor University received almost $10 million along with: Covenant Theological Seminary, Fresno Pacific University, Grand Canyon University, Northwest College and Seminary (Northwest Baptist Theological College and Seminary), Northwest Nazarene University, Trinity Anglican Seminary (Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry), and Vancouver School of Theology.
The smallest grant, $2.5 million, went to the Atlantic School of Theology.
Lilly Endowment also gave away 48 grants totaling more than $232 million through its National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life. This initiative “seeks to help organizations identify, produce and share compelling stories about ways that Christians from many different backgrounds and in a broad range of settings are living vibrant lives of faith and engaging in acts of love and service for others.”
“Christian leaders from many communities have shared with the Endowment powerful stories about how faith helps people find meaning and hope and connects them with one another. Contrary to many media accounts that highlight the decline of religion, these stories tell how individuals and congregations are living out their faith by tending to the needs of their neighbors, extending hospitality to friends and strangers, and working to promote healing and reconciliation in their communities,” Coble said.
“Through the Storytelling Initiative, the Endowment hopes that the funded organizations will shine a light on these stories and make more visible the vitality that many Christians experience through their faith.”
The Storytelling Initiative was first launched in December 2024 when 12 organizations received grants.
Lilly Endowment’s funding is through its ownership of 92.5 million shares in Eli Lilly and Company, which became the first pharmaceutical company to reach a $1 trillion market valuation last Tuesday. In 2024, Lilly Endowment surpassed the Gates Foundation as America’s largest private foundation.
According to the foundation’s website, it was founded in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., for the “promotion and support of religious, educational or charitable purposes.”
“Throughout its history, the Endowment has sought to nurture the human spirit, intellect and character,” it states. “When once asked what the main purpose of the Endowment should be, Eli Lilly said, ‘I hope we could help improve the character of the American people.’”
