Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. has long been one of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s most important supporters. For more than 75 years, it has helped fuel transformational work that reaches Clubs and youth across the country. Their support has helped us grow capacity, broaden impact, and deepen our commitment to the healthy character and leadership development of young people.
Our work together includes:
Advancing Character and Leadership Development
In late 2024, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded BGCA a $30 million grant through its Character Development Through Youth Programs initiative. BGCA was one of eight national youth-serving organizations selected to participate in this initiative, which helps organizations create, test, implement, and sustain strategies that build character in the young people they serve. This grant is enabling BGCA to embed character development more deeply across our national Club footprint. Our focus is to strengthen programs to help create a generation of community-minded and values-driven youth who embody respect and leadership and gain skills to build healthy relationships and resilience.
Strengthening Clubs in and Around Native Communities
In 2025, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded BGCA a $10 million grant to support more than 250 Clubs located on or near federal and state designated Native lands across the country. This three-year investment is helping to expand program capacity, strengthen leadership development for youth and staff, and advance digital transformation to ensure Clubs are equipped for the future. Through this support, BGCA is enhancing academic and mental health programming, expanding mentorship and training for local leaders, and modernizing technology infrastructure to improve access and engagement in rural and Native communities.
Multi-Year Statewide Strategic Plan for Indiana
In 2019, BGCA and 31 Indiana Boys & Girls Club organizations partnered to create a first-of-its-kind statewide strategic plan, supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. Through a collaborative, data-driven process, they formed a Steering Committee, conducted a statewide needs assessment on out-of-school time care, and developed a five-year strategic plan with unanimous Club approval. To launch the plan, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded BGCA two planning grants totaling $450,000, followed in 2022 by a historic $30 million grant — then the largest single foundation gift in BGCA’s history. This investment advanced two years of the statewide plan across 31 Club Organizations (117 Clubhouses), supporting high-quality programs, staff training, and capital improvements to better serve Indiana youth. As the grant approaches completion, Indiana Clubs have met or exceeded all grant targets, including surpassing their two-year Club membership goal by 116% – serving more than 60,700 members statewide at now 185 Clubhouses.
Expanding Statewide Strategic Planning
The success of the Indiana statewide strategic plan prompted BGCA to expand the strategic planning process to additional states. In 2023, Lilly Endowment granted $1.4 million to BGCA to analyze the current statewide strategic planning model, tailor the model to fit each state’s specific needs, and pilot statewide strategic planning in four states. This multi-state pilot is currently underway in Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. This pilot will help develop best practices for scalable statewide planning to drive collective impact across the Movement.
Held in Indianapolis, IN from January 9-10, 2024, the convening hosted more than 141 participants, including 30 Club organization CEOs, more than 60 Club staff, 50 Board members, external speakers, youth performers and BGCA staff.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. While the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States on an invitational basis to support these causes, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
