Home » Philanthropy

Philanthropy

Articles

‘Placemaking’ finds champion: CICF to invest millions into quality-of-life enhancement

Central Indiana Community Foundation is making a multiyear, multimillion-dollar commitment to help find ways to make Hoosiers’ habitat a home. The Inspiring Places initiative, which is to be unveiled to foundation stakeholders March 22-23, aims to improve the region’s quality of life by rallying around the idea that vibrant public spaces create vibrant communities. But more than warm feelings are at stake, said CICF President and CEO Brian Payne. “More and more, a city’s economic development success revolves around its…

Read More

GERALD BEPKO Commentary: Chicago World’s Fair is model for Indiana

Cities seem to progress in stages with moments of decline, growth, exceptional energy, and, at times, a sense of destiny. For many years, Indianapolis has been a city on the move, a little like Chicago in 1893 when it hosted a World’s Fair. Chicago sought to shed its frontiertown image and establish itself as a city of global consequence. It beat out New York, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., for the right to host the fair. In hosting it, Chicago…

Read More

Training agency slashes government reliance: Not-for-profit turns to private donations for funding

Talk about a turnaround. An Indianapolis not-for-profit that once relied on government money to pay for most of its programs has found a way to do what many others wish they could-diversify its revenue stream as public funding dries up. In less than five years, work-force development agency Training Inc. has ended a decades-long dependence on government grants and contracts. “We had to reinvent ourselves in order to survive,” said former Director Joyce Duvall, who left this month after more…

Read More

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Don’t overlook Benjamin Harrison Home

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary Don’t overlook Benjamin Harrison Home Here’s a thought: Celebrate President’s Day (Feb. 21) at the President Benjamin Harrison Home. Let re-enactors take you back to the era of the only president elected from Indiana. Benjamin Harrison built his three-story Italianate Victorian home at 1230 N. Delaware St. in 1875 and lived there until his death in 1901, with a four-year interruption when he moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as the 23rd president of the United States….

Read More

Tsunami relief could hurt fund raising at home: Local agencies hope charitable response doesn’t come at their expense

Philanthropic response to last month’s tsunami has mounted along with the death toll, as citizens worldwide open their hearts and their checkbooks to help southeast Asia recover. In the United States alone, international relief organizations have raised more than $400 million, observers estimate, and pledges are still flowing in. But the impressive charitable effort-perhaps second only to the outpouring of support that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks-has some fund-raisers worried that causes closer to home will suffer. “Sept. 11 taught…

Read More