With more than $1.2 billion in assets, Lumina is the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated exclusively to increasing postsecondary access to programs that lead to meaningful credentials, good jobs, higher pay, and greater opportunity to learn and serve others.
Lumina is a conversion foundation established in August 2000 when , an Indianapolis-based guarantor and administrator of federal student loans, sold its charitable assets to the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae). The proceeds from that sale—$770 million—endowed USA Group Foundation, which established itself as an independent foundation. In February 2001, USA Group Foundation was renamed Lumina Foundation for Education. Today, Lumina employs about 60 people, including several based in Washington, D.C.
The foundation defines a quality postsecondary credential as one that leads to employment and further educational opportunity. Lumina believes the nation needs a new system of higher learning—one designed to serve today’s students and equip them for success in the 21st century.
The foundation supports systemic changes that make opportunities for learning after high school available to all—especially people of color, students from low-income families, and others who are not well served by colleges and universities. The foundation envisions a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s need for talent through a broad range of credentials. Lumina’s objective is to ensure that people are prepared for informed citizenship and success in a global economy.
By 2025, the foundation seeks to ensure that 60 percent of the nation’s working-age population (ages 25-64) has a college degree, certificate, or other quality credentials beyond a high school diploma. To make this happen, Lumina works with grant recipients to help redesign the post-high school learning environment to one that is fairer for those ethnically and racially diverse populations who studies have shown suffer most from lack of education in the workplace.
Since its founding, Lumina has awarded more than $800 million in grants. In addition to its grant-making, the foundation advances social change through strategic communications, meetings, and events, state and federal policy advocacy, and strategic investments in innovative, entrepreneurial firms and organizations advancing the field of education and training.
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