Herbert Simon, owner of the Indiana Pacers NBA basketball team and chairman emeritus of Simon Property Group, founded the Herbert Simon Family Foundation in 1999. He established it to support organizations in efforts to create equitable, sustainable, and vibrant communities, with an emphasis on Central Indiana. The foundation provides funding to Central Indiana not-for-profit organizations in four key areas: arts and culture, basic needs, environment and climate change, and social justice.

In 2011, the foundation expanded its board of directors to include the second generation of the family. At this time, it entered a partnership with the Central Indiana Community Foundation for strategic charitable advising and grant-making counsel. Working in partnership with the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), the foundation launched its Roots to Read project in 2019. Formerly called Love of Reading, the program provides funding for selected IPS-system schools to renovate their libraries, increase their staff focused on literacy skills development, and expand book collections. They work to develop programming to engage families and to provide them with books at home.   

Revised June 2023
 

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