Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy was the world’s first school dedicated to the study and teaching of philanthropy. Inaugurated in 2013 and named for one of America’s great philanthropic families, the school grew out of the Center on Philanthropy that was established at IUPUI in 1987. An extraordinary synergy of visionary people and powerful ideas, needs, and opportunities gave life to the center and the field.

By the mid-1980s, there was a growing recognition of the need for greater knowledge about philanthropy and for more and better-trained people to work in nonprofits. To meet those needs, Indiana University proposed the establishment of a center that would include The Fund Raising School, which had been founded in San Francisco in 1974. Robert L. Payton, credited as a founder of the field of Philanthropic Studies served as the center’s first executive director.

The Center on Philanthropy established the field of philanthropic studies. It offered the nation’s first bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates, and created the nation’s first endowed chair in philanthropy. Over 800 alumni have graduated from the Center/School between 1987 and 2020. Alumni live all over the world and work in every field of the nonprofit sector.

The school has 20 core faculty and more than 40 associate faculty from across the university as well as visiting fellows and scholars. An international board of visitors, representing government, business, and the nonprofit sector, serves as an external advisory body.

The school’s professional training program, The Fund Raising School, founded in 1974, offers general and tailored workshops, combining philanthropic theory and ethics with practical techniques for the profession, furthering the School’s aim of improving the practice of philanthropy while connecting practice with theory. The Fund Raising School offers 20 courses, five certificates, and custom training for nonprofit professionals.

The Research Department engages faculty and in-house staff to produce sponsored research. The research team’s studies of household and individual giving, corporate giving, and foundation giving provide a basis of knowledge that strengthens the entire field. Its signature product is Giving USA, the longest-running, most comprehensive analysis of the sources and uses of U.S. charitable giving. The department has engaged scores of partners around the world since 2017 with the Global Indices of Philanthropy.

The school’s Research Department joins three institutes in advancing research, outreach, and convening in the field. Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, established in 2002; the Women’s Philanthropy Institute joined the school in 2004: and the Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy was established in 2015. Joining in the research, outreach, and convening functions is the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, launched in 2017.