Leadership Foundations (LF) is grateful to announce that it has received a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish The Barnabas Project (TBP). TBP is a new Fellowship program for young adults, designed to build civic leaders who desire a mature and reflective faith and models who demonstrate how to care for the social and spiritual renewal of their cities.
The program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s National Youth and Young Adult Initiative on Faith and Service (Faith and Service Initiative), which is designed to nurture and deepen the faith of Christian young people through intentional service and reflection about the meaning of service in their lives.
TBP will partner with Leadership Foundations affiliates across the US to engage young Christians, aged 18- 24, through a theological formation process that incorporates service in their community. The initiative will create over 50 local cohorts over a 5-year period with 10 Barnabas Fellows serving in each of the 17 participating cities. At the end of the 5-year grant cycle, it is anticipated that the LF Global Network in the U.S. will have prepared more than 500 next generation leaders.
“Lilly Endowment’s significant investment in our U.S.-based affiliates reflects their confidence in the transformative impact of the entire LF network,” said Larry Lloyd, president of Leadership Foundations. “This grant is a powerful affirmation of our mission to inspire and equip leaders to make lasting, meaningful contributions in their cities. We are thrilled to support the development of the next generation of leaders in the communities we serve—leaders who see their cities as gifts and are committed to fostering positive change with purpose and vision.”
Leadership Foundations is one of 12 organizations funded through this invitational Faith and Service Initiative. They represent a broad spectrum of Christian traditions that includes Catholic, mainline and evangelical Protestant, Orthodox and Pentecostal faith communities and communities rooted in Black Church and Hispanic traditions.
“The projects being funded through the Faith and Service Initiative hold the promise of helping young people grow spiritually by drawing on Christian traditions to reflect on the meaning of service,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “They also will strengthen their ties to faith communities and help those faith communities understand more fully the needs and perspectives of young people.”
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. 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, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.
