November 28, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
A $5-million gift to Indiana University by the family of a former Lilly Endowment chairman will be used to create an institute that will explore the connection between faith and charitable giving.
The Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving, established by the children of the late Thomas H. and Marjorie Lytle Lake, will be created at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, in Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Lake were lifelong residents of Indianapolis, where Mr. Lake served as president of Eli Lilly and Company.
“Many studies have shown a strong connection between religious affiliation and giving,” says Eugene R. Tempel, director of the Center on Philanthropy. “This institute will give us an opportunity to dig more deeply into that research, and to see how charitable giving extends outside of religious structures.”
In addition to encouraging research, the institute also will conduct seminars and workshops for executives of nonprofit organizations, and offer courses to help the public learn how to choose a charitable organization. The institute will endow a chair in religion and philanthropy at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, which is a branch of the main Indiana University campus in Bloomington. And beginning next year, the institute will have a part-time director who will work with religious congregations and civic leaders in Indianapolis.
