Fundraising support

In a neighborhood facing economic and social challenges, a local church took the initiative to create a real link between community needs and economic solutions. Christ Missionary Baptist Church bought a nearby strip mall and transformed it into a source of vital neighborhood services, jobs, and business development. A laundromat enabled local residents to avoid … More…

Many not-for-profit organizations, especially those that provide vital social services to otherwise under-served populations, stand or fall on their infrastructure’s ability to support their programming. When Boone County Senior Services outgrew its longtime headquarters in Lebanon, Indiana, its not-for-profit foundation embarked on a capital campaign aimed at raising the $2,000,000 necessary to build a new … More…

The Phoenix Theatre, an Actors’ Equity member institution, presents diverse plays, including recent Broadway hits (which it’s often the first Midwest theatre to stage) and new works by Hoosier playwrights. It mounts its productions on two stages in a renovated church that’s been its home since 1988. Faced with ongoing needs for updates to its … More…

A publishing executive who attended the 1963 March on Washington was moved by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech to create an organization designed to increase the representation of people of color in influential positions within American corporations. He established INROADS as a non-profit network of locally incorporated non-profits serving … More…

On Your Level Youth Project uses broadcast media, online resources, and face-to-face interactions to encourage teens to explore and accept diversity, communicate honestly and openly, and seek out productive life paths as they forge their way into adulthood. The project is the brainchild of a teacher, media personality, and spoken word artist named Blair Karsch, … More…

The emerald ash borer first reached the United States in the 1990s, stowing away in wooden shipping crates bound for Michigan from China. In the emerald ash borer’s native habitat, many trees display natural immunity to it. Not so in the U.S., where thousands fall prey to the insect’s devastating effects every year. At historic … More…

The City of Indianapolis committed $19.6 million to a project targeting one of its major east/west arteries, 38th Street, originally dubbed Maple Road. Once a residential corridor, later also a site for small commercial districts that served burgeoning northern suburbs, 38th Street evolved into a conduit across the city rather than a destination in itself. … More…

The Indianapolis Senior Center served residents aged 50 and older with an extensive menu of services focused on independent living, good health and well being, intellectual and cultural enrichment, and travel and tourism. Its quest for a better alternative to its long-standing facility ended with the determination that buying and renovating its current facility offered … More…

Madam C. J. Walker became America’s first self-made female millionaire. This dynamic entrepreneur built a cosmetics empire on a hair-care product that she created to treat her own hair loss. She built her company in Indianapolis, Indiana, along with an architectural gem of a facility that combined a theatre with spaces devoted to community use. … More…

Many new college graduates migrate to other parts of the country in search of job prospects that they either know or believe they cannot find elsewhere. Fewer college students opt for teaching careers. The resulting combination of trends, along with the aging teacher population and other factors, leaves many schools scrambling to fill their teaching … More…