Lumina Foundation for Education
Contact information:
30 South Meridian Street, Suite 700
Indianapolis, IN 46204-3503
Phone: 317-951-5300
Fax: 317-951-5063
Website: http://www.luminafoundation.org/
Type of foundation: Independent
Types of grants: Project implementation grants. Most grants are initiated by the Foundation. See below for information on approaching the Foundation with an unsolicited request (How to Apply).
Description: Founded in 2000, the Lumina Foundation is the nation’s largest foundation dedicated exclusively to increasing students’ access to and success in postsecondary education. Its mission is to expand access and success in education beyond high school, particularly among adults, first-generation college students, low-income students and students of color. Lumina’s “big goal” is to increase the percentage of Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025 (“Goal 2025”).
Lumina is pursuing three approaches to achieve its “big goal”:
- Effective practice: The Foundation will focus on scaling and sustaining effective, outcomes-based practices that advance the goal of raising college attainment.
- Public policy: The Foundation will support and advocate for policy changes that ensure a greater volume of high-quality degree completion nationwide.
- Public will building: The Foundation will make the case for urgent action and promote attitudes and behavior that support student preparation, success and productivity in higher education. Although Lumina will address a wide range of publics, strategic efforts will focus on specific target audiences, such as parents and students, policymakers and opinion leaders in business, media and other fields. This area has the most direct overlap with public media.
The Foundation is specifically looking for proposals designed to yield systemic, large-scale or nationwide impact. The Foundation’s strategic plan, outlining Goal 2025, is available here.
The Lumina Foundation’s grantmaking is primarily proactive in nature. In other words, a large majority of grants are awarded to partners solicited by the Foundation based on their unique capacity or position to leverage large-scale systemic change. The Foundation is eager to partner with colleges and universities, state and federal governments, business and labor, peers in philanthropy and others committed to making the promise of American higher education a reality for millions more Americans.
The Foundation’s giving portfolio focuses on:
- Increasing awareness of the benefits of higher education.
- Improving student access to and preparedness for college.
- Improving student success in college.
- Productivity across the higher education system.
Sample grants:
- $600,000 to Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media to increase the capacity of the Institute to produce and broker placement of high-quality, solutions-oriented news coverage of higher education for influential audiences and engaged citizens. This funding will seed the early stages of an effort by the Hechinger Institute to position itself to fill a growing void between the demand for sophisticated education news and an increasing lack of consistent coverage by newspapers and other traditional media outlets whose business models are in financial jeopardy. Hechinger’s stories will appear in newspapers, magazines, radio documentaries, on websites, in electronic newsletters, on blogs and through social networks. Over time, the Institute intends to become a stand-alone source of education coverage that targets influential non-educator audiences (2009).
- $500,000 to American Public Media to examine critical higher education issues related to the kind of education Americans will need for the 21st Century in public radio- and Web-based documentaries and shorter newsmagazine stories and podcasts (2010).
- $500,000 to Investigative Reporters and Editors to increase campus coverage of college completion and productivity issues by training student journalists to report on these topics (2009).
- $60,400 to Radio Bilingue to develop culturally appropriate radio programs that promote greater awareness of college access and success among Latino families (2007).
Fit for Public Broadcasting: The most likely fit for public media is in the area of Public Will Building. The Foundation is clearly concerned about improving the quality of education journalism and has made investments in that area, both in the public media arena and outside of it. The Foundation has identified target audiences including parents and students, policymakers and opinion leaders in business, media and other fields. Public media is well positioned to reach these audiences.
Eligibility: The Foundation will not support direct service programs including workforce training, GED prep, literacy training, English as a Second Language courses, or summer programs for high school or college students. It will not support curriculum development, teacher training, tutoring/mentoring or K-12 educational reform. Grants are not made for capital campaigns or equipment.
Deadline: Letters of inquiry are accepted at any time. The Foundation will review them through the end of September. Letters received after September may be held until the following year.
How to apply: Initial approach should be through a letter of inquiry, submitted electronically. Most grants are awarded to partner organizations selected by the Foundation because of their capacity to leverage large-scale change. Relatively few grants are made in response to unsolicited proposals. However, the Foundation will accept letters of inquiry. It prefers not to receive calls from grantseekers.
Giving range: Foundation grants vary in size. Grants resulting from unsolicited inquiries typically range from $50,000-$250,000. The usual duration for a grant is one to three years.
Assets: $1 billion
Total giving: In 2010, the Foundation approved nearly 100 grants ranging from $3,125 to $2.8 million. Total giving was nearly $43.4 million.
View 2009 Annual Report here.
