Grace College received $100,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s ‘Charting the Future.’ Photo provided by Grace College.

WINONA LAKE — Grace College has received a $100,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its new initiative, Charting the Future for Indiana’s Colleges and Universities.

The initiative is designed to help Indiana’s 38 higher education institutions further develop strategies to strengthen their effectiveness and sustainability, said a news release from Grace College.

“We are thankful for Lilly Endowment’s Charting the Future initiative, and for the resources to continue a culture of innovation at Grace College. We will continue to push the mantra, ‘same mission, new methods,’” said Dr. Bill Katip, president of Grace College.

Through the initiative, the Endowment is making available grants totaling $108.2 million to help Indiana colleges and universities address their key challenges and take advantage of promising opportunities to enhance their relevance and sustainability.

The planning grant is designed to encourage reflection, research, and consultation so leaders can better prioritize the challenges and opportunities they wish to pursue and prepare their implementation grant proposals for funding under the second phase of this initiative.

“Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Charting the Future initiative comes at an opportune time,” said Dr. Drew Flamm, vice president of advancement and marketing at Grace. “It will accelerate our thinking, planning, and ultimately our decision-making for what the future model of a Grace education looks like.”

Lilly Endowment is encouraging higher education leaders to explore collaborative strategies. These efforts could include collaborations among colleges and universities in Indiana or around the country and with business, governmental or charitable organizations.

“We are encouraging Indiana’s higher education leaders to be bold and imaginative in developing creative and collaborative strategies to strengthen their institutions and further their educational missions more effectively,” said Ted Maple, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for education. “We are impressed with the dedication of Indiana’s higher education leaders to face head-on their challenges and embrace their opportunities to build brighter futures for their students and colleges and universities.”

Lilly Endowment expects to award the second phase of grants in late 2020, said the news release.