Foundation awarded matching $$

The county’s community foundation will has been approved for funding to help it continue to grow.

The Portland Foundation received a $750,000 matching fund grant as part of the eighth phase of Lilly Endowment’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VIII) initiative.

“GIFT VII is a tremendous opportunity for The Portland Foundation to further build its unrestricted endowment, which creates the opportunity to make a bigger impact in the Jay County community through its competitive grantmaking,” said foundation executive director Doug Inman in a press release. “Unrestricted endowment is important because it gives the Foundation the opportunity to address the ever-changing needs of the community.”

The Portland Foundation will use the funding to grow its unrestricted endowment. Any gifts made to the foundation will receive a $2 to $1 match from the GIFT VIII funds.

Also, the foundation is offering $100,000 on a $1 to $1 match for gifts of $1,250 or more to establish new unrestricted funds. (That means a $1,250 gift would result in $5,000 total — the $1,250 gift, $1,250 from The Portland Foundation and $2,500 from GIFT VIII — for the new unrestricted fund.)

The funding from Lilly Endowment is part of $133.8 million in matching fund grants awarded via GIFT VIII to community foundations across the state. Community foundations were able to submit proposals for grants ranging from $100,000 to $15 million.