Lilly estate donates $10.7 million to IUPUI

The estate of Ruth Lilly is donating an estimated $10.7 million to IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, according to a statement released Wednesday.

The money will be in two gifts: one of approximately $8 million for the Center on Philanthropy and another of approximately $2.7 million for the Herron School of Art and Design.

Ruth Lilly, who passed away in 2009, is the great-granddaughter of Eli Lilly, founder of the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company and part of a philanthropic family in Indianapolis, said Barbara Coffman of Strategic Planning and Communications at the IU Foundation.

“The Lilly family had a wonderful, generous lifetime of commitment to giving to Indiana University,” Coffman said. “She has given about $30 million to IU over her lifetime and in her estate.”

Lilly’s gift to the Center on Philanthropy is the largest ever received by the center from an individual, said Adriene Davis, manager of public affairs at the Center on Philanthropy.

“We were delighted to receive the donation,” Davis said. “Lilly is a nationally renowned philanthropist. This is a tremendous gift that will enable us to better serve nonprofits and their donators across Indiana and beyond.”

The donation will enable the center to create the Ruth Lilly Professorship Program, named in her honor, to provide matching funds to encourage other donors to create endowed faculty chairs, Davis said.

“We want to attract and retain world-class faculty through the endowed chair program,” Davis said. “We already have the top experts, but we would like to retain and engage new bright minds to study philanthropy. With a strong faculty we can provide better research to make better decisions.”

Lilly’s donation to the Herron School of Art and Design is received with excitement, said Glennda McGann, assistant dean of Development and External Affairs at the Herron School of Art and Design.

“Of course our toes curled,” McGann said. “We are extremely grateful and humbled by the gift.”

Lilly’s donation will be helpful in two ways, McGann said. It will help to support a new initiative to add a Masters in Art Therapy program as well as retire a certain amount of debt from the construction of Herron’s new facilities built in 2005.

Lilly attended Saturday school at the Herron School of Art and Design when she was younger and worked as a docent in the museum,McGann said.

“She was really a remarkable individual,” McGann said. “It just shows how a person’s experiences can be carried throughout their life.

We would like to honor her legacy by helping accelerate Herron’s goal of being the best art school in the country.”

This donation reflects Lilly’s own commitment to art and philanthropy, IU Foundation President Eugene Tempel said.

“Ruth Lilly had many interests, and her gifts were thoughtfully made,” Tempel said. “She was a great example in philanthropy. She had a variety of interests and supported many causes. She saw needs and responded to them.”