An extraordinary synergy of visionary people and powerful ideas, needs, and opportunities gave life to the center and the field. By the mid-1980s, there was a growing recognition of the need for greater knowledge about philanthropy and for more and better trained people to work in nonprofits. To meet those needs, Indiana University proposed the establishment of a center that would include The Fund Raising School, which had been founded in San Francisco in 1974. Lilly Endowment Inc., which had a history of helping nonprofits become more effective and self-sustaining, agreed to provide the initial funding.

Working together, leaders from the university, The Fund Raising School, and Lilly Endowment developed a vision for a university-based center that would serve the nonprofit sector, create a new academic field of study, and examine and perpetuate philanthropy through teaching, research, and service anchored in the liberal arts.

To further advance understanding of key aspects of philanthropy, the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving was established in 2002 and the Women’s Philanthropy Institute became a part of the organization in 2004.

Today, the school plays a leading role in moving philanthropy forward across the country and around the world because of the vision and generosity of the founders and leaders who foresaw the need to study, understand, and teach about this integral component of life and society.