New Lilly Endowment Inc. Award Paves Way for Extraordinary Impact
Lakeview Ministries is thrilled to announce a new $9.5 million grant to South Central Lutheran Camp Association of Indiana in support of the camp ministry run by Lakeview Ministries. Lilly Endowment Inc. made the grant through its Capital Project Initiative for Residential Youth Camps.
The matching grant will help Lakeview Ministries greatly advance a wide range of projects in its comprehensive strategic plan, including infrastructure upgrades, renovations to aging facilities, and expansion projects across all ministry sites.
The funding also significantly expands Lakeview Ministries’ ongoing For Generations to Come capital campaign, a long-range initiative designed to prepare the ministry for the next 60 years of service. With the additional Lilly Endowment award, the campaign is slated to grow into a $20+ million effort.
“This is a deeply humbling moment for our ministry,” said David Vandercar, executive director, Lakeview Ministries. “When we launched the For Generations to Come campaign, we believed God was calling us to build a strong foundation for the future of this ministry. This extraordinary grant affirms that vision in a powerful way.”
“This is about more than buildings,” David said. “It is about creating spaces where people can encounter Jesus Christ, grow in faith, build relationships, and experience the life-changing impact of Christian camp ministry.”
Because this is a matching grant, it creates a significant opportunity for congregations, alumni, families, and individual supporters to invest in Lakeview’s future and help shape the next generation of ministry here at camp.
This new grant builds on the momentum of a previous Lilly Endowment award. In December 2025, the ministry received a $1.5 million grant through an earlier round of funding through the same initiative.
The new award is one of 40 implementation grants being distributed through phase 3 of Lilly Endowment’s Capital Project Initiative for Residential Youth Camps. The initiative is designed to help Indiana residential youth camps improve the overall camp experience and outcomes for youth through new, enhanced, and expanded facilities that are integral to quality camp programming. The phase 3 grants were awarded through a competitive process and are intended to provide partial support for large-scale capital projects.
About Lakeview Ministries
Lakeview Ministries is a year-round Christian camp and retreat ministry serving children, youth, families, congregations, and other groups through faith-centered experiences in outdoor ministry. Through its camps, retreats, and programs, Lakeview seeks to create opportunities for people to encounter Jesus Christ, grow in faith, and build lasting relationships in Christian community.
About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.