IU, McKinney Foundation Expand Environmental Partnership

Robert McKinney (photo courtesy of IU)

The McKinney Family Foundation has awarded Indiana University with three grants totaling more than $500,000 for various environmental initiatives. The funding will create the McKinney Professor of Environmental Resilience and Philanthropy, help support the Indiana Sustainability Development Program and also strengthen the McKinney Family Philanthropic Fellows program.

The new McKinney Professor at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI will be the university’s first professorship focused on philanthropy and the environment. The professorship is expected to increase research on how philanthropy can help the environment. 

"Environmental challenges are among the most pressing issues confronting our world," said Amir Pasic, the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. "The McKinney Professor of Environmental Resilience and Philanthropy will increase understanding of how philanthropy can play an integral role in addressing those challenges. It will attract the best and brightest students and faculty and equip philanthropic institutions and individuals with the research, education and training they need to make a lasting impact."

The funding will also expand the Indiana Sustainability Development Program to IU South Bend, from the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses. The third-year program supports the state’s sustainability programs by offering development opportunities for environmental leaders. Lilly School of Philanthropy graduate students involved in the McKinney Family Philanthropic Fellows program will earn a master’s degree in philanthropic studies and will work in graduate assistantships for two years with Indiana nonprofits. 

The grants count toward the $3 billion For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign.