Lilly endowment Inc. expanded its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative with a new round of funding, bringing the Endowment’s total investment in U.S. and Canadian schools through the initiative to more than $700 million.
In October, the Endowment announced funding for 58 schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the form of individual-school grants totaling $57.5 million. In November, the Endowment also funded 45 large-scale collaborative projects. Those grants ranged between $2.5 million and $10 million and totaled $416.1 million.
To date, the Endowment has helped the majority of ATS-accredited schools, supporting the creation of new pathways to educate future church leaders, support those in ministry, and strengthen the financial capacities of institutions.
“Theological schools play a vital role in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders for Christian congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion. “We believe that one of the most promising paths for theological schools to carry forward their important missions and enhance their impact is to work collaboratively with other schools, as well as congregations and other church-related organizations. By doing so, they can strengthen their collective capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for effective congregational service now and in the future.”
The In Trust Center for Theological Schools was awarded a $2.5 million grant to continue facilitating the coordination program for the initiative alongside the Association of Theological Schools. Together, they provide education and resources to schools implementing grants and share information from the initiative with the wider field to help other schools as well.
The work has funded a variety of projects that have spurred creativity, particularly in bringing in non-traditional students into schools.
Amy Kardash, president of the In Trust Center, said she was grateful for the Endowment’s continued support of the field and the Center, noting that the initiative has provided a surge of creativity for theological schools not only across the U.S. and Canada but also across the range of theological schools. Grants have gone to schools of all sizes, locations, and traditions, including those affiliated with Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Peace churches.
“Through the Endowment’s generosity, schools are able to engage in projects they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise,” Kardash said. “The result is that we’re seeing schools of every size take on transformative projects and make positive change.”
The work has funded a variety of projects that have spurred creativity in the field, particularly in bringing non-traditional students into schools. Projects have also focused on sustainability measures both for the projects themselves and for the institutions’ missions.
In the 2021 rounds of Pathways funding, schools could apply for individual-school grants, which allowed them to focus on their own institutions and for larger grants that included partnerships. Those partnerships have given rise to several networks and joint efforts, including AdminWise, a shared services organization for theological schools.
Schools that received individual-school grants in 2025 will implement a wide variety of projects, including some focused on strengthening connections with local congregations to help students develop practical leadership skills for ministry. Other projects aim to make theological education more affordable, accessible, and contextually relevant for a broad range of pastoral leaders.
Some grantee schools will also work to increase non-degree offerings that provide theological education for lay leaders, including those considering vocational ministry. Still other schools plan to help current and future pastoral leaders cultivate resilience as well as strong mental and emotional health as they navigate difficult leadership challenges.
Finally, individual-school grantees plan to provide continuing education for pastoral leaders that will sharpen their financial management and administrative skills.
Underlying the grants is a strong theme of finding ways to make the work of theological schools more financially viable and sustainable into the future through cost savings, greater efficiencies, new revenue sources and collaborations.
The large-scale collaboration grants required partnerships outside of the school and offered up to $10 million. The collaborative grants could also apply some of that grant money to the creation of a shared endowment.
A number of large-scale collaboration grants feature schools working together to reduce costs and increase the quality and number of courses available to students by sharing faculty and curricula, offering accelerated degree programs, and creating or enhancing shared digital educational platforms.
Schools are also developing networks including theological schools, undergraduate institutions, denominational judicatories and agencies, congregations, church networks and Christian camps that are working together to identify and encourage young people to explore vocations in pastoral ministry through ministry exploration events, ministry internships, leadership development programs, and deploying seminary faculty to teach at undergraduate institutions.
Theological schools will also work with congregations and denominational agencies to make theological education more accessible.
Other theological schools plan to work with congregations and denominational agencies to make theological education more accessible by expanding non-degree programs to support pastors without theological degrees, embedding educational programs in congregations, providing programs to serve lay leaders, and designing programs for bi-vocational pastoral leaders and pastors serving in different ministry contexts.
Some collaborations involve schools exploring mergers, consolidated educational degree programs, or sharing costs for administrative and other services. Finally, some schools are working collaboratively to establish shared endowments to increase scholarship funds for current and future pastoral leaders.
“The expansion of the initiative has invited more schools to assess their capacity and propose new and more-collaborative approaches to fulfill their missions,” Kardash said. “This is an important time for theological schools, and this initiative has been a catalyst that is creating new futures for our schools.”
You can find lists of the schools that received the grants, along with more about the initiative at: intrust.org
