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Institutional Impact Grants Archive

2027 Institutional Impact and Capacity-Building Grants Request for Proposals now available

In 2027, we anticipate awarding Institutional Impact Grants ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000 and Capacity-Building Grants of up to $50,000 to institutions. Successful grantees will be teams of faculty, staff, and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities with outstanding proposals for developing the moral, civic, and/or intellectual character and capacity of faculty, staff, and students. These grants provide institutions with the time, resources, and flexibility to determine what works best in their specific context.

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

ECI announces $20.5M in new Institutional Impact Grants to 49 institutions across the country

With support from Lilly Endowment Inc., the ECI has awarded $20.5 million in Institutional Impact Grants to 44 projects directly impacting 49 colleges and universities. Each institution will undertake a long-term initiative to advance character education for undergraduates. These three-year grants, up to $1 million each, empower leaders, faculty, and staff to integrate character into undergraduate curricula and programs in alignment with their mission, context, and culture.

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

At UNC, a new character education initiative is helping students master the virtue of attention

Students look at art in a gallery.

At UNC, a new initiative called Educating for the Virtues of Attention (EVA) intervenes in the “attention economy” for students. Unlike typical digital detoxes, EVA is less about eliminating the distraction than it is centering what’s truly worthy of our attention. The goal is to help students reflect on their habits of attention and build more intentional ones through opportunities for deep in-person engagement across campus.

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

Solving Wicked Problems Starts with Who You Are: Character Education and the ‘Wicked Festival’ at Radford University

students and faculty gather at the Wicked Festival at Radford University

Each semester at Institutional Impact Grantee Radford University, students from across the university gather at the Wicked Festival, presenting original solutions to some of the world’s hardest problems. “Students, community partners, alumni judges, and faculty circulate, ask hard questions, and push back. The students are the authorities.”

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

The Davidson difference: New Institute for Public Good translates a legacy of honor into a framework for dialogue

debating at Davidson College

“We’re going to develop the leadership for the next generation of leaders, and we’re going to do it in the ways that we care about when it comes to character,” Chris Marsicano, P.I. for Davidson College’s Institutional Impact Grant and the inaugural director of the Martin Institute for Public Good, recently told LearningWell magazine.

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

Gathering for the common good: Reflections from a convening of faith-based institutions at George Fox University

ECI Community members pose for a group photo

This fall, George Fox University hosted ECI Community members united in exploring the formation of student character in faith-based higher education. Together, this group of thoughtful leaders represents a growing subset within the ECI Community: faith-based institutions committed to forming students with the qualities they need to serve the common good.

Categories: Educating Character Initiative News

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