The support provided by the Lithuanian Foundation – $20 Million

The founders of the Lithuanian Foundation could not have imagined how important the organization would become. It is hard to believe – through the 55 years, the Foundation has provided support for Lithuanian activities and scholarships to the sum of $ 20 million to implement its goal – to foster Lithuanian cultural activities, and support scholarships. It comes from preserving capital of the member contributions and distributing the earnings from the invested principal.
In 2017 LF provided $898,352 dol. in project grant and scholarship support.

The LF Board appoints the Grants Commission and the Scholarship Sub-Commission. The Grants Commission is equally composed of three members from the LF and three members from the Lithuanian American Council. The commission meets to evaluate the grant and scholarship requests. The distributions are made in compliance to the Internal Revenue Code for 501(c) (3) organizations and according to the published distribution priorities and guidelines. The awards are approved by the LF Board.

The 2017 Grants Commission meetings were held twice at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, on May 20-21 and October 21. This year there were 218 grant requests all totaling $3,028,696. After thorough evaluation the Commission voted to support 107 of grant requests for a total $656,980.

The complete list of awards can be found here:
2017 First Allocation
2017 Second Allocation

Additionally $13,128 was distributed from donor directed funds according to the donor’s designation to various Lithuanian organizations in the USA and Lithuania.

A total of $670,108 was appropriated for project grant support.

Grant allocations by area of activities:

Cultural affairs – $205,094
Education – $167,591
Youth activities – $124,950
Community activities – $124,473
Lithuanian media – $48,000

Grant allocations for organizations:

The Lithuanian American Community – $345,730
Other US organizations – $261,556
The World Lithuanian Community – $28,200
Organizations in Lithuania – $25,122
Organizations in other countries – $9,500

The projects which received the largest support through grants in 2017:

$125,000 – Lithuanian Heritage Schools
$84,000 – LAC Cultural Council
$41,500 – Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, IL
$39,080 – The Lithuanian-American Community Education Council
$34,900 – The Lithuanian Research and Studies Center in Chicago, IL
$ 25,000 – Dainava Camp, Manchester, MI
$25,000 – Rakas Camp, Custer, MI
$20,000 – Lithuanian Center, Chicago, IL
$20,000 – The Lithuanian student internships in Lithuania
$20,000 – Lithuanian American Newspaper ,,Draugas“, Chicago. IL
$20,000 –The upcoming XVI Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival (2020)
$15,000 – Neringa Camp, Brattleboro, VT
$9,000 – The Lithuanian Folk Dance Institute
$8,000 – LAC Social Affairs Council, Chicago, IL

 

The Scholarship Sub-Commission met on November 18, 2017 at the World Lithuanian Center (Lemont, IL) to evaluate the 133 scholarship applications. The Sub-Commission decided to support 80 requests. The total requested amount was $642,784 while the awarded scholarships totaled $198,400.

Sixty six students who were awarded the scholarships are enrolled in the US universities. In addition, students studying in Lithuania (4), United Kingdom (4), Canada (1), Hungary (1), and France (1) were also LF scholarship recipients.

 The list of 2017 LF scholarship recipients is listed here.

In addition another $29,844 was granted for scholarships from special funds. Candidates for scholarships are provided by the universities of Lithuania.

We are grateful to all Grant Commission members for their effort and dedication. We also thank our donors without whose generosity and support Lithuanian Foundation would not be able to fulfill its mission – to foster and preserve the Lithuania language, culture and provide support to other Lithuanian activities and scholarships.

LF info