Donor Spotlight: Junior Achievement Expands With Key Benefactor Funding

by | 08/21/14 | Commentary, News, Uncategorized

News this week of the creation of the Lindsey Family Financial and Entrepreneurial Education Fund, established to provide key funding for an expansive range of financial literacy initiatives, spread quickly throughout the financial education industry. The $1 million fund, initiated by David and Jessica Lindsey, will provide annual support for Junior Achievement’s financial literacy programs, such as JA BizTown, while broadening Junior Achievement’s reach and influence within schools that historically were underserved.

In just the last year alone, Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, which will be the primary beneficiary of the financial support, reached some 20,000 children throughout Central Indiana as a result of over twenty programs developed and rolled out by JA. The initiatives were founded to address the concern that students, for the most part, lack a vision as to who they will manage their personal financial affairs as they move from youth into college, and from college graduates into adulthood. With college debt burdens continuing to rise and with reported financial literacy still hovering at low levels that are exceedingly concerning, the importance of funding and support for financial education programs and services has never been greater.

The announcement of the Lindsey Family Financial and Entrepreneurial Education Fund comes just a few months after Defender Direct, owned by the Lindsey family, announced similar support of financial education initiatives in which thousands of fifth grade students will able to learn the importance of financial, home, security and other educational principles. Defender Direct and its chairman have long supported Junior Achievement and serve as a model for other companies, foundations and high net worth individuals for targeted, high impact support of significant financial literacy programming.

The financial literacy industry has been impacted greatly by the generosity and financial support of individual donors for many years and that trend is widely expected to continue. Please share your experience regarding individual donor support, and to highlight donors who you have seen impact financial literacy programs and initiatives to a great extent, tell us about it here.

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