About

About

History

Active in a wide variety of interests and charitable organizations, Dan and Lori Efroymson brought dramatic change to The Indianapolis Foundation – and to the landscape of philanthropy in central Indiana. Like the Efroymsons who came before, Lori and Dan had a strategic vision for their philanthropy and how it might better serve the community. By encouraging “donor-advised” funds made by living people, they would dramatically increase the number of those who gave their money to help organizations. Together the couple oversaw the beginnings of a regional community foundation, Central Indiana Community Foundation.

According to former CICF Executive Director Ken Gladish, Dan knew the Foundation needed to change if it was to flourish in the coming century.  “Dan could see a higher calling for the Foundation, a larger future for its impact, and the definitive possibility of its leadership in the new century which lay just ahead,” said Gladish.

That calling was CICF, a new foundation to serve the central Indiana region and built upon the history of The Indianapolis Foundation and the new energy of Legacy Fund in Hamilton County.

In 1998, Dan and Lori Efroymson established the Efroymson Fund one of the first donor-advised funds accepted by the Foundation. “In making this gift, we wish to express our confidence in the structure and future of the community foundation,” Dan said at the time. Lori added, “We have great confidence in CICF, The Indianapolis Foundation and Legacy Fund.”

The Fund continues a legacy of charitable commitment by the Efroymson family in central Indiana. Since Dan’s death in 1999, Lori Efroymson-Aguilera and their two children, Jeremy and Elissa, continue the family’s philanthropic legacy by providing financial support to charitable organizations throughout Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and across the United States. CICF facilitates family meetings and manages the family’s grantmaking process, meeting with hundreds of grant seekers annually, reviewing applications and making recommendations to the family.

For 80 years, three generations of Efroymsons – Gustave, Robert, and Dan – served without interruption on The Indianapolis Foundation Board of Trustees. from 1919 to 1999. And Lori Efroymson-Aguilera currently serves as a CICF board member. This fund perpetuates the family's philanthropic tradition in central Indiana and beyond.

 

Photo by Prophet Rock Studio

Like the individuals and organizations they support, the Efroymsons strive to be creative in their funding process. From the Indianapolis Museum of Art – which named its entrance pavilion for them in honor of their generosity – to the Nature Conservancy, they give to programs and projects that appeal to them logically, as well as those about which they have strong feelings. “We try to be strategic about our giving,” said Lori, “but also try to stay flexible and respond to needs as they arise.”  “The Fund brings us great joy and satisfaction. It unites our family in a mission to support people and places. I have found that helping others is a reward in itself, and I appreciate the opportunity to give to what we believe in and care about,” said Lori.  The Efroymsons’ generous grants help people locally and around the world lead better lives.

Excerpts from this article taken from The Efroymsons: A Family History of Giving, by Mike Knight