About

Impact

Access to Opportunities

The Efroymson Family Fund values providing access to creative experiences and community amenities, especially to underserved individuals that would not have access to opportunities due to financial means. 
  

Marwen, a Chicago-based arts education provider, offers opportunities to inspire underserved youth in grades 6 – 12 in the visual arts. Annually, Marwen offers more than 85 courses to 2,400 students in six state-of-the-art studios. Professional artists teach technical art skills and encourage sophisticated, creative, and analytical thinking through hands on instruction and art history education. Students learn through media presentations, discussions, demonstrations, visits by guest artists, and field trips. 
  

Learn more about Marwen and its educational programming.

"I was fortunate that my parents were able to take me to museums. My hope is that we can make it possible for many children to have their own experiences with art."

- Elissa Efroymson, Vice Chair, Efroymson Family Fund

 

The Natural Environment: Preserving, Conserving and Beautifying

In May 2009, the Efroymson Family Fund awarded a grant to the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, to fund the Efroymson Conservation Center, a LEED Platinum facility and the organization’s headquarters. The new space provided a more prominent and visible way for The Nature Conservanacy to share its misson of protecting ecologically important lands and waters. In 2010, The Nature Conservancy received a Monumental Affair award, an Indianapolis Sustainability Award, and recognition from the Indiana Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for its sustainable design and the impact the facility has on community development in downtown Indianapolis.


The Efroymson family has a long tradition of supporting efforts that help promote the conservation and protection of natural spaces and encourage sustainability. Recent environmental grantees include: Central Indiana Land Trust, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Hoosier Environmental Council, Conservation Law Center, Global Peace Initiatives and Growing Places Indy.

“The Efroymson Conservation Center has had an enormously positive impact on The Nature Conservancy in Indiana. The building is so recognizable and has received so much positive press that it has significantly increased our visibility, and, more importantly, our credibility, as the leading conservation organization in Indiana. It has also brought us new donors; people who first came to us because of the building, and continue to be donors for our conservation work.”

- Mary McConnell, Indiana State Director, The Nature Conservancy

 

Preserving Historic Spaces

For over a decade, the Efroymson Family Fund has had a profound impact on numerous historic preservation projects throughout Indiana. One of the Efroymson Family Fund’s successes was a $15,000 grant provided to Indiana Landmarks’ African-American Heritage Fund. Indiana Landmarks utilized that gift to assist local organizations in preserving properties and sites of significance in Indiana’s black history.

The African-American Heritage Fund has supported restoration plans for the Rankin House in Fort Wayne and Historic Eleutherian College in Jefferson County; a National Register nomination for the Fox Lake community near Angola; an engineering study of Bethel A.M.E. Church’s roof in Indianapolis; construction plans for Terre Haute’s Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church; and a feasibility study of the Division Street School in New Albany. Perhaps the most compelling success story is the Lyles Station School in Gibson County, where funding helped with an environmental analysis of the deteriorated building. This report guided restoration of the school and assisted local champions in securing an $800,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, among other contributions. This fully restored building is now used by the community, including an employee training space for locally based Toyota.

"The Efroymson Family Fund's impact on historic preservation in Indiana has been nothing short of transformative. Dozens of Hoosier landmarks have been saved and restored due to the vision and generosity of this extraordinary family.”

 - Marsh Davis, President, Indiana Landmarks

 

Promoting Self-sufficiency and Helping Individuals in Need

In 2009 and 2010 the Efroymson Family Fund provided grant support to Workforce, Inc., an Indianapolis-based recycling enterprise that helps ex-offenders transition back into the community by providing job training and case management assistance. Since its inception in 2003, it has grown from two workers and 600,000 pounds of processed materials in its first year to over 2 million pounds of processed materials and a crew of 35 workers. In 2009 with funding from the Efroymson Family Fund, Workforce, Inc. began pilot project of recycling televisions.  When the Chancellore A. Keesling Eastside Community Recycling Center opened in the fall of 2009, it became the most comprehensive recycler in Indiana - recycling everything from televisions to cardboard, from laptops to aluminum cans. 

Learn more about Workforce, Inc. and its programs.

Examples of some recent Efroymson Family Fund grantees helping individuals in need include: Gleaners, Second Helpings, Dress for Success, Salvation Army, Little Red Door Cancer Agency and Rebuilding the Wall.