Wake Forest's Educating Character Initiative to grant an additional $10M to support character education across the U.S.

Wake Forest University’s Program for Leadership and Character will grant an additional $10 million to further help colleges and universities nationwide develop their own character education programs and initiatives. The funding comes from a new $12.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. which will also support coaching, resources, and workshops for faculty across the country.

In 2023, Lilly Endowment Inc. provided a $30.7 million grant to Wake Forest to help create the Educating Character Initiative (ECI). The aim of ECI is to provide a wide range of public and private colleges and universities in the U.S. with the resources, funding and support needed to develop and implement ideas for integrating character education at their institutions. Of that funding, some $23 million was set aside to help grow programs beyond Wake Forest.

“The response to our Educating Character Initiative has been extraordinary,” said Michael Lamb, executive director of the Program for Leadership and Character. “The quantity and quality of applications show the tremendous appetite for character in higher education. We’re grateful to Lilly Endowment for providing further support to catalyze this broader movement. This additional funding will enable us to offer even more grants and educational opportunities to institutions that have a deep interest in educating character in their own contexts and for the benefit of their students.”

Since January, Wake Forest has received 168 grant applications requesting support for character education initiatives. The ECI awarded individual Teacher-Scholar and Professional Development grants in March. The first round of capacity-building grants of up to $50,000 were selected in June, and larger grants to launch character education initiatives will be announced in August. Approximately $10 million of the new Lilly Endowment funding will dramatically expand the number of grants the initiative can offer, with the rest of the funding supporting additional workshops for faculty and staff, along with two new scholars within the ECI to provide individualized coaching to institutions, develop resources for faculty and staff, and deliver workshops that can support the development and assessment of character within higher education.

“At a time of widespread social, political, and ideological division, there is tremendous opportunity to educate character and serve the common good,” said Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente. “With the generous support of Lilly Endowment, Wake Forest is embracing the spirit of our motto, Pro Humanitate, by cultivating broader public conversations across higher education that place character at the center of leadership.”

“Lilly Endowment’s founders firmly believed that character formation is essential to the flourishing of individuals, families and the larger society,” said N. Clay Robbins, Lilly Endowment’s Chairman and CEO. “We were gratified to learn of the significant level of interest in the Educating Character Initiative and pleased to be able to provide additional support to expand the reach and impact of the initiative. It is imperative that a new generation of morally and ethically grounded leaders is educated to rebuild trust and enhance civic engagement in our country and world.”

In addition to awarding grants, the ECI has built connections with hundreds of faculty and staff from colleges and universities through monthly webinars and one-on-one consultations and calls. In December, Wake Forest will host a major conference, “Educating Character Across Differences,” with author and MacArthur Genius Grant winner Jesmyn Ward as the keynote speaker.

The mission of the Program for Leadership and Character is to inspire, educate and empower leaders of character to serve humanity. Through innovative teaching, creative programming, and cutting-edge research, we aim to transform the lives of students, foster an inclusive culture of leadership and character, and catalyze a broader public conversation that places character at the center of leadership.

With the creation of a network of interested institutions and educators, the development and dissemination of research and resources, the organization of conferences and convenings, and the direct awarding of grants to individuals and institutions, the Program for Leadership and Character aspires to nurture a creative, compassionate, and collaborative community of educators who can learn from each other as partners in character education.