Area served United States Founded 31 July 2000 Endowment 1.4 billion USD | Method Grants, Funding Headquarters Indiana, United States | |
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Founder Conversion from USA Group Focus Expanding access and success in postsecondary education Website www.luminafoundation.org Similar The Kresge Foundation, Institute for Higher Educatio, American Association of Comm, American Council on Education, New America Profiles | ||
Lumina Foundation is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Its mission is to expand student access to and success in education beyond high school. Since its founding in August 2000, Lumina has made grants totaling more than $250 million.
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History
Lumina Foundation is a conversion foundation created in mid-2000 as USA Group, Inc., the nation's largest private guarantor and administrator of education loans, sold most of its operating assets to the Student Loan Marketing Association, Inc. (Sallie Mae). Proceeds from the sale established the USA Group Foundation with an endowment of $770M. The Foundation was renamed Lumina Foundation for Education in February, 2001.
Early initiatives
Lumina's early grant making efforts provided start-up funding for three initiatives: Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count; KnowHow2GO, a college-access campaign; and College Productivity, formerly known as Making Opportunity Affordable.
Goal
Lumina's goal is to increase the proportion of Americans with what it calls "high-quality" degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. Lumina pursues this goal by identifying and supporting a proprietary definition of effective practice, through public policy advocacy, and by using communications and convenings to build public will for change.