Lakeshore Public Media, serving residents through their Lakeshore PBS and Lakeshore Public Radio service, was one of four area organizations that were selected to participate in the Endowment Building Challenge. Legacy Foundation, Lake County’s community foundation, matched $1 for every $2 raised in contributions. Local organizations could receive a maximum amount of $25,000 if they successfully raised $50,000.
“We hit the maximum challenge match with a recent contribution to the endowment from a bequest from the trustees of the Marjorie A. Mills Loving Trust,” said James A. Muhammad, President and CEO of Lakeshore Public Media. “This is part of a total $250,000 bequest that the Marjorie A. Mills Loving Trust made to Lakeshore PBS in the last few months, in support of our ongoing efforts to promote arts across the region as well as presenting artistic programming from around the world.”
The Legacy Foundation's Endowment Building Challenge was created to bolster membership drives, encourage support from additional foundations and organizations, and ultimately support Lakeshore Public Media’s ongoing mission to be the recognized media resource for citizens of all ages to experience lifelong learning, celebrate human diversity, and engage in civic concerns.
"It’s an incredible accomplishment for our organization to have a $75,000 endowment fund building long-term financial sustainability that will help us provide quality arts, culture and public affairs programming in Northwest Indiana and Chicago for years to come," said Carl Kurek, Vice President of Development for Lakeshore Public Media.
“We want to thank the Legacy Foundation, the Marjorie A. Mills Loving Trusts and everyone who donated to Lakeshore during the endowment challenge,” Kurek said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our organization’s mission and to motivate existing donors to translate their passion for Lakeshore Public Media into increased financial support for the local and national programs they have come to love.”
“The money raised will go directly to fund programming costs and infrastructure improvements,” Muhammad said. The station is returning to full operations after they experienced an extended outage last year. “Lakeshore strives to bring programming and outreach events that engage our audience – especially those in Northwest Indiana – where we were created to serve.”
Lakeshore Public Media is committed to providing engaging, educational and informational programming for Indiana citizens. For more information about Lakeshore Public Media, visit lakeshorepublicmedia.org.
Legacy Foundation invests in nonprofit services and capacity building efforts throughout Lake County, Ind. Through the generosity of a wide base of donors, Legacy Foundation has awarded $40 million in grants and scholarships to nonprofit organizations and individuals since its founding in 1992. Learn more at www.legacyfdn.org.
Lakeshore Public Media provides quality local and original programming that educates, enlightens, and informs. Lakeshore Public Media chooses the best of NPR and PBS and other public media providers, broadcasting to millions of homes throughout Northwest Indiana, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Lakeshore Public Radio can be heard on 89.1fm. Lakeshore PBS broadcasts its main channel over the air on 56, on Comcast on 17 or 21 (HD Channel 239), on Dish Network (HD Channel 6320), AT&T U-verse (HD Channel 1056) and DirecTV on 56.