Press Release

Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awards $100 MILLION – Indiana’s first round of grants for 2005 announced

March 21, 2005

(Indianapolis) – With its first round of grants for 2005 totaling $4,518,500, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has awarded $100,599,650 to 585 nonprofit organizations since it began making grants in Arizona and Indiana in 1998. The announcement and presentation was held Monday, March 21, at Volunteers of America of Indiana, Theodora House, 927 N. Pennsylvania Street at 3 p.m.

“The Trust has become a significant community partner, furthering the causes Nina Pulliam devoted much of her life to supporting. We, as trustees, are pleased to continue her legacy of helping people in need, protecting animals and nature, and enriching community life,” said Frank E. Russell, Trustee chairman. “Since the Trust began its grantmaking in 1998, it has supported 585 great organizations and assisted them in enhancing the lives of many individuals and creating better communities.”

Since 1998, the Trust has granted $ $68,323,160 to 451 organizations helping people in need; $16,714,805 to 54 organizations protecting animals and nature; and $15,561,685 to 98 organizations enriching community life.

“Nina Pulliam would have been so proud of the great work of the Trust’s grantee organizations,” said Trustee Carol Peden Schatt. “Nina spent a lifetime helping others and her Trust has now evolved as a strong resource for nonprofit groups in her beloved hometowns of Indianapolis and Phoenix. She was an Indiana native and later a resident of Arizona, and we are thrilled to see the impact of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust in those two states,” Schatt added.

With the first of three rounds of grants for 2005, the Trust committed $2,148,000 to 32 Indiana organizations. Ten organizations were first-time grant recipients (as denoted with an asterisk on the grants listing). Overall $1,608,000 supported organizations helping people in need, $405,000 went to organizations protecting animals and nature, and $135,000 funded organizations enriching community life.

“It was also a landmark year for the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program in 2004 with the Trust’s first graduating class of nine Scholars,” Trustee Nancy Russell said. “Since the Nina Scholars program began in 2001, it has celebrated graduates and currently has more than 150 men and women pursuing their degrees. Nina believed in education’s power to transform lives and our Nina Scholars are testament to this.”

“Nina came from a family that emphasized the importance of education. Education was the foundation for her great successes. From very humble beginnings, Nina became a recognized leader during her lifetime in the newspaper industry and in her home states of Indiana and Arizona,” Russell added.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program provides scholarships to men and women who are often overlooked by traditional college scholarships. The Nina Scholars program is accepting applications for the 2005 fall semester at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and Ivy Tech State College Central Indiana. The application deadline is April 1 and information may be obtained from the Trust web site or by calling the Scholar office at IUPUI, 317-278-7878 or Ivy Tech State College, at 317-921-4617.

The Trust, which also makes grants in Arizona, had approximately $354 million in assets as of December 31, 2004.

The next preliminary application deadline for nonprofit organizations applying to the Trust for funding is May 13, 2005.

Applications may be obtained by writing to the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, 135 N. Pennsylvania Street, Suite 1200, Indianapolis, IN 46204; or by calling 317-231-6075; or through the Application page on our web site.