News and Reports
Dear Friends,
Throughout 2025, nonprofit organizations navigated a rapidly evolving landscape marked by shifting priorities and a greater demand for their services. Challenges such as staffing shortages, increased workloads, and evolving external pressures made operations more complex. Even so, our nonprofit partners showed flexibility, determination, and an even greater commitment to supporting those in need.
Nonprofit organizations play an important role in the health and vitality of our communities. They fill gaps in assistance and address society’s most urgent challenges — from delivering essential services to advancing long-term system changes. Nonprofits feed, heal, educate, inspire and employ people every day in the United States. The sector generates approximately $3.7 trillion in annual revenue. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, more than 10% of America’s private workforce is in the nonprofit sector, surpassing the number employed in manufacturing, construction, or finance. That is nearly 240,000 jobs in Arizona and 260,000 jobs in Indiana. They are powered by our neighbors, family members, friends and colleagues.
With their help, families moved from emergency shelter to affordable housing, individuals remained housed with utility assistance, vulnerable seniors received food boxes, survivors of domestic violence found safe shelter, parents received educational resources for their children, and so much more. This year, the Trust invested $19.9 million in our nonprofit partners in Arizona and Indiana. These partnerships led to a few other notable accomplishments this year:
- In 25 years, 429 Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars Program students overcame tremendous odds to graduate from college.
- Supported local journalism efforts by providing a $3 million gift to the Arizona Local News Initiative and extending the Trust’s investment in Mirror Indy with a $1.5 million grant.
- Distributed more than $1.2 million, including $235,000 in emergency grants, to organizations addressing hunger and food insecurity in Indianapolis and Phoenix.
- Funded 20,319 spay and neuter surgeries in Arizona and 20,313 in Indiana to address animal overpopulation.
- Increased the number of animals adopted in the Phoenix and Indianapolis metropolitan areas – 7% in Maricopa County and 6.5% in Marion County.
- Helped protect the first 22 miles of the Upper Verde River in Arizona from future development.
- Supported a statewide Regional Watershed Management Plan in Indiana to monitor and manage water inventory and plan for future development.
Our mission is to invest in and support organizations that help people in need, protect animals and nature, and enrich community life in Indiana and Arizona. We could not do that without all of you, our dedicated nonprofit partners. Together, we can help our communities thrive. Continue reading to learn more about the work our partners did to help our communities thrive in 2025.
Carol Peden Schilling
Trustee Chair
Kent E. Agness
Trustee
Lisa Shover Kackley
Trustee
Gene D’Adamo
President and CEO
NONPROFITS AND THRIVING COMMUNITIES
2025 Investment:
$19.9 million
The Trust invested $19.9 million in 2025 and more than $430.1 million in 29 years in our nonprofit partners in Arizona and Indiana. Nonprofits are vital to the health of a community. The Trust’s nonprofit partners support people in need, protect animals and the environment, and enrich community life for those in both states.
$600,000
invested in small nonprofits
2024-2025
Small nonprofit organizations are the heartbeat of their communities, leveraging their passion and dedication to care for their neighbors. Their small size allows them to be agile and responsive to community needs, foster social connection, and preserve local history and culture. Because they are close to the communities they serve, small nonprofits often have an advantage in mobilizing local support. However, they frequently struggle to garner support from funders, even as many large nonprofits rely on smaller grassroots organizations to support their work. To deepen the Trust’s understanding of emerging issues, communities in need, and the potential for long-term organizational impact, the Trust implemented a two-year pilot program in 2024 to fund small nonprofits. The program invested $600,000 into 22 Arizona and Indiana organizations with annual operating budgets of less than $300,000. At the end of the pilot program, these organizations reported positive results, and the trustees approved continuing the program. They also expressed a desire to build capacity to serve more community members, increase operational efficiencies, strengthen internal systems, and network more among peers and other funders.
Boost a Foster Family
The Trust invested $20,000 to help the organization assist families with essential resources that will allow children to safely stay with family members. Boost a Foster Family fulfilled 1,814 requests and impacted approximately 2,859 children.
Rebuilding Together Indianapolis
The Trust invested $25,000 to help the organization improve the homes and lives of homeowners in need, primarily seniors and for homes that are 80-100 years old.
Read more about all of the nonprofits funded by the Trust on our website.
NINA SCHOLARS 25TH ANNIVERSARY
2025 Investment:
$34 million
In 2001, the Trust established a scholarship program specifically to provide educational pathways to individuals who experienced the foster care system, who have physical disabilities, and/or who support dependents. Nina Mason Pulliam believed in education as the road to realizing an individual’s full potential, to changing lives and helping families. In the last 25 years, the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars Program has helped 429 students graduate from college by providing financial assistance, mentoring, a support network, and career development. Because of that support, Nina Scholars graduate at rates equal to or higher than those of their peers.
Currently, there are a total of 117 Nina Scholars at Arizona State University, Maricopa Community Colleges, Indiana University Indianapolis and Ivy Tech Community College. Nina Scholars at each institution continue to outpace their peers. The average GPA is 3.45 and the first-year retention rate is 81.6%. Four Nina Scholars have been named among the Top 100 Students at IU Indianapolis for this academic year.
“The program’s focus on emotional intelligence helped me grow as a confident, compassionate leader. I mentored peers, studied philanthropy abroad, explored diverse subjects, and learned from other blind classmates. The program has transformed both my circumstances and my life.”
Natasha, 2023 IU Indianapolis
Nina Scholars graduate
“I was able to equip myself with the knowledge and skills that I will need to have a fulfilling career, thanks to the Nina Scholars program. Since I rely on assistance from people for many things to live my life, I am determined to give back by providing myself and others with disabilities more independence and dignity in their communities.”
Kathryn Solliday, 2025 ASU Nina Scholars graduate
Nina Scholars alumni are leaders in their communities, entrepreneurs, social workers, nurses, physicists, engineers, computer specialists, teachers, journalists, doctors and more. Many Nina Scholars changed the future for their entire families by securing a college degree.
Learn more about the program by visiting the Nina Scholars website.
PUTTING THE LOCAL BACK IN JOURNALISM
2025 Investment:
$5 million
Journalism is the foundation on which the Trust was built. From one small newspaper in Lebanon, Indiana, Nina Mason Pulliam and her husband, Eugene C. Pulliam, built Central Newspapers Inc., a national, privately-owned newspaper company. Their portfolio included The Arizona Republic and The Indianapolis Star, the largest daily newspapers in Arizona and Indiana, which had immense influence in those communities at the time. Nina Mason Pulliam understood the power of the media – its role in educating the public, holding policymakers accountable, and keeping critical community and social issues top of mind.
“Search for truth is our noblest occupation; its publication, our avowed duty.”
Nina Mason Pulliam at the 1961 Theta Sigma Phi Women in Journalism Fraternity convention
However, the media industry, in particular local newspapers, has struggled to maintain its profitability amid the rise of social media, on-demand streaming, mobile content, artificial intelligence and audience fragmentation. In this local news vacuum, people have increasingly turned to partisan national media or unverified social media sources for news and information, leading to more polarization and the proliferation of misinformation. There are now 75% fewer local journalists working in the United States compared to 25 years ago. The sharp decline in original, local reporting capacity has weakened civic participation, government accountability, and community cohesion.
To that end, the Trust has invested $14.6 million over the years to bolster local media, original reporting, and accurate representation of Indiana and Arizona communities. In 2025, the Trust awarded a $3 million lead gift for the Arizona Local News Initiative and extended its investment in Mirror Indy and Free Press Indiana with a $1.5 million, three-year grant. In partnership with the American Journalism Project and a coalition of funders and civic leaders, the Arizona Local News Initiative, like Free Press Indiana, will produce nonprofit, purpose-built local news that connects community members to resources and information useful in their daily lives. Since 2017, the Trust has also funded award-winning environmental reporting teams at The Arizona Republic and The Indianapolis Star to increase awareness of environmental issues in both states. Since 1999, the Trust has supported local, award-winning public broadcasting stations KJZZ Phoenix, KBACH Phoenix, KNAU Northern Arizona and WFYI Indianapolis.
Additionally, since 2018, the Trust has funded annual state and international reporting awards for the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Hoosier State Press Association and the Arizona Press Club.
An independent press is critical to a free and functioning democracy. Strong, local journalism creates healthier communities, is a force for better education, protects taxpayer dollars, keeps institutions honest, supports arts and culture, promotes economic growth, and elevates community values.
Read the articles made possible by the Trust’s investment.
HELPING PETS AND THEIR OWNERS
2025 Investment:
$2.5 million
Animal welfare organizations – like other nonprofits in 2025 – face significant difficulties in caring for pets and supporting their owners. As the costs of housing, food, and medical care for both animals and people continued to increase, nonprofits also struggled with staffing shortages and reduced funding, making it even harder to deliver essential services. In addition to these challenges, the cost of spay and neuter surgeries has increased by 8% to 18% per cat or dog. As a result, shelters in both Arizona and Indiana reported higher intake numbers, with community members citing the cost and access to veterinary care, economic pressures on pet owners, affordable housing challenges, and limitations on pet-friendly housing.
Phoenix Animal Care Coalition
Phoenix Animal Care Coalition (PACC911) is a nonprofit organization that unites more than 140 animal welfare organizations throughout Arizona to work together for the greater benefit of animals. The PACC911 Critical Care Program addresses a gap in animal welfare by subsidizing veterinary care for sick or injured animals. With the Trust’s support, they save displaced and/or medically fragile animals from being euthanized, nurse them back to health, and find loving, permanent homes.
To address some of these issues, the Trust focused primarily on reducing the overall cost of responsible pet ownership and alleviating companion animal suffering by offering low-cost spay-and-neuter procedures and medical care. This year, the Trust subsidized 40,632 spay-and-neuter surgeries and funded a community voucher program in Maricopa County and a diversion program in Marion County to reduce financial burden. The Fix.Adopt.Save. voucher program provides low-cost or free spay-and-neuter surgeries for pet owners in Maricopa County. The IndyCARES program helps families keep their pets rather than surrender them at the Indianapolis Animal Care Services shelter due to financial constraints. In 2025, IndyCARES diverted more than 1,000 animals from entering the shelter and Fix.Adopt.Save. gave out more than 3,998 vouchers.
This support has also helped adoption numbers increase by 7% in Maricopa County and 6.5% in Marion County. Additionally, construction of the new IACS shelter is complete, and the Trust has continued its support by funding small animal organizations doing important work in Indiana. Read more about the Trust’s animal welfare initiatives on our website.
The voucher program, supported by the Trust, subsidizes the cost of spay-and-neuter surgeries for families and individuals in Maricopa County facing financial hardship.
The new Indianapolis Animal Care Services shelter opened to the public in May 2026. In 2022, the Trust provided a lead gift of $3 million to build the state-of-the-art, 70,000-square-foot adoption and medical facility for companion animals in Marion County.
CONSERVING AND PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
2025 Investment:
$3.9 million
The Trust’s environmental nonprofit partners address issues such as water quality, water quantity, heat mitigation, and wildlife protection while balancing conservation with community and economic needs. Effective solutions during challenging times must be economically viable and support residents and recreationists. These environmental nonprofits have recognized that recreational spaces can foster economic growth, improve shade, and enhance heat equity. Working with cities and developers, our partners plan growth that benefits people and wildlife, creating attractive places to live and work. After more than eight years of protecting the Verde River in Arizona and improving access and water quality of the White River in Indiana, the Trust initiated a new three-year environmental strategy with an emphasis on mitigating heat, enhancing tree canopies, and protecting wildlife corridors. Highlights of the work of Trust partners in 2025 include:
Arizona
- Supported the protection of the first 22 miles of the Upper Verde River near a state park and national recreation trail, with help from the Trust for Public Land, to prevent future development.
- Completed landscape restoration projects in Granite Creek and the City of Prescott’s Big Chino Water Ranch with The Nature Conservancy Arizona to reduce erosion, support habitat connectivity, and reduce stormwater impacts.
- Installed 61 erosion-control structures in the Prescott National Forest through the Friends of the Verde River.
- Implemented the Verde River Watershed Water Quality Monitoring Plan, with Friends of the Verde River and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, where 25 community scientists collected water quality samples to provide data for the Verde Watershed Report Card.
A scientist collects and records a water sample from the Verde River.
Discover White River launched an adventure pass that encourages people to discover all the fun activities and amenities along the river.
Indiana
- Funded the development of a statewide Regional Watershed Management Plan to monitor and manage water inventory and plan for future development. Partners for the White River, Conservation Law Center, White River Alliance, The Nature Conservancy Indiana, and Hoosier Environmental Council advocated for the plan’s establishment for the past eight years.
- Provided educational input to the legislature for bills to protect groundwater, uphold local stormwater authority oversight, and improve Indiana’s water planning framework with the help of the Conservation Law Center, Hoosier Environmental Council, The Nature Conservancy Indiana and White River Alliance.
- Elevated the White River as an essential economic and recreational asset for the region with the help of Tourism Tomorrow and Partners for the White River.
Check out the Trust’s environmental initiatives on our website.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
As of Dec. 31, 2025, the Trust’s endowment was an estimated $461.6 million. Since its inception, the Trust has invested more than $430.1 million in 1,162 nonprofit organizations in Arizona and Indiana. In 2025, the Trust distributed 258 grants and paid more than $19.9 million.
See an overview of our 2025 grantmaking.
View a list of the Trust’s grantees.
The Trust’s audited financial statements will be available on our website in July 2026.