Enrollment Up 300% at the World's First Philanthropy School

Enrollment at Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy has grown more than 300% over the past decade, from about 50 students to roughly 230, as students chase careers in nonprofits, foundations, corporations and government. The school says it has posted a 100% job placement rate for the past three years—a higher rate than students at the university's own business school.

The growth tracks a broader shift. A survey released this summer by the Walton Family Foundation, established by Walmart founders Sam Walton and his wife Helen, found that 79% of Gen Z hope to find a future job primarily focused on helping others or making a positive difference in people's lives. A 2025 Deloitte survey found 44% of Gen Z had left a job they felt lacked purpose, while roughly 40% had rejected a potential employer for the same reason.

Ella Traina, a 19-year-old sophomore at the school, is one of them. Her courses range from the history of philanthropy to storytelling for social change. In one class, she and six classmates decided how to distribute a real $10,000 grant.

"When I wake up every day and I want to help achieve impact… I want to keep moving that needle to where there are less people suffering and without basic human needs," Traina said. After graduation, she hopes to work in impact evaluation, helping nonprofits measure whether their programs work.

What makes this school different?

The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, based at Indiana University, is the first school in the world dedicated exclusively to the study and teaching of philanthropy. IU formally organized its fundraising teaching and research into an academic center in 1987, then established the school proper in 2012. It remains one of the few places where students can earn a bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. specifically in philanthropy.

The Lilly Endowment—founded in 1937 by the family of pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly—has backed the school since 1988. It views philanthropy and the nonprofit sector as complements to government and business in promoting the public good.

"We hope that as these students prepare for careers in philanthropy, they are also discovering what it means for them to live lives of meaning and purpose and how they can help others do so as well," an endowment spokesperson said.

Does the 'warm heart' pay?

School dean Amir Pasic says the sector still fights a persistent misconception: that meaningful work means working for free.

"There's still this misconception that if you go into philanthropy or the nonprofit sector that you are going to be offering to work for free, basically… 'Aren't you sweet to have such a warm heart?'" Pasic said.

The numbers tell a different story. Nearly two-thirds of nonprofit workers earn more than $75,000 a year—about 15% above the average U.S. salary. Philanthropy-adjacent roles at Fortune 500 companies can reach well into six figures: Walmart has advertised a grant manager role in Arkansas paying up to $180,000, and Microsoft has offered up to $275,000 for a recent community affairs position.

The job market is large. Nonprofits employed about 12.8 million workers in 2022, nearly 10% of all U.S. private-sector employment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For Traina, the downside is capped. "If you regret the degree, the worst you're gonna have is you're gonna know how to help people and how to impact society and create change," she said.

Can philanthropy be a mid-career pivot?

Patrick Lindenmeyer took a less traditional route. He spent nearly 17 years in financial services, helping clients grow and structure their wealth, and many wanted to be generous with it, he said.

The pandemic forced a rethink. The part of the job he enjoyed most was helping clients direct money toward causes they cared about, so he enrolled in the school's online master's program in philanthropic studies, taking one course per semester while working full time.

"The financial services career really gave me the technical ability [of asking] how, like how do we best structure assets? How do we best leverage impact?" Lindenmeyer said. "But the school of philanthropy really helped me with the why behind why individuals want to make this impact, and what does that look like."

Midway through the program, he landed what he called his dream job: gift planning officer at the University of Notre Dame, where he helps families build giving into estate plans through donor-advised funds and charitable remainder trusts. Several Notre Dame colleagues have completed the IU degree or are working on it, he said. He is now also pursuing a master's in nonprofit administration at Notre Dame, which he expects to finish in 2028.

"People that are looking for true, meaningful work, work that creates an impact and something that they can truly see, I think that this is something worth exploring," Lindenmeyer said.

Why billionaire wealth matters here

The sector's timing looks opportune. Billionaire wealth surged more than 16% in 2025—three times faster than its average growth over the previous five years—and hit a record $18.3 trillion, according to Oxfam. Charitable giving also reached a record $617.2 billion in 2025, but rose just 3% after inflation, according to Giving USA.

That gap has fueled criticism that the ultrawealthy give too slowly. MacKenzie Scott stands out as an exception: she has given away more than $26 billion and alone accounted for one-third of America's megagifts last year. Fortunes keep compounding on tech and AI optimism—Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang donated $75 million to Vanderbilt University.

Pasic sees trained graduates as the mechanism for deploying that money, especially as younger heirs push their families to give more, sooner.

"The anticipated large windfalls that will come through the AI industry," Pasic said. "There's this problem of money on the sidelines, to which more is going to be added pretty soon."

The $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer adds another variable. Wealthy Americans are growing less confident their heirs will carry on the family's charitable giving, according to a 2026 Bank of America Private Bank study—and that uncertainty may be exactly where philanthropic education earns its keep.

Lindenmeyer sees the handoff from the front lines. "We had always talked about the great wealth transfer," he said. "First it was… the retirement boom for the baby boomers and what that was going to look like, and then now as they're aging and passing away, what does this transfer of wealth look like?"