How we work:

Lumina is an independent, private foundation committed to making opportunities for higher education available to all. With an endowment of about $1.5 billion, Lumina is the largest philanthropy in the United States focused solely on increasing the proportion of adults in the U.S. with education and training beyond high school.

Philanthropy means using time, money, and other resources to create meaningful, long-term change. At Lumina, we pursue a national goal that, by 2040, 75 percent of adults in the U.S. labor force will have college degrees and other credentials with value leading to economic prosperity. We use our resources to support projects, programs, initiatives, and other efforts that can meet the nation’s pressing need for talent. We pursue strategies aimed at creating systems in which everyone has a real opportunity to earn a quality degree or other credential. We also concentrate our efforts on colleges and universities that serve the vast majority of students, such as community colleges, public universities, and minority-serving institutions.

Lumina's Philanthropic Dictionary

Lumina is funded by an endowment.

What is an endowment?

An endowment is a large sum of money that a nonprofit organization invests, using the earnings to fund its work.

Endowments can come from individual donations or from the sale of nonprofit organizations. Our endowment came from the sale of USA Group, a nonprofit organization. The proceeds were used to create Lumina Foundation. Learn more about Lumina’s founding and funding in our FAQ’s.

Lumina’s work is philanthropy.

What’s the difference between philanthropy and charity?

Lumina is a private foundation.

What’s the difference between a private foundation and a public charity?

Lumina is a non-operating foundation.

What’s the difference between an operating and non-operating foundation?

Our Approach

What we believe:

A philanthropic organization must be a leadership organization to effectively make lasting change. It must set an agenda for change and then work purposefully and consistently to produce results. Lumina has defined our philanthropic brand as the leadership model of philanthropy. For us, this model is defined by three main attributes: focus, flexibility, and fortitude.

Focus:

We work to attain one clearly defined goal: By 2040, 75 percent of adults in the U.S. labor force will have college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity. The decision to commit ourselves to a time-limited, quantitative goal sets Lumina apart from many of its peers in philanthropy.

Flexibility:

A leadership organization responds to rapid changes in timely, thoughtful ways that serve and advance the organization’s mission. We use all the tools in our organizational toolbox, including grant support, our status as a thought leader in the field, and a healthy self-awareness that helps us recognize where we can best add value.

Fortitude:

Courage is non-negotiable for a foundation that seeks to be a leadership organization because any effort to make meaningful social change is notoriously difficult and inherently risky. Philanthropic organizations, particularly well-endowed private foundations such as Lumina, exist for one reason: to use the assets we hold in trust to act as society’s risk takers. We were established to serve the public good, and we operate in a privileged space, free from the restrictions that hamper other sectors of society.