Positive Coaching Alliance Receives $10 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to Expand National Character Development Programs
10.03.25
Oakland, California — October 3, 2025 — Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is honored to announce that Lilly Endowment Inc. has approved a grant of $10 million, 5-year grant to support the enhancement and expansion of PCA’s programs nationwide, with a focus on character development, to reach 1.5+ million youth through sports programs.
This landmark gift will enable PCA to expand its reach and deepen its impact, helping millions of young people across the United States benefit from life-changing character education through sports.
“We are thrilled and deeply grateful to Lilly Endowment for this extraordinary vote of confidence,” said Jason Sacks, CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance. “This support is truly game changing for PCA and will have an enormous positive impact on the youth we serve. It allows us to accelerate our mission of ensuring that every young person experiences the powerful character-building benefits of sports done right.”
PCA’s programs provide coaches, parents, and youth leaders with tools and training that instill resilience, teamwork, leadership, and integrity in young athletes. By empowering caring adults and cultivating positive sports experiences, PCA helps young people build life skills that extend far beyond the playing field.
The grant to help PCA enhance and expand its efforts are being funded through Character Development Through Youth Programs, a national Lilly Endowment initiative designed to help youth-serving organizations create, test, implement and sustain strategies that support character development in the young people they serve in chapters and affiliates throughout the nation. PCA is one of 14 organizations being funded through the initiative.
The grant from Lilly Endowment will help PCA’s scale its proven character development initiatives by:
- Strengthening PCA’s national infrastructure, including enhancing PCA’s capacity for measurement, learning and evaluation and scaling efforts with large school districts, parks and recreation departments, and youth sports organizations.
- Fostering innovative new approaches to reach more communities, particularly those that have historically had less access to quality youth sports opportunities. These approaches include updating our character development programming with the latest research and knowledge around youth character development, while also evaluating the most effective delivery mechanisms.
- Creatively engaging youth, coaches, and parents/caregivers though digital platforms, including social media, ensuring cultural competence.
- Investing in PCA’s Certified Trainers to ensure they are trained on the most up to date research-based delivery mechanisms.
“Sports done right changes lives, and with this incredible partnership, PCA is poised to ensure that more young people across the nation gain access to programs that help them grow as athletes and as people,” said Mitch Cohen, Chair of PCA’s Board of Directors.
Positive Coaching Alliance extends its deep gratitude to Lilly Endowment for this remarkable investment in the future of youth. PCA also thanks its dedicated staff and Board of Directors for their commitment and support in developing and advancing the successful grant proposal.
For more information about Positive Coaching Alliance and its programs, please visit positivecoach.org.
About Positive Coaching Alliance
Positive Coaching Alliance’s (PCA) vision is a world where every young person has access to the transformational benefits of a positive youth sports experience with a coach who inspires them to become their best selves in the game and in life. The organization is a transformative force in the national youth sports landscape dedicated to changing the culture of youth sports by eliminating long-standing barriers that prevent access to a positive youth sports experience for many young people.
With 60 staff and 150 experienced PCA trainers, the organization partners with over 800 youth sports organizations, school districts, professional sports leagues, youth-serving organizations, and community leaders across the country to provide them with the tools and training they need to make their youth sports offerings positive, equitable, and accessible.
PCA is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and operates via a national footprint of 11 local PCA regions with committed non-governing local boards. Collectively, PCA and its partners bring a wealth of expertise and commitment to setting new standards in youth sports in America so that every young person has access to the benefits of a positive youth sports experience regardless of social or economic circumstance.
Media Contact: Casey U’Ren, Vice President External Relations: casey_uren@positivecoach.org
About Lilly Endowment Inc
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although gifts of stock remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. The Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion.