A Jeff Bezos-backed fund gave $1.25 million to help Indianapolis families facing homelessness

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, awarded a $1.25 million grant to Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis, a nonprofit fighting homelessness.

The grant is the largest the nonprofit has ever received. The organization was founded in 1994.

"We talk about that generational, you know, opportunities for families to try to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness," said Matt Fultz, the nonprofit’s executive director. “With any potential new services we offer, we’ll be looking at them through that lens.”

Indianapolis is still struggling to combat homelessness as housing organizations have faced cuts to grants and services at the federal level. The annual point-in-time count found 1,815 people experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis on a single night in January, about a 7% increase from the previous year. 

Fultz said the Indianapolis-based organization is one of about 200 affiliates of Family Promise across the country. They offer multiple services to families with minor children experiencing homelessness, including operating 20 apartment units of transitional housing and additional supportive services. 

Family Promise plans to use the grant to help local families who are actively experiencing homelessness. 

“The ultimate goal is to serve more. So what that will look like is still kind of in the conceptual stages,” Fultz said. “We have some ideas, but it is one of our goals to be very innovative with what we do with these funds.”

The Bezos Day One Families Fund has given more than $850 million since 2018 to organizations across the country. It will give $102.5 million to organizations in 2025. The money is intended to help them in their mission to end homelessness. 

The nonprofit joins five others in Indiana that previously received a grant from the Bezos fund. These include HealthNet, Inc., the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention, and Coburn Place in Indianapolis; the Sojourner Truth House in Gary; and the Lafayette Transitional Housing Center in Lafayette.

Contact WFYI reporter Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.