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Hoosiers have poured almost $200 million into scholarships, medical research, child welfare and more in less than two decades — just by buying specialty license plates for their vehicles.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has sold nearly 8 million on behalf of a wide array of organizations between 2007 and July 31 of this year, according to agency data.
Upwards of 100 groups participate in the program. Each has its own design and earns up to $25 on every initial sale and annual renewal.
“You have to get a license plate every year if you’re driving a car,” said Mary Jane Michalak, Ivy Tech Community College’s senior vice president of legal and public affairs. “And so, if you want to, (you can) provide support to Ivy Tech at the same time.” The institution enrolls about 180,000 students annually.
“It’s something that people can do to support their favorite organizations across the state and help open a new revenue stream for bringing some good works to Hoosier lives,” said Special Olympics Indiana spokesman Joe Frollo. The group has 70 county programs with 10,000 coaches and volunteers supporting 19,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Indiana Code caps the number of specialty license plates at 150.
To get one, a group must submit a detailed application backed by signatures from would-be buyers and survive multiple stages of review by the BMV and state lawmakers.
To keep it, the group has to sell enough.
Some participants already struggle to meet the signature and sales standards. But new applicants will have to collect double the number of names and make twice the sales.
The hikes were nestled in House Enrolled Act 1390, this year’s BMV agency law. Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, authored it.
“Controlling the amount of them — not going over (the cap), not statutorily changing that number — is important because we don’t want to dilute the system,” Pressel said.
“We don’t want to have 5,000 different license plates in Indiana,” he added. “So, if they’re meant to be something special, then they really should be treated like that.”
Boosting budgets and brands
Indiana University and Purdue University top the participant list when it comes to revenue, respectively earning about $26 million and $22 million off their plates between 2007 and July 31. IU has sold more than 1 million, while Purdue is approaching 900,000.
Ivy Tech, another public higher education system, has earned about $373,000 off 15,000 sales over that time period.
“The license plate is a point of pride for our donors, community members, alumni and students,” Michalak said. “It’s a way for those who care about Ivy Tech to promote the organization and … it also gives meaningful support back to current students.”
That’s because, under the law, educational institutions must use plate money on scholarships for Indiana residents.
For instance, Ivy Tech students who can’t meet their total cost of attendance — even after federal and state financial aid is applied — can pull from the college’s general scholarships, according to Michalak.
State agencies have also benefited: an environmental plate funds land conservation, while a “kids first” edition goes to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
Other big earners include the Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, the Indiana Breast Cancer Awareness Trust, spay-neuter services, and organizations for nurses, sheriffs and professional firefighters.
The participant list is eclectic, with groups dedicated to conserving wild turkeys, golf, coal, museums and more.
“I think it’s serving its purpose by allowing folks to support the groups that are important to them,” Pressel said. “… It gives these organizations an opportunity to raise some dollars statewide and then be able to do good things with it.”
It’s also a brand-building opportunity. Pressel likened the plates to “small billboards going up and down the road.”
The Alzheimer’s Association Greater Indiana Chapter, which is in its first year of the program, plans to use plate revenue to accelerate treatment research and talk to Hoosiers — over social media and in person — about the warning signs, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment options.
“If you’re sitting in traffic on (Interstate) 465 … (and) see that plate, chances are they probably know someone that’s affected by this disease,” Sarah Donsbach, the chapter’s director of state affairs, said. “And we’re hoping that will prompt them to Google us, or to say, ‘That’s a really cool plate. I’d like to put that on my car.’”
Special Olympics Indiana puts its plate proceeds toward free, year-round training and competitions for athletes of all ages across a whopping 20 sports statewide.
The programming allows Hoosiers with intellectual disabilities to “enjoy the camaraderie and the fun of sports and competitions, just like everybody else enjoys doing,” Frollo said.
Some groups have come under fire, however.
The state’s second-highest official, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, and his Anti-Woke Advisory Committee have recommended an audit of the specialty license plate program to ensure participants are complying with “anti-DEI executive orders,” the Indiana Citizen reported.
The committee specifically called out the Indiana Youth Group, which supports young LGBTQ Hoosiers. CEO Chris Paulsen told the Citizen that the plate revenue helps his group provide food, clothing, and resources for those experiencing homelessness and other financial hardship.
BMV spokesman Greg Dunn told the Capital Chronicle that the agency “has not performed any anti-DEI audits” of program participants.
Indiana has other so-called “distinctive” plates, like the popular Hoosier veteran and Indiana Colts team designs, but they are explicitly excluded from the specialty plate requirements. The number of sales and amount of revenue for such plates were excluded from the totals in this article.
A higher bar
An average of 10 organizations annually have tried to join the program over the last five years, according to the BMV.
It’s a “complex” process, Pressel said.
Wannabe participants must submit a 14-part application by April for possible plate issuance the following year. But the toughest requirement to meet is for signatures of residents who pledge to purchase the plate.
Applicants used to be on the hook for 500, gathered within any amount of time. Beginning July 1, that’s doubled to 1,000 dated signatures collected within a single year.
The BMV checks submissions for completion, then forwards them to an interim legislative committee — led by Pressel and Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield — for review.
The committee makes its recommendations. Then, the agency conducts its own review. Just five can be recommended and approved annually, at most.
Pressel’s law also doubled maintenance requirements.
Groups already in the program must sell 500 in the first two years and then annually. For plates issued after Jan. 1, the bar rises to 1,000 sales in the first two years and annually after.
Some clear the bar easily.
“For us, it’s not been difficult to meet the requirement,” Ivy Tech’s Michalak said. “I think the challenge is just ensuring that we continue to make the case to individuals that this is a great way to support students.”
But those that fall short spend a year on probation. Missing the mark a second time results in termination.
“We were having quite a few folks struggling,” Pressel said.
His theory? Groups that took multiple years to get 500 signatures — which are an expression of interest rather than a commitment to buy — had “slim to none” chances of cracking 500 sales a year, every year.
“And that’s why the interim committee’s seeing some of these license plates come back to us, and we were having to take some away,” Pressel said. “So, rather than have to deal with that, maybe set the standard a little bit higher and set the time frame a little bit shorter.”
“By raising the bar, I think we streamline that process a little bit, and we don’t give anybody any false hope,” he added.
From 2007 through 2024, an average of 15 groups annually failed to make 500 sales, according to BMV data. At a 1,000-sale cutoff, 34 would’ve failed each year, on average.
Current participants are grandfathered into the lower sales requirement. The hike is prospective because “that’s not what they agreed to” when they signed up, Pressel said.
His goal was to ensure the BMV at least breaks even on managing and producing less popular plates.
The BMV indicated that’s not a concern, however.
The agency “does not incur additional costs to produce or administer these plates,” Dunn said.
On the edge
Thousands descended upon Ohio’s Kings Island one sweltering July weekend for an adventure away from medical appointments, treatments, bills and fears.
Parents, healthy children and those with life-threatening medical conditions frolicked free of charge, in a collaboration between Hoosier and Buckeye chapters of children’s charity A Kid Again.
In November, they will gather again at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for a “winter wonderland” featuring a Santa Claus, a DJ, bounce houses, face painting, rabbits and more.
“These families usually feel very isolated and very alone and or forgotten,” said Katie Pappas, who leads A Kid Again’s Indiana chapter.
The outings — dubbed “adventures” — give them “hope,” time to make memories together and connect with others like them, outside the doctor’s office.
But, because enrollment has ballooned from a couple dozen to more than 1,200 families, “there’s no way a venue or a partner can cover that whole cost for us,” Pappas said. Donations are key.
After chapters in Ohio earned “significant” support off speciality license plates there, A Kid Again Indiana spent two years gathering signatures to get its own.
“It may be small to some, but it’s honestly huge to us,” Pappas said. “It’s that recurring gift, every month, that … helps us as an organization become more sustainable, not only from a financial standpoint, but also from a brand-awareness standpoint.”
The chapter often hears from families who’ve unexpectedly connected with fellow enrollees at Riley, the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent or even the grocery store via the plate.
“The joy that comes out of them … it’ll melt your heart,” Pappas said.
But three years in, A Kid Again Indiana has fallen short on sales and is on probation. The chapter could lose its plate at the turn of the year.
Pappas’ team has embarked on an “all-out blitz” to keep the plate — highlighting it in communications with enrollees, donors and volunteers; posting on social media and running paid advertisements; printing big posters about the plate to display at adventures and fundraising events; and more.
Still, Pappas is worried.
If the chapter is kicked out of the program, it would have to wait two years to reapply. Then, it would be subject to the higher signature and sales requirements.
“We’ll really have to take a look at: is it worth our time? Because we are so small and lean as a staff, I’m just not sure that it’ll make sense,” she said.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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