Tennessee · Public charity
Champions for Literacy
Use the power of sports to raise awareness about the cause of literacy, generate funds for local literacy programs, and create volunteer activities for athletes to promote the power of reading to students pre-school through third grade.
- $307k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 13
- Itemized grants FY2025
- 12
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 8%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Itemized, FY2025
- $253k
- The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
- Median grant, FY2025
- $18,675
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $48,091
- Organizations funded a year
- 1 to 27
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 9
- Total assets, FY2025
- $666k
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 8% of the organizations Champions for Literacy funded were first-time grantees, receiving 7% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 13 | $253k | 23% |
| FY2024 | 12 | $222k | 8% |
| FY2023 | 27 | $337k | 30% |
| FY2022 | 27 | $387k | 37% |
| FY2021 | 25 | $355k | 80% |
| FY2020 | 7 | $67k | 43% |
| FY2019 | 5 | $48k | 60% |
| FY2018 | 1 | $8k | 0% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Way of Pickens County | $219,878 | 5 | 4% |
| United Way of the Plains Inc | $150,567 | 5 | 0% |
| Memphis Teacher Residency Inc | $133,012 | 9 | 0% |
| The 2nd and 7 Foundation | $100,501 | 5 | 4% |
| Readers 2 Leaders | $72,594 | 4 | 1% |
| Knowledge Quest Inc | $67,544 | 5 | 1% |
| Making It Better dba Literacy Now | $66,927 | 4 | 1% |
| Georgia Family Connection Partnership Inc | $58,838 | 5 | 0% |
| Heart of Missouri United Way Inc | $53,927 | 3 | 1% |
| Smart Reading | $50,005 | 3 | 1% |
Show all 46 grantees
Plus 9 recipients with no EIN on record ($103k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Champions for Literacy supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Dollar General Literacy Foundation · International Paper Company Foundation · United Way Worldwide · The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation · AT&T Foundation · Lumen Clarke M Williams Foundation · Slingshot Memphis Inc · Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc · United Way of the Mid South · Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Champions for Literacy?
Find your warmest path to Champions for Literacy through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
About Champions for Literacy
- How much does Champions for Literacy give?
- Champions for Literacy reported 13 itemized grants totaling $252,689, out of $306,706 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 27 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Champions for Literacy fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (100%).
- Who are Champions for Literacy's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: United Way of Pickens County ($220k), United Way of the Plains Inc ($151k), Memphis Teacher Residency Inc ($133k).
- Does Champions for Literacy fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 8% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Champions for Literacy?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Dollar General Literacy Foundation, International Paper Company Foundation, United Way Worldwide.
- Where is Champions for Literacy based?
- Champions for Literacy is based in TN.
Play a game based on Champions for Literacy’s filings →