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Civic Tn at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Civic Tn

Civictn and its partners are working individually and collectively to create a more accessible, inclusive, and representative democracy by lifting up the voices of the disenfranchised, restoring the power and accessibility of the vote, and strengthening democracy in tennessee.

$682k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$170k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Public Benefit$2.2MHealth$442kCivil Rights$285kEducation$87kYouth Development$21kCommunity Improvement$17kArts & Culture$15kHuman Services$11k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k6 grants · $150k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $522k
$35,750
Median grant
1
States reached
$770k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ACTION TN$170,000
THE EQUITY ALLIANCE FUND$126,250
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF TENNESSEE AND$92,100
TN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE$83,550
MEMPHIS FOR ALL EDUCATION FUND$50,000
CALEB$35,750
MEMPHIS INTERFAITH COALITION FOR AC$35,000
AMERICAN MUSLIM ADVISORY COUNCIL$32,325
ORGANIZE TENNESSEE$20,000
MEMPHIS ARTISTS FOR CHANGE$14,550
MEMPHIS APRI$12,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–23, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TENNESSEE DISABILITY COALITION: $10k → 14%TENNESSEE DISABILITY COALITION: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 18 repeat orgs$658k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +92% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
15

Total granted

$2.4M
$488k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+92%
+26%

Still filing today

78%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $170k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsHealthCommunity ImprovementReligionHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • MF
    Memphis for All Education Fund
    5× · 2020–2024 · $483k · revenue +371% · 44% of their budget
  • TE
    THE EQUITY ALLIANCE
    4× · 2020–2023 · $173k · revenue +92%
  • AM
    AMERICAN MUSLIM ADVISORY COUNC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $146k · revenue +132%

Funded once

  • MS
    MOTUS STRATEGIES
    one grant, 2021 · $253k
  • FT
    FORWARD TN
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • MH
    MORE HUMAN INTERNET FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Memphis for All

To build a cross-class multi-racial progressive alliance, by combining integrated voter engagement, distributive organization, and sustained leadership development.

Civil Rights
2
Tennessee Progress

Tennessee progress works to uplift the values and voices of the progressive movement across tennessee by elevating the issues that matter most to our communities. tennessee progress is a digital and communications hub for the progressive…

—
3
Civic Tn

Civictn and its partners are working individually and collectively to create a more accessible, inclusive, and representative democracy by lifting up the voices of the disenfranchised, restoring the power and accessibility of the vote, and…

Civil Rights
4
Tennessee Workers Alliance

The tennessee worker's alliance is establised primarily to further the common good and social welfare of the working citizens of the united states of america by engaging in research, education and communication efforts regarding policy…

Employment
5
African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee

Advance policies driven by community voices that dismantle systemic and structural barriers to equity and justice

Civil Rights
6
Tennessee Democracy Network

The Tennessee Democracy Network is a nonprofit civic incubator for relational organizing and civic literacy initiatives that develop and deepen cultures of nonpartisan democratic engagement in Tennessee.

Public Benefit
7
One Family Memphis
Human Services
8
One Voice

To ensure an equal voice to traditionally silenced communities across the South.

Public Benefit
9
Imagine Tennessee Better Inc

Social Welfare

—
10
Transformative Justice of Williamson County
—
11
Tennessee Alliance for Progress

To create a sustainable green economy that benefits all

Health
12
Tennessee Advocacy Talk

Our mission is to increase the access and quality of social service resources through bettering norms and culture with advocacy, performance improvement strategies, and technology.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Equity Alliance; the most unlike its peers is Unified. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

24 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 34 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
19/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MOTUS STRATEGIES: $252,820 · OtherMOTUS STRATEGIESTN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE: $190,550 · OtherTN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEEPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF TENNESSEE AND: $176,100 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF TENNESSEE ANDACTION TN: $170,000 · OtherACTION TNUnified: $156,000 · OtherUnifiedMEMPHIS A PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE: $139,200 · OtherMEMPHIS A PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE+10 more: $206,393 · Other+10 moreTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE FUND: $299,750 · Civil RightsTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE FUNDTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE: $173,125 · Civil RightsTHE EQUITY ALLIANCEMEMPHIS INTERFAITH COALITION FOR ACTION AND HOPE: $129,500 · Civil RightsMEMPHIS INTERFAITH COALITION FOR…TIRRC VOTES: $120,000 · Civil RightsTIRRC VOTESORGANIZE TENNESSEE: $108,500 · Civil RightsORGANIZE TENNESSEETHINK TENNESSEE: $30,000 · Civil RightsMemphis for All Education Fund: $482,710 · EducationMemphis for All Ed…AMERICAN MUSLIM ADVISORY COUNC: $145,825 · ReligionCHATTANOOGANS IN ACTION FOR LOVE EQUALITY AND BENEVOLENCE: $58,250 · ReligionURBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER CHATTANOOGA: $50,000 · Community ImprovementFORWARD TN: $22,500 · Community ImprovementBlack Clergy Collaborative Of Memphis: $17,000 · Community ImprovementPLANNED PARENTHOOD GREATER MEMPHIS REGION INC: $27,000 · HealthNashville Peacemakers: $20,000 · HealthSTREET WORKS INC: $20,000 · HealthTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $6,000 · HealthELMAHABA CENTER: $17,200 · Arts & CultureMemphis Artists for Change: $15,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,291,063Civil Rights$860,875Education$482,710Religion$204,075Community Improvement$89,500Health$73,000Arts & Culture$32,200

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMemphis for All Education Fund: $482,710 over 5y, 44% of budgetTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE FUND: $299,750 over 3y, 31% of budgetTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE: $173,125 over 4y, 5.2% of budgetACTION TN: $170,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetUnified: $156,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetAMERICAN MUSLIM ADVISORY COUNC: $145,825 over 4y, 15% of budgetMEMPHIS INTERFAITH COALITION FOR ACTION AND HOPE: $129,500 over 3y, 12% of budgetTIRRC VOTES: $120,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetORGANIZE TENNESSEE: $108,500 over 4y, 44% of budgetCHATTANOOGANS IN ACTION FOR LOVE EQUALITY AND BENEVOLENCE: $58,250 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER CHATTANOOGA: $50,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetFAIR SHARE INC: $30,000 over 2y, 45% of budgetTHINK TENNESSEE: $30,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD GREATER MEMPHIS REGION INC: $27,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFORWARD TN: $22,500 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetSTAND FOR CHILDREN LEADERSHIP CENTER INC: $21,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNashville Peacemakers: $20,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTENNESSEE DISABILITY COALITION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSTREET WORKS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetELMAHABA CENTER: $17,200 over 1y, 16% of budgetBlack Clergy Collaborative Of Memphis: $17,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetMemphis Artists for Change: $15,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetOrphanos Foundation: $10,843 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

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.

The Healing Trust For…Community Foundation …The Community Foundat…Southern Coalition fo…The Community Foundat…Tennessee Investor Fu…Action TnThe Dan and Margaret …Proteus Fund IncBvm Capacity Building…The Kresge FoundationTennessee Immigrant a…
The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital TrustTN21.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Southern Coalition for Social Justice · The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Inc · Tennessee Investor Fund · Action Tn · The Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund Inc · Proteus Fund Inc · Bvm Capacity Building Institute Inc · The Kresge Foundation · Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Civic Tn funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Civic Tn. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Civic Tn?

    Find your warmest path to Civic Tn 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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 34 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Civic Tn’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home