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Humanities Tennessee at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Humanities Tennessee

To foster community and civility in tennessee through public programs that examine and reflect upon ideas, stories, history, arts, and culture.

$125k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.3MEducation$83kCommunity Improvement$37kYouth Development$32kRecreation & Sports$23kReligion$19kHuman Services$14kEnvironment$12kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 9 grants below total $78,709, the rows itemized in this filing. The $125,105 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $46,396 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $49k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $30k
$8,901
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART$10,000
TN HISTORICAL SOCIETY$10,000
WPLN FM 903 NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO$10,000
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PAN AFRICAN SE$9,653
UT DOWNTOWN GALLERY$8,901
THE MEMPHIS 13 FOUNDATION$8,500
INTER-MUSEUM COUNCIL OF NASHVILLE ($8,300
WYXR$6,980
KNOXVILLE HISTORY PROJECT$6,375
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 (FY22–24, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%KIDIZENSHIP: $20k → 14%KIDIZENSHIP INC: $20k → 14%REFUGEE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM: $14k → 17%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.

33%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$508k · 16 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
91

Total granted

$508k
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
0%

Still filing today

75%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 54% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $36k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesAnimalsOther
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

  • TH
    TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $88k · revenue +0%
  • EN
    East Nashville Hope Exchange Inc
    7× · 2017–2024 · $50k · revenue +12%
  • ET
    East Tennessee Historical Society Inc
    4× · 2020–2023 · $48k · revenue +50%

Funded once

  • DP
    Discovery Park of America Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $18k · revenue -1%
  • ET
    EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2024 · $16k
  • G5
    GRANTS 5K
    one grant, 2022 · $16k
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
Hickman County Historical Society

To Preserve and teach Local Hictory

—
2
Nashville Blues and Roots Alliance
Arts & Culture
3
Tennessee River Museum

To present and promote the historical aspect of the local river from pre-history until the present day

Arts & Culture
4
Tennessee Geographic Alliance

Education

Education
5
Locate Arts Tn

Tri-Star Arts serves Tennessee by cultivating and spotlighting the contemporary visual art scenes in each region while fostering a unified state-wide art scene. Tri-Star Arts programs promote art dialogue between the different cities in…

Community Improvement
6
Nashville Design Week
Arts & Culture
7
The Muse Knoxville

To inspire and empower all children through transformative learning experiences. our vision is to make our community the best place for all to learn through the power of play.

Arts & Culture
8
Beck Cultural Exchange Center Inc

Beck is the place where african american history and culture are preserved.

Arts & Culture
9
Grundy County Historical Society

Establish, organize & operate a museum to preserve and promote the history of grundy county, tn and its people.

Arts & Culture
10
Knoxville Museum of Art

The purpose of the knoxville museum of art is to support and promote public interest, awareness, knowledge and education in the visual arts in east tennessee . to this end, the corporation shall, among other things, develop permanent…

Arts & Culture
11
Tennessee Museum of Aviation

The Tennessee Museum of Aviation is dedicated to the preservation of aviation history, the advancement of education, and the honoring of historical aviators.

Arts & Culture
12
Tennessee Arts Foundation

Support and extend activities of the TN Arts Commission.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Heritage Foundation of Williamson County; the most unlike its peers is Mngk Garvey Program. 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

72 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 72 of the 111 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
70/72
Grantees still filing
40/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $88,158 · OtherTENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETYCHICK HISTORY INC: $60,000 · OtherCHICK HISTORY INC+55 more: $637,570 · Other+55 moreEast Tennessee Historical Society Inc: $48,350 · Arts & CultureEast Tennessee Historical Society IncCENTENNIAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $42,874 · Arts & CultureCENTENNIAL PARK CONSERVANCYMEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY: $23,148 · Arts & CultureDiscovery Park of America Inc: $18,370 · Arts & Culture+36 more: $394,177 · Arts & Culture+36 moreEast Nashville Hope Exchange Inc: $49,940 · EducationGlobal Education Center: $16,936 · EducationELLA LIBRARY: $14,920 · EducationNASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $11,782 · EducationTHE CONTRIBUTOR INC: $5,850 · EducationKIDIZENSHIP INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesREFUGEE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM: $14,206 · Human ServicesTHE CHATTERY: $14,920 · Community ImprovementHISTORIC LEBANON TOMORROW INC: $11,936 · Community ImprovementCENTER FOR NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT INC: $10,217 · Community ImprovementORPHEUM THEATRE GROUP: $5,920 · Community ImprovementSOUTHERN WORD INC: $16,936 · Youth DevelopmentMemphis 13 Foundation: $8,500 · Youth DevelopmentNASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT INC: $11,936 · Food & Nutrition
Other$785,728Arts & Culture$526,919Education$99,428Human Services$54,206Community Improvement$42,993Youth Development$25,436Food & Nutrition$11,936

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $88,158 over 8y, 5.4% of budgetEast Nashville Hope Exchange Inc: $49,940 over 7y, 3.9% of budgetEast Tennessee Historical Society Inc: $48,350 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetCENTENNIAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $42,874 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetKIDIZENSHIP INC: $40,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetMEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY: $23,148 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDiscovery Park of America Inc: $18,370 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMemphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc: $17,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERN WORD INC: $16,936 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetGlobal Education Center: $16,936 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetCROSSTOWN RADIO PARTNERSHIP INC: $15,931 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetKNOXVILLE HISTORY PROJECT: $15,327 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetSONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetNASHVILLE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetSOUTHERN LIT ALLIANCE: $14,920 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetROBERTSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $14,920 over 1y, 17% of budgetELLA LIBRARY: $14,920 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetCAMPBELL CULTURE COALITION: $14,920 over 1y, 15% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF MEMPHIS: $14,920 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetART120: $14,920 over 1y, 10% of budgetTHE CHATTERY: $14,920 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetStoryboard Memphis LLC: $14,920 over 1y, 15% of budgetBLUES CITY CULTURAL CENTER INC: $14,920 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetTENNESSEE ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS INC: $14,920 over 1y, 25% of budgetRISE CHATTANOOGA: $14,920 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetHISTORIC CRAGFONT INC: $14,490 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetROSE CENTER AND COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS INC: $14,238 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetREFUGEE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM: $14,206 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetMEMPHIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $14,174 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $12,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY: $12,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHERITAGE FOUNDATION OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY: $11,936 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS INC: $11,936 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHISTORIC LEBANON TOMORROW INC: $11,936 over 1y, 10.0% of budgetNASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT INC: $11,936 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPARIS HENRY COUNTY HERITAGE CENTER: $11,936 over 1y, 15% of budgetMCMINN COUNTY LIVING HERITAGE: $11,936 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetKNOX HERITAGE INC: $11,936 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetMNGK Garvey Program: $11,936 over 1y, 48% of budgetBIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC: $11,936 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNashville Symphony Association: $11,936 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCUMBERLAND RIVER COMPACT INC: $11,936 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $11,782 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE URBANART COMMISSION: $11,339 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetELMAHABA CENTER: $11,190 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetRIVERARTSFEST INC: $11,059 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetSPLASH: $10,501 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetCENTER FOR NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT INC: $10,217 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Community Foundation …Memorial Foundation I…The Community Foundat…ArtsmemphisChristian Community F…The Wade-Buntin Famil…Benwood Foundation IncSouth Arts IncThe Assisi Foundation…The Community Foundat…East Tennessee Founda…Artsbuild
Community Foundation of Greater Memphis IncTN34.5× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · Memorial Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Artsmemphis · Christian Community Foundation of Memphis · The Wade-Buntin Family Foundation · Benwood Foundation Inc · South Arts Inc · The Assisi Foundation of Memphis Inc · The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Inc · East Tennessee Foundation · Artsbuild

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 Humanities Tennessee funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Humanities Tennessee. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    26report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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.

    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 111 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Humanities Tennessee’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