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Tennessee · Private foundation

James R Meadows Jr Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
43
Grants FY2024
44
Organizations funded FY2023
11%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$10,000
Largest grant, FY2024
$210,000
Organizations funded a year
40 to 71
FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
7
Total assets, FY2024
$19M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 11% of the organizations James R Meadows Jr Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 4% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $47k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
PhilanthropyCrime & LegalArts & CultureCivil RightsRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving43$1.1M9%
FY202344$1.1M11%
FY202240$1.2M20%
FY202144$1.2M25%
FY202042$1.1M7%
FY201966$962k8%
FY201869$915k19%
FY201771$1.0Mn/a
96% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$3.8MYouth Development$598kHuman Services$565kInternational$557kFood & Nutrition$466kArts & Culture$311kHealth$308kCrime & Legal$301kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CA
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
DC
AL
GA
TX

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 85 grantees
All grantees of James R Meadows Jr Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Fisk University$2,179,50081%
The Webb School$599,00081%
Mercy Corps$345,00070%
Preston Taylor Ministries$320,00085%
AMERICAN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY dba AMERICAN BAPTIST COLLEGE$300,00082%
Backfield in Motion$245,00046%
Siloam Health$245,00081%
Medecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc$205,00070%
The Land Trust for Tennessee Inc$180,00083%
Tennessee Justice Center Inc$175,00082%
Equal Chance for Education$135,00081%
Martha O'Bryan Center Inc$130,00080%
Nashville Public Education Foundation$126,00062%
YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee$121,00041%
United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc$114,00080%
Nashville Public Radio$105,30061%
Nashville Public Television Inc$91,50081%
Abe's Garden$87,00060%
Nashville Food Project Inc$81,50071%
Nurture the Next Fka Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee$80,00051%
United Way of Kentucky Inc$75,000121%
Southern Poverty Law Center Inc$70,00070%
Cumberland University$65,00040%
Blue Monarch$55,0003n/a
Southern Environmental Law Center$55,00040%
Nashville Community Bail Fund$45,000316%
Habitat for Humanity$36,500241%
Center for Disaster Philanthropy Inc$35,00020%
The Contributor Inc$35,00024%
Monroe Harding Inc$33,00031%
Alive Hospice Inc$30,00030%
Cumberland River Compact Inc$30,00011%
Nashville Humane Association Aka Nashville Humane Society$27,00080%
Nashville Zoo Inc$25,85080%
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty$25,0001n/a
Mobile Medical Disaster Relief Inc$23,00050%
St Jude Children's Research Hospital Inc$20,00040%
Renewal House Inc$20,00040%
Tennessee Historical Society$20,00041%
United Way of Humphreys County$20,00017%
United Way of East Tennessee Highlands Inc$20,00013%
Continental T-Belles Track Club Inc$17,000480%
Room in the Inn Inc$15,0003n/a
The National Museum of African American Music$15,00030%
Humane World for Animals Inc$14,00040%
The Equity Alliance$13,00011%
Homework Hotline Inc$13,00081%
Rooftop Foundation$12,00032%
Casa Inc$10,00021%
Civic Tn$10,00020%
Men of Valor$10,00020%
Belcourt Theatre Inc$8,00080%
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art$8,00080%
Nashville Public Library Foundation$7,00040%
The Carter Center Inc$7,00030%
Tennessee Youth Courts Inc$5,00018%
Healing Housing Inc$5,00010%
Vanderbilt University$5,00010%
Nashville General Hospital Foundation$5,00011%
Vanderbilt University Medical Center$5,00010%
Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation$5,00040%
Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church$5,0001n/a
Charity Navigator$4,00040%
Centennial Park Conservancy$4,00040%
The Bridge Ministry Inc$4,0002n/a
Nashville Tree Foundation$3,00031%
Frist Art Museum$3,00030%
The National Museum of Women in the Arts$3,00030%
Montgomery Bell Academy of the University of Nashville$3,00030%
Cambridge in America$3,00030%
Tennessee Womens Theater Project$3,00032%
Smithsonian Institution$2,00020%
The Barack Obama Foundation$2,00020%
Nashville Cares$1,60030%
Philanthropy Southeast Inc$1,25010%
Impact100 Nashville$1,00011%
Helphopelive Inc$1,00010%
Hwen Corporation$1,0001n/a
Wo Smith Nashville Community Music School$1,00010%
Safe Tennessee Project Inc$1,0001n/a
Gideons Army Grassroots Army for Children$1,00010%
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc$50010%
All About Women Inc$45013%
Charley Foundation Inc$25010%
Paws for Purple Hearts$20010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 35 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.8M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

James R Meadows Jr Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 78 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$10k$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFisk University: $2,179,500 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetThe Webb School: $599,000 over 8y, 1.3% of budgetMercy Corps: $345,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPreston Taylor Ministries: $320,000 over 8y, 5.3% of budgetAMERICAN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY dba AMERICAN BAPTIST COLLEGE: $300,000 over 8y, 1.7% of budgetBackfield in Motion: $245,000 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetSiloam Health: $245,000 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetMedecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc: $205,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetThe Land Trust for Tennessee Inc: $180,000 over 8y, 3.5% of budgetTennessee Justice Center Inc: $175,000 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetEqual Chance for Education: $135,000 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetMartha O'Bryan Center Inc: $130,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNashville Public Education Foundation: $126,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetYWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee: $121,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetUnited Way of Middle Tennessee Inc: $114,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNashville Public Radio: $105,300 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetNashville Public Television Inc: $91,500 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetAbe's Garden: $87,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetNashville Food Project Inc: $81,500 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetNurture the Next Fka Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee: $80,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetUnited Way of Kentucky Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetSouthern Poverty Law Center Inc: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCumberland University: $65,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSouthern Environmental Law Center: $55,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNashville Community Bail Fund: $45,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetHabitat for Humanity: $36,500 over 2y, 41% of budgetCenter for Disaster Philanthropy Inc: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Contributor Inc: $35,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetMonroe Harding Inc: $33,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAlive Hospice Inc: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCumberland River Compact Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNashville Humane Association Aka Nashville Humane Society: $27,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNashville Zoo Inc: $25,850 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMobile Medical Disaster Relief Inc: $23,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetSt Jude Children's Research Hospital Inc: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRenewal House Inc: $20,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTennessee Historical Society: $20,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetUnited Way of Humphreys County: $20,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetUnited Way of East Tennessee Highlands Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetContinental T-Belles Track Club Inc: $17,000 over 4y, 80% of budgetThe National Museum of African American Music: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc: $14,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Equity Alliance: $13,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetHomework Hotline Inc: $13,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetRooftop Foundation: $12,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCasa Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCivic Tn: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMen of Valor: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 78.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Memorial Foundation IncTN68.6× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Memorial Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · The Blum Family Foundation · The Frist Foundation · The Wade-Buntin Family Foundation · Joe C Davis Foundation · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Vanderbilt University

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.

Compare James R Meadows Jr Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to James R Meadows Jr Foundation?

Find your warmest path to James R Meadows Jr Foundation 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 James R Meadows Jr Foundation

How much does James R Meadows Jr Foundation give?
James R Meadows Jr Foundation reported 43 grants totaling $1,129,350 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 40 and 71 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does James R Meadows Jr Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (44%), Youth Development (7%), Human Services (7%).
Who are James R Meadows Jr Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Fisk University ($2.2M), The Webb School ($599k), Mercy Corps ($345k).
Does James R Meadows Jr Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 11% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does James R Meadows Jr Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as James R Meadows Jr Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Memorial Foundation Inc, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc, Hca Healthcare Foundation.
Where is James R Meadows Jr Foundation based?
James R Meadows Jr Foundation is based in TN.

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 120 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-PF 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

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