How much does M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation give?

M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation reported 44 grants totaling $290,000 in its FY2026 IRS filing. It funded between 45 and 45 organizations a year over FY2023 to FY2025.

What does M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2023 to FY2026, its largest causes are Philanthropy (31%), Education (25%), Human Services (13%).

Who are M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2023 to FY2026: First Presbyterian Church ($60k), Lipscomb University ($60k), University School of Nashville ($60k).

Does M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2025, 16% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.

Which funders back the same organizations as M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc, Memorial Foundation Inc, Hca Healthcare Foundation.

Where is M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation based?

M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation is based in TN.

M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation

M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation

Its FY2026 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$290k

Granted FY2026still arriving

Grants FY2026still arriving

States reached

$20k

Largest

01What it funds

0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2026.

Philanthropy$520kEducation$417kHuman Services$219kHealth$114kArts & Culture$97kReligion$70kCrime & Legal$44kYouth Development$40kOther$0

02FY2026 · 44 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2026

Under $10k34 grants · $145k
$10k–50k10 grants · $145k

$5,000

Median grant

States reached

$4.1M

Total assets

Largest grants
Recipient	Amount
SALVATION ARMY	$20,000
YMCAYCAP	$15,000
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY NATIONAL	$15,000
MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY	$15,000
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE	$15,000
HARPETH HALL SCHOOL	$15,000
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY	$15,000
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH	$15,000
ANDREW JACKSONS HERMITAGE	$10,000
CHEEKWOOD	$10,000
EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF NASHV	$8,000
CURREY INGRAM ACADEMY	$8,000
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY	$7,500
SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK	$7,500
CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY	$7,000

02The need

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 (FY23–26, $70k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.

$1.1M · 49 repeat orgs$53k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +16% since the first grant, against -6% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 39 still active in FY2026, 10 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$1.1M

$29k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%

-6%

Still filing today

71%

20%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2026, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

EducationHuman ServicesHealthArts & CultureCrime & LegalHousing & 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.

Backed again, and grew

LU
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY
4× · 2023–2026 · $60k · revenue +19%
US
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE
4× · 2023–2026 · $60k · revenue +9%
TH
THE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL
4× · 2023–2026 · $60k · revenue +71%

Funded once

VU
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY NATIONAL COMM
one grant, 2025 · $15k
FF
FAITH FAMILY CLINIC
one grant, 2024 · $6k
N
NEEDLINK
one grant, 2025 · $5k

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.

Kings Academy Nashville

King's academy is a pre-k-8th grade independent christian school in nashville, tennessee, providing a classically inspired education to a racially and socioeconomically balanced student body.

Education

Nashville Public Radio

Nashville public radio's mission is to be the most trusted & independent nashville voice, connecting our communities through non-partisan journalism, compelling storytelling, civil conversation and music discovery.

Arts & Culture

New Hope Academy

Christ-centered school educating children of diverse racial & socioeconomic backgrounds by establishing a biblical worldview & preparing each child to flourish academically, emotionally, socially & spiritually.

Education

Lead Public Schools Inc

Lead public schools exists to prepare all our students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and in life.

Education

Valor Collegiate Academies

To prepare a diverse student population for success in college and to live inspired and purposeful lives. our scholars will graduate with academic skills, social-emotional skills, and positive character strengths that rival the outcomes of…

Education

The New American Academy Charter School

The new american academy charter school empowers learners and inspires leaders to make this a better world. through our collaborative teacher teams, mastery-based career ladder, and looping cycles, we offer personalized rigorous…

Education

Nashville Inner City Ministry Inc

Nashville inner city ministry is a christ-centered community organization dedicated to empowering the spiritual, educational and vocational development of at-risk youth and their families.

—

Intrepid College Preparatory School

Intrepid college prep is committed to ensuring our scholars, educators, and families have the opportunity to unlock an unlimited future. by providing rigorous academic instruction and creating powerful relationships amongst our community's…

Education

Nashville Christian Schools Inc

Providing educational opportunities through operation of a private religious k-12 school and preschool. the mission is to be a christian, authentic, dynamic school equipping students to be global leaders.

—

Austin Trinity School

Trinity episcopal school (trinity) is a not-for-profit independent school whose mission is to provide an enriched academic curriculum in a christian environment. trinity is not affiliated with or sponsored by any parish. we will nurture…

Education

University School of Jackson

The university school of jackson, a distinctive college preparatory school, seeks to instill a passion for academic excellence and lifelong learning so each student will reach his/her maximum potential.

Education

Nashville Cares

Nashville cares exists to end the hiv epidemic, promote comprehensive sexual health and end sexual health stigmatization and discrimination through prevention, education, treatment, support, advocacy, and strategic partnership.

Health

How this is measured

The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is St Luke's Community House Inc; the most unlike its peers is Justice Industries Inc. 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

36 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. 36 of the 58 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.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

36/36

Grantees still filing

29/36

Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other$547,000Education$300,000Arts & Culture$96,500Human Services$70,000Health$65,000Crime & Legal$34,000Religion$20,000

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

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 Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee IncTN48.1× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Memorial Foundation Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · The Frist Foundation · Louie M & Betty M Phillips Foundatn · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Joe C Davis Foundation · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Nashville Predators Foundation · Enchiridion Foundation

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 M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

0get no government money at all

15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)

0rely on government for over half their income

⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%

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 M Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to M Stratton Foster Charitable 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.

Play a game based on M Stratton Foster’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