How much did Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation grant in FY2019?

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation reported 62 grants totaling $5,069,060 in its FY2019 IRS filing.

Where is Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation based?

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation is based in TN.

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation

Foundation Dossiers

· Private foundation

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation

This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications.

$5.1M

Granted FY2019

Grants

Communities

$1.0M

Largest

01What you fund

01FY2019 · 62 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2019

Under $10k1 grant · $8k
$10k–50k22 grants · $556k
$50k–250k37 grants · $3.3M
$250k+2 grants · $1.3M

$53,900

Median grant

States reached

$112M

Total assets

Largest grants

Tennessee State Museum Foundation$1,000,000
Cumberland Heights Foundation$250,000
TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights$228,000
Art Institute of Chicago$200,000
Hill School of Ft Worth$175,000
The Mary Parrish Center$175,000
Bunker Labs$155,000
Lantern Lane Farm$127,500
Youth Villages of Middle TN$122,000
The Refuge Center for Counseling$100,000
Cook Childrens Health Foundation$100,000
Nashville General Hospital Found$100,000
Renewal House$100,000
Cumberland University$95,000
Alive Hospice Inc$95,000

02The need

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY19–19, $504k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12% — the area typically sits at 11%. 70% of those dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA, United Way ALICE — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

Nashville Academy Theatre and

Nashville children's theatre is a professional theatre company providing the children, families, and educators of middle tennessee with extraordinary shared theatrical experiences that inspire imagination, develop creativity, and build…

Arts & Culture

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center ("VUMC") is one of the nation's longest serving and most prestigious academic medical centers. Through its historic bond with Vanderbilt University, VUMC cultivates distinguished research and…

Health

Stars Nashville

Supports young people through the social and emotional barriers they face. our five evidence-based school and community programs address issues like bullying prevention, substance misuse, violence and other mental health issues. in…

Health

Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education

Nashville Repertory Theatre Inc

See schedule onashville repertory theatre exists to serve through creating "ah-ha!" moments that inspire empathy, prod intellectual and emotional engagement, and expand the creative capacity of audience and artists though the dynamic…

Arts & Culture

Tennessee Aquarium

The mission of the Tennessee Aquarium is to connect people with nature and empower them to make informed decisions about water and wildlife

Animals

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.

Arts & Culture

Memphis University School

College preparatory secondary school for boys

Education

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The philadelphia museum of art is committed to being the cultural heart of philadelphia. (sch o)pma is a national and international destination for art, but first and foremost we are philadelphia's museum for all the many diverse…

Arts & Culture

Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Located in the vibrant warehouse arts district of downtown new orleans, louisiana, the ogden museum of southern art holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of southern art and is recognized for its original exhibitions, public…

Arts & Culture

Tennessee Wesleyan University

Four-year liberal arts college

Education

Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts

With funding, services, and advocacy, ArtsWave fuels a more vibrant economy and connected community through the arts.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Oasis Center Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Frick Collection. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 34 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund

0.0%0/36

the rest of the field

11%

3,770/35,159

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

03the grantee network

35 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

34/35

Grantees still filing

33/35

Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Other$2,220,000Arts & Culture$1,265,000Health$547,500Human Services$511,400Education$375,160International$80,000Community Improvement$70,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Community Foundation of MiddleTN45.5× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Middle · The Frist Foundation · Memorial Foundation Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · Ebs Foundation · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist · Nashville Predators Foundation · The Steven & Laurie Eskind · The Healing Trust · Louie M & Betty M Phillips Foundatn · Msb Cockayne Fund Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organisation Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2025

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

0get no government money at all

0rely on government for over half their income

⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%

typical government reliance, FY20–25

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. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

04Through Plinth

Through Plinth

Your grantmaking, live and operational

This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: Tennessee State Museum Foundation.

Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk

Financial management

low risk

~9 months of operating runway; revenue contracted over 6 filed years.

Track record & reputation

low risk

6 years of Form 990 filings, still active.

Legal standing

low risk

US 501(c)(3); EIN 510200584 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.

Governance

Live in Plinth

Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.

Compliance & sanctions

Live in Plinth

OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.

Program capacity

Live in Plinth

Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.

Live · Plinth’s real DD engine

Run the actual assessment on Tennessee State Museum Foundation, cold from public data.

Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.

Post-award monitoring · continuous checks

On trackFinancial stability— Roughly 9 months of cash on hand.
WatchSustained operations— Filing through 2023; revenue contracted over the period.
WatchReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 83% of their budget — load-bearing; a dependency Plinth would track.
Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.

What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.

Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing

Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro

How do I get to Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.

Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation

Where the money goes

Do your dollars go where the need is?

35 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Government reliance of your grantees

Your grantmaking, live and operational

How do I get to Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation?

More from the funding graph

Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation

Where the money goes

Do your dollars go where the need is?

35 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Government reliance of your grantees

Your grantmaking, live and operational

How do I get to Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation?

More from the funding graph