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Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau

The mission of the NCVB is to maximize the economic contribution of the hospitality industry to the total community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier domestic and international destination for visitors.

$3.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$1.0M
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 2024.

Recreation & Sports$7.0MArts & Culture$5.6MPublic Safety & Disaster$500kCommunity Improvement$121kEducation$10k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $250k+3 grants · $3.0M
$1,000,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$27M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Nashville Now Events Foundation$1,000,000
Country Music Association Inc$1,000,000
Music City Bowl Inc$1,000,000
Vanderbilt University$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Competitor Group Inc: $25k → 11%Competitor Group Inc: $25k → 13%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Bowl Inc: $1.0M → 14%Music City Inc: $41k → 14%Greater Nashville Hospitality Association: $35k → 14%Greater Nashville Hospitality Association: $35k → 14%Greater Nashville Hospitality Association: $26k → 14%Greater Nashville Hospitality Association: $25k → 14%Metropolitan Historical Commission Foundation Inc: $20k → 14%Fisk University: $25k → 14%Fisk University: $10k → 14%Fisk University: $10k → 14%Fisk University Jubilee Singers: $10k → 14%Country Music Association: $1.0M → 14%Country Music Association Inc: $1.0M → 14%Country Music Association: $1.0M → 14%Country Music Association Inc: $1.0M → 14%Nashville Now Events Foundation: $1.0M → 14%Country Music Association: $1.0M → 14%National Museum of African American Music: $250k → 14%Music City Inc: $30k → 14%Metropolitan Nashville Parks and Recreation: $25k → 14%Adventure Science Center: $25k → 14%Nashville Songwriters Association International: $10k → 14%Vanderbilt University: $10k → 14%United Way of Metro Nashville: $500k → 14%Nashville Symphony Association: $20k → 14%Andrew Jackson's Hermitage: $25k → 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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 6 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
9

Total granted

$11M
$900k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+17%

Still filing today

83%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’22’23’24
Arts & CultureRecreation & SportsEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • CM
    COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $5.0M · revenue +59%
  • GN
    GREATER NASHVILLE HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2017–2020 · $121k · revenue +250% · 41% of their budget
  • MC
    MUSIC CITY INC
    2× · 2020–2022 · $71k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue -6%
  • TN
    THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC
    one grant, 2023 · $250k · revenue -28%
  • AS
    ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER - NASHVILLE
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +17%
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
Nashville Blues and Roots Alliance
Arts & Culture
2
Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau

The mission of the NCVB is to maximize the economic contribution of the hospitality industry to the total community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier domestic and international destination for visitors. This is the second…

Community Improvement
3
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
4
Nashville Technology Council

Ntc mission is to advance the diverse technology ecosystem by connecting and promoting members, attracting, growing and retaining tech talent, and providing opportunities to reinvest in the greater nashville community.

Community Improvement
5
Nashville Sports Council Inc

To positively impact the economy and quality of life of the greater nashville area by attracting and promoting professional and amateur sporting events.

—
6
Nashville Opera Association

To bravely imagine the power and passion of opera and who can sing and enjoy it.

Arts & Culture
7
Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville Inc

Arts & business council of greater nashville supports and promotes the arts by driving collaboration between arts and business that contribute to the creativity, vitality, and prosperity of greater nashville/the regions/the city.

Crime & Legal
8
Nashville Public Media Inc

Nashville banner is a locally owned, community supported, civic news organization. we exist to empower the people of nashville to make informed decisions by providing non-partisan journalism from an independent, nonprofit newsroom. we are…

Arts & Culture
9
Nashville Bar Association

Nashville bar association is organized to improve the practice of law through education, service & fellowship

—
10
Nashville Film Festival

To promote or showcase independent and student films and film makers through an annual film festival.

Arts & Culture
11
Nashville Songwriters Foundation

To educate, archive and celebrate songwriting that is uniquely associated with the nashville songwriting community.

—
12
Nashville Zoo Inc

In fulfillment of our mission to inspire a culture of understanding and discovery of our natural world through conservation, innovation and leadership, our goal is to build a first class zoo for middle tennessee and to develop a facility…

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Music City Inc; the most unlike its peers is Fisk University. 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

15 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. 15 of the 17 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
10/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSIC CITY BOWL INC: $6,000,000 · Recreation & SportsMUSIC CITY BOWL INCNashville Now Events Foundation: $1,000,000 · Recreation & SportsNashville Now Events FoundationCOUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000,000 · Arts & CultureCOUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION INCTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC: $250,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $186,037 · Arts & CultureUNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $500,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER NASHVILLE HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION: $120,500 · OtherCOMPETITOR GROUP INC: $50,000 · OtherMETRO NASHVILLE PARKS AND RECREATIO: $25,000 · OtherNASHVILLE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL: $10,000 · OtherFISK UNIVERSITY: $55,000 · EducationVanderbilt University: $10,000 · Education
Recreation & Sports$7,000,000Arts & Culture$5,436,037Philanthropy$500,000Other$205,500Education$65,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMUSIC CITY BOWL INC: $6,000,000 over 6y, 12% of budgetCOUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $500,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC: $250,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetGREATER NASHVILLE HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION: $120,500 over 4y, 41% of budgetMUSIC CITY INC: $71,037 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFISK UNIVERSITY: $55,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER - NASHVILLE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (TPAC) MANAGEMENT CORPORATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetANDREW JACKSON FOUNDATION FKA LADIES' HERMITAGE ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNashville Symphony Association: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVanderbilt University: $10,000 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

The Community Foundat…
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee IncTN13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc

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 Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. 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%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report 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.

    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 17 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 Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau’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