· Private foundation
Sowell Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k22 grants · $49k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| AMERICAN RED CROSS (TIFFANY CIRCLE) | $10,000 |
| CROSSROADS CAMPUS | $10,000 |
| OUR LITTLE ROSES FOREIGN MISSION SOCIETY | $5,000 |
| DUCK RIVER CONSERVANCY | $5,000 |
| NASHVILLE BALLET | $5,000 |
| NASHVILLE BANNER (NVILLE PUBLC MEDIA) | $5,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $5,000 |
| TN JUSTICE CENTER | $2,500 |
| ROOM IN THE INN | $2,500 |
| NASHVILLE ZOO | $1,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,500 |
| IMPACT100 | $1,135 |
| DAYBREAK | $1,125 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–25, $16k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
11 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NBNASHVILLE BALLET2× · 2023–2025 · $8k · revenue +16%
- TJTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC2× · 2023–2025 · $5k · revenue +9%
- TITENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT2× · 2023–2025 · $4k · revenue +3%
Funded once
- CCCROSSROADS CAMPUS (CAPITAL PLEDGE 50 OVER 2 YEARS)one grant, 2023 · $25k
- CCCROSSROADS CAMPUS (OPERATIONAL)one grant, 2023 · $10k
- TITHIS IS NOTEWORTHYgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +296%
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
To make downtown nashville the compelling urban center of the southeast in which to live, work, play and invest.
The nashville food project brings people together to grow, cook, and share nourishing food to cultivate community and alleviate hunger. through community food access, agriculture, education, and strategic partnerships, we work toward a…
To bravely imagine the power and passion of opera and who can sing and enjoy it.
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.
Nashville conflict resolution center (ncrc) works to provide access to justice for all tennesseeans. through a restorative approach of mediation, we help people resolve legal crises quickly, safely, and effectively outside of a courtroom.
To sustain the vibrancy of nashville's centennial park, home to the historic parthenon, by supporting metro parks in revitalizing & activating this public green space to ensure the park remains a welcoming destination for recreation,…
Greenways for nashville promotes, supports, and enhances a system of greenways and open space in nashville and davidson county.
Tennessee progress works to uplift the values and voices of the progressive movement across tennessee by elevating the issues that matter most to our communities. tennessee progress is a digital and communications hub for the progressive…
How this is measured
18 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. 18 of the 43 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
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.
- Who funds THE CROSSROADS CAMPUS ↗
- Who funds NASHVILLE BALLET ↗
- Who funds TENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds THIS IS NOTEWORTHY ↗
- Who funds FRIST ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds DUCK RIVER CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds TENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT ↗
- Who funds NASHVILLE ZOO INC ↗
- Who funds THE EQUITY ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds RALLY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Impact100 Nashville ↗
- Who funds INTERFAITH DENTAL CLINIC OF NASHVILLE ↗
- Who funds DAYBREAK ↗
- Who funds CHEEKWOOD BOTANICAL GARDEN AND MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds MCNEILLY CENTER FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
- Who funds NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION INC ↗
- Who funds PROJECT REDESIGN INC ↗
- Who funds LEADERSHIP NASHVILLE FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Hca Healthcare Foundation · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · Memorial Foundation Inc · James R Meadows Jr Foundation · Enchiridion Foundation · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Eden Foundation · Sandra Schatten Foundation · The Blum Family Foundation · Dettwiller Foundation · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Sowell Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sowell Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sowell Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sowell Family 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 Sowell Family’s filings →