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Stephen B Smith Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Stephen B Smith Charitable 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.

$278k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$657kRecreation & Sports$312kPhilanthropy$31kYouth Development$29kAnimals$25kHuman Services$20kReligion$11kPublic Benefit$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $9k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $19k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$19,150
Median grant
1
States reached
$39k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY$250,000
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY$19,150
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY$8,000
THE DREAM CENTER INC$500
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%MY POSSIBILITIES: $500 → 5%Heritage Foundation: $5k → 14%HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $2k → 4%MTSU FOUNDATION: $251k → 9%TWH Foundation: $30k → 11%Middle TN Council - Boy Scouts of America: $25k → 14%MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY: $250k → 9%TN WALKING HORSE BREEDERS FOUNDATION: $25k → 11%BHUVANA FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%Middle Tennessee State University Foundation: $200k → 9%Belfast Horse Show: $1k → 11%OPERATION ANDREW GROUP: $10k → 14%Middle Tennessee State University Foundation: $60k → 9%TWHBEA Youth: $500 → 11%MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY: $50k → 14%Middle Tennessee State University Athletics: $40k → 9%Montgomery Bell Academy: $50k → 14%MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY: $19k → 9%ST CECILIA ACADEMY: $5k → 14%MTSU Baseball: $10k → 9%ST CECILIA ACADEMY: $3k → 14%MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY: $8k → 9%Thistle Farms: $500 → 14%MTSU FOUNDATION: $6k → 9%THE DREAM CENTER INC: $500 → 14%MTSU FOUNDATION: $6k → 9%Rocketown: $1k → 14%MTSU Fund for Student Achievement: $6k → 9%Rocketown: $1k → 14%MTSU Foundation: $5k → 9%FRIENDS OF CHILDRENS HOSPITAL: $3k → 14%Middle Tennessee State University Foundation: $5k → 9%MTSU FOUNDATION: $5k → 9%MTSU 6th Man Club: $1k → 9%MTSU FOUNDATION: $500 → 9%MTSU Foundation: $500 → 9%MTSU - Next Level Club: $500 → 9%MTSU Foundation: $400 → 9%MTSU Foundation: $250 → 9%MTSU Baseball: $250 → 9%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.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$646k · 3 repeat orgs$462k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
24

Total granted

$646k
$184k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-12%
+12%

Still filing today

100%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $278k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitHousing & ShelterReligionOther
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

  • MT
    MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $544k · revenue -12%
  • MB
    MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE
    2× · 2021–2022 · $100k · revenue +11%
  • RO
    ROCKETOWN OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $2k · revenue -56%

Funded once

  • MT
    Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
    one grant, 2018 · $40k
  • TF
    TWH Foundation
    one grant, 2020 · $30k
  • MT
    Middle TN Council - Boy Scouts of America
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
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
Tennessee Titans Foundation
Philanthropy
2
The Nashville Chamber Public Benefit Foundation

The nashville chamber public benefit foundation supports the work of the nashville area chamber of commerce through efforts to improve the quality of education, encourage public and private efforts around education, and to facilitate the…

—
3
One Family Memphis
Human Services
4
St Anthony Scholarship Foundation

Scholarships to be awarded at The University of Mississippi

Education
5
Uta Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Heritage Foundation
Education
7
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
8
The Mend House Sober Living Community

The Mend House is a sober living community for men, in Knoxville, Tn. which empowers them to gain control over their actions, decisions and choices. The Mend House allows men to enjoy clean, sober and stable housing for up to 2 years while…

Health
9
Project Return Inc

People who have just been released from prison are typically stigmatized, overlooked, and pigeonholed by society. when they walk into project return, they discover that here they are valued, heard, and encouraged. while reduction of…

—
10
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

The nashville area chamber of commerce facilitates community leadership to create economic prosperity.

—
11
Nashville House Foundation
Religion
12
True Heritage Foundation
Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Heritage Plantation Foundation. 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

11 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. 11 of the 29 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
7/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $543,650 · EducationMIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONMONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE: $100,000 · EducationMONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLEMIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY: $277,150 · OtherMIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITYMiddle Tennessee State University Athletics: $40,000 · OtherMiddle Tennessee State University AthleticsTWH Foundation: $30,000 · OtherTWH FoundationMiddle TN Council - Boy Scouts of America: $25,000 · OtherMiddle TN Council - Boy Scouts of AmericaTN WALKING HORSE BREEDERS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherTN WALKING HORSE BREEDERS FOUNDATION+17 more: $48,625 · Other+17 moreOPERATION ANDREW GROUP INC: $10,000 · ReligionTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Public BenefitROCKETOWN OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $2,000 · Youth DevelopmentThe Dream Center Inc: $500 · Youth DevelopmentHOMES FOR HOMES aka Homes 4 Homes: $500 · Housing & Shelter
Education$643,650Other$445,775Religion$10,000Public Benefit$5,000Youth Development$2,500Housing & Shelter$500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $543,650 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetMONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHERITAGE PLANTATION FOUNDATION: $2,125 over 1y, 11% of budgetHOBART AMES FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROCKETOWN OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOMES FOR HOMES aka Homes 4 Homes: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHISTLE FARMS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMY POSSIBILITIES: $500 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.

  • Who funds MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE ↗
  • Who funds OPERATION ANDREW GROUP INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HERITAGE PLANTATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HOBART AMES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ROCKETOWN OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE ↗
  • Who funds HOMES FOR HOMES aka Homes 4 Homes ↗
  • Who funds THISTLE FARMS INC ↗
  • Who funds The Dream Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds MY POSSIBILITIES ↗

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 Foundat…Natl Christian Charit…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee IncTN13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Stephen B Smith Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Stephen B Smith Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Stephen B Smith Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Stephen B Smith 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.

    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 29 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Stephen B Smith’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