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Tennessee Bar Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Tennessee Bar Foundation

The mission of the TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION, a philanthropic organization founded by tennessee lawyers, is to honor lawyers who have distinguished themselves in the profession and community and to support, with monetary grants, organizations that provide civil legal assistance to the indigent and organizations that work to improve the…

$3.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
38
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$408k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2025.

Crime & Legal$14M
02FY2025 · 38 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 38 grants below total $3,159,034, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,632,343 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $473,309 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $16k
  • $10k–50k17 grants · $402k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.1M
  • $250k+5 grants · $1.6M
$40,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$34M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE$408,401
TENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER$325,000
LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TN$322,702
MEMPHIS AREA LEGAL SERVICES$300,000
WEST TENNESSEE LEGAL SERVICES$272,660
ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY$172,405
NASHVILLE HISPANIC BAR ASSOCIATION$140,000
TALS$125,988
CHATTANOOGA BAR ASSOCIATION$100,000
AIR INC$95,000
TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS$75,000
TENNESSEE CASA ASSOCIATION$75,000
WOMENS RESOURCES AND RAPE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM$75,000
COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER$54,500
TENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT$50,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 92% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%AGAPE - MORNING STAR: $15k → 14%CENTER OF HOPE: $39k → 5%TENNESSEE COALITION TO END DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL ASSAULT: $25k → 8%AVALON CENTER: $14k → 14%ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY: $40k → 18%AGAPE - MORNING STAR: $7k → 14%HOMESAFE OF SUMNER WILSON AND ROBERTSON COUNTIES: $16k → 8%VORPCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER INC: $13k → 14%ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY: $20k → 18%TENNESSEE COALITION TO END DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL ASSAULT: $13k → 8%VORPCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER INC: $8k → 14%ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY: $10k → 18%DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM INC: $20k → 9%VORPCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER INC: $7k → 14%VORPCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER INC: $7k → 14%CONSERVATORSHIP ASSOCIATION OF TN: $6k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $100k → 17%YWCA KNOXVILLE AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY: $40k → 12%GUARDIANSHIP AND TRUST CORPORATION: $8k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTERREMOTE IMMIGRANT: $100k → 17%YWCA KNOXVILLE AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY: $10k → 12%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $83k → 14%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $80k → 14%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $75k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $55k → 17%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $50k → 14%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $50k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $31k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $50k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $25k → 17%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $25k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $19k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $17k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $17k → 17%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $8k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $17k → 17%AGAPE: $18k → 14%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $14k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $14k → 17%AGAPE - MORNING STAR: $10k → 14%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $5k → 14%TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $5k → 14%ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY: $172k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$13M · 43 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

43 repeat relationships: 31 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

43
6

Total granted

$13M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
0%

Still filing today

91%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $457k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Crime & LegalHuman ServicesCivil RightsHealthReligionEducationOther
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

  • LA
    LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.4M · revenue +47%
  • LA
    LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND THE CUMBERLANDS
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.2M · revenue +122%
  • TJ
    TENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.6M · revenue +178%

Funded once

  • TL
    TENNESSEE LEGAL INITIATIVES FUND
    one grant, 2019 · $1.1M
  • DI
    DISMAS INC
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +8%
  • FC
    FENTON CENTER OF HOPEgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $39k · revenue +125%
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
Casa of the Tennessee Heartland Inc

Provide advocacy for abused and neglected children in juvenile court.

Civil Rights
2
Arkansas Justice Collective Aiding Survivors of Trafficking and Chil

Arkansas justice collective is a nonprofit law firm serving survivors of trafficking and child abuse across arkansas and the region.

Public Benefit
3
The Child Advocacy Center of Anderson Co Tn

To combat severe physical and sexual abuse and resulting trauma by coordinating and providing services in a child friendly, safe and nurturing environment.

Human Services
4
Association for Women Attorneys Foundation
Community Improvement
5
Casa of the Tennessee Valley

The mission of the organization is to provide a powerful voice for abused and neglected children by advocating for each child, within the court's jurisdiction, in order to ensure safety, permancy and an opportunity to thrive.

Human Services
6
Court Appointed Special Advocates

To be the voice for children who have been victims of abuse and/or neglect. Our vision is to serve every child in the Cheaha Region by providing them with a caring and competent trained volunteer.

Crime & Legal
7
Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association

To serve members of the legal profession by keeping them informed on current developments.

—
8
Legal Aid Justice Center

The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.

Crime & Legal
9
Ky Access to Justice Commission Inc

To increase access to the courts and high-quality legal representation for people with low and moderate incomes living in kentucky through innovative partnerships with the judiciary, the civil legal aid programs, private bar, law schools,…

Crime & Legal
10
Casa of Tipton County

Child Advocacy Services

Crime & Legal
11
Rape and Domestic Violence Information C

Educate and assist victims of rape and domestic violence.

Health
12
The Shelter Inc

The shelter's primary purpose is to reduce the effects of domestic violence in the communities it serves by providing housing, clothing, food, and legal aide for victims of domestic violence.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nashville Conflict Resolution Ctr; the most unlike its peers is Homesafe of Sumner Wilson and Robertson Counties. 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

52 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. 52 of the 56 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/52
Grantees still filing
36/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE: $2,374,695 · OtherLEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEELEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND THE CUMBERLANDS: $2,223,262 · OtherLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND THE CUMBERLANDSTENNESSEE LEGAL INITIATIVES FUND: $1,122,735 · OtherTENNESSEE LEGAL INITIATIVES FUNDWest Tennessee Legal Services INC: $846,586 · OtherWest Tennessee Legal Services INC+14 more: $1,007,640 · Other+14 moreTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC: $1,625,200 · Crime & LegalTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INCMemphis Area Legal Services Inc: $1,244,605 · Crime & LegalMemphis Area Legal Services IncNASHVILLE CONFLICT RESOLUTION CTR: $309,864 · Crime & LegalNASHVILLE CONFLICT RESOLUTION CTRChoosing Justice Initiative: $295,000 · Crime & LegalChoosing Justice InitiativeTENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES: $285,988 · Crime & LegalTENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVI…+10 more: $678,000 · Crime & Legal+10 moreCOMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $456,300 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY L…TENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $380,207 · Human ServicesTENNESSEE J…AO ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY INC: $242,405 · Human ServicesAO ADVOCATI…DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM INC: $98,640 · Human ServicesDOMESTIC VI…THE AVALON CENTER INC: $54,000 · Human ServicesHOMESAFE OF SUMNER WILSON AND ROBERTSON COUNTIES: $53,878 · Human ServicesYWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Human Services+6 more: $149,700 · Human Services+6 moreTENNESSEE COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATE ASSOC: $295,700 · Civil RightsTENNESSEE IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS COALITION: $50,000 · Civil RightsCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER: $22,000 · Civil RightsWOMEN'S RESOURCE AND RAPE ASSISTAN HUTCHERSON: $95,000 · HealthBRIDGES OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY: $54,000 · HealthBRIDGES DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE SUPPORT SERVICES: $29,200 · HealthTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 · EducationNASHVILLE HISPANIC BAR ASSOCIATION: $140,000 · Membership BenefitTennessee Fair Housing Council: $65,000 · ReligionSu Casa Family Ministries: $16,000 · Religion
Other$7,574,918Crime & Legal$4,438,657Human Services$1,485,130Civil Rights$367,700Health$178,200Education$150,000Membership Benefit$140,000Religion$81,000

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 budgetLEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE: $2,374,695 over 9y, 8.3% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND THE CUMBERLANDS: $2,223,262 over 9y, 5.4% of budgetTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC: $1,625,200 over 9y, 6.2% of budgetMemphis Area Legal Services Inc: $1,244,605 over 9y, 27% of budgetWest Tennessee Legal Services INC: $846,586 over 9y, 3.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $456,300 over 9y, 12% of budgetTENNESSEE JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS: $380,207 over 6y, 17% of budgetNASHVILLE CONFLICT RESOLUTION CTR: $309,864 over 5y, 9.3% of budgetTENNESSEE COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATE ASSOC: $295,700 over 9y, 12% of budgetChoosing Justice Initiative: $295,000 over 5y, 28% of budgetTENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES: $285,988 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetAO ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY INC: $242,405 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetTHE JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $150,000 over 2y, 33% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION: $147,000 over 3y, 51% of budgetAGING SERVICES OF THE UPPER CUMBERLANDS INC: $119,000 over 8y, 13% of budgetKindred Place Inc: $113,000 over 7y, 3.1% of budgetTENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT: $105,000 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetTENNESSEE COALITION TO END DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE: $100,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetDOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM INC: $98,640 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetWOMEN'S RESOURCE AND RAPE ASSISTAN HUTCHERSON: $95,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetARTS AND BUSINESS COUNCIL OF GREATER NASHVILLE INC: $81,000 over 7y, 3.4% of budgetTennessee Fair Housing Council: $65,000 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetCENTER OF HOPE: $60,290 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetCOMMUNITY MEDIATION SERVICES: $57,500 over 7y, 12% of budgetBRIDGES OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY: $54,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetTHE AVALON CENTER INC: $54,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetHOMESAFE OF SUMNER WILSON AND ROBERTSON COUNTIES: $53,878 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetYWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetAll Saints Immigration Services: $50,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetDISMAS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetVORP COMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER INC: $47,200 over 5y, 20% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF EAST TENNESSEE INC: $45,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetFENTON CENTER OF HOPE: $39,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetMEMPHIS PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER: $32,500 over 2y, 9.6% of budgetBRIDGES DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE SUPPORT SERVICES: $29,200 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetASSOCIATION FOR GUIDANCE AID PLACEMENT AND EMPATHY: $28,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY MEDIATION CENTER: $22,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetAGAPE LOVE FROM ABOVE TO OUR COMMUNITY: $22,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetAgape International Missions: $19,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSu Casa Family Ministries: $16,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTHE MEDIATION CENTER: $15,000 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetFamily Reconciliation Center Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetCEASE INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGUARDIANSHIP & TRUSTS CORPORATION: $8,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetMID SOUTH MEDIATION SERVICES: $5,550 over 1y, 7.6% 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Community Foundat…United Way of Middle …The Frist FoundationMemorial Foundation I…The Healing Trust For…Community Foundation …Hca Healthcare Founda…Dorothy Cate and Thom…Vanderbilt UniversityNashville Predators F…Justice Frank F Drowo…The Assisi Foundation…
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee IncTN32.5× affinity19 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 · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · The Frist Foundation · Memorial Foundation Inc · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · Vanderbilt University · Nashville Predators Foundation · Justice Frank F Drowota Trust · The Assisi Foundation of Memphis 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 Tennessee Bar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Tennessee Bar Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    25report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Tennessee Bar Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Tennessee Bar 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 56 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Tennessee Bar’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