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The Baler Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Baler 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.

$23k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Community Improvement$45kRecreation & Sports$20kHuman Services$7kEducation$5kScience & Tech$4kInternational$3kPhilanthropy$105Other$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $3k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
$1,400
Median grant
3
States reached
$16k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC$20,000
WORTHY BOOKS$1,512
THISTLE FARMS INC$1,400
VOICES FOR A SAFER TENNESSEE COALITION$104
NASHVILLE PUBLIC MEDIA INC$61
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 (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 96% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Harvard University: $2k → 8%FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $20k → 22%WORTHY BOOKS: $2k → 11%South Cumberland Community Fund: $250 → 14%Greenways for Nashville: $10k → 14%Kent Denver School: $500 → 8%Harvard University: $1k → 8%Town of Manteagle: $100 → 14%Greenways for Nashville: $10k → 14%Harvard University: $1k → 8%Town of Manteagle: $100 → 14%GivingMatterscom: $105 → 14%TOWN OF MONTEAGLE: $100 → 14%VOICES FOR A SAFER TENNESSEE COALITION: $104 → 14%University School for Nashville: $3k → 14%University School for Nashville: $2k → 14%NASHVILLE PUBLIC MEDIA INC: $61 → 14%THISTLE FARMS INC: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $1k → 14%THISTLE FARMS: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $1k → 14%Thistle Farms: $515 → 14%Nashville Entrepreneur Center: $10k → 14%Nashville Entrepreneur Center: $10k → 14%Nashville Entrepreneur Center: $10k → 14%Nashville Entrepreneur Center: $10k → 14%Nashville Entrepreneur Center: $5k → 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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$78k · 5 repeat orgs$25k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
5

Total granted

$78k
$3k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+103%

Still filing today

80%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 6% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $22k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationCivil RightsInternationalPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsArts & CultureOther
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

  • TN
    THE NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
    5× · 2019–2023 · $45k · revenue +26%
  • GF
    GREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $20k · revenue +22%
  • TF
    THISTLE FARMS INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $9k · revenue +269%

Funded once

  • CV
    CEIBA VIDA INTERNATIONAL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $3k · revenue +243%
  • KD
    KENT DENVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $500 · revenue +90%
  • SC
    SOUTH CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $250 · revenue +103%
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 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
2
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
3
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
4
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Aquinas College

Education

Education
7
Tennessee Progress

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…

—
8
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
9
Free Press

Free press was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. we believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse…

Arts & Culture
10
Nashville Public Education Foundation

The nashville public education foundation supports teachers and leaders to build schools where all kids thrive. the foundation does this by advocating for change, supporting mnps as a consulting partner, promoting excellence and…

Education
11
National Association of College and University Attorneys

To advance the practice of higher education attorneys for the benefit of the institutions they serve.

—
12
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University School of Nashville; the most unlike its peers is Worthy Books. 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

12 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. 12 of the 15 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
9/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER: $45,000 · OtherTHE NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTERTHISTLE FARMS INC: $8,715 · OtherTHISTLE FARMS INC+3 more: $405 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $20,000 · Civil RightsFOUNDATION FOR INDIVI…+1 more: $104 · Civil RightsGREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsGREENWAYS FOR NASHVIL…UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE: $4,415 · EducationUNIVERSITY…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $3,915 · EducationPresident …WORTHY BOOKS: $1,512 · EducationWORTHY BOO…KENT DENVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $500 · EducationCEIBA VIDA INTERNATIONAL INC: $2,500 · InternationalSOUTH CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FUND: $250 · PhilanthropyNASHVILLE PUBLIC MEDIA INC: $61 · Arts & Culture
Other$54,120Civil Rights$20,104Recreation & Sports$20,000Education$10,342International$2,500Philanthropy$250Arts & Culture$61

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 budgetTHE NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER: $45,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetGREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHISTLE FARMS INC: $8,715 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE: $4,415 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $3,915 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKENT DENVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $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.

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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 The Baler Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Baler Family 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%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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 15 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

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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