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The Boyd Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Boyd Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$9.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
60
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$1.6M
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, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$10MYouth Development$2.6MPhilanthropy$2.4MArts & Culture$2.4MAnimals$1.7MHealth$1.7MRecreation & Sports$1.5MHousing & Shelter$1.1MOther$0
02FY2024 · 60 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $423k
  • $50k–250k20 grants · $1.9M
  • $250k+10 grants · $7.1M
$50,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$98M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION$1,565,482
CARTER COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION$1,000,000
UNITED WAY OF GREATER KNOXVILLE$987,500
GIRL TALK INC$830,000
WESLEY HOUSE COMMUNITY CENTER$750,000
ZOO KNOXVILLE$666,667
HOMETON SERVICE COALITION$400,000
HELEN ROSS MCNABB FOUNDATION$307,500
BIG EARS FESTIVAL$300,000
MUSE KNOXVILLE$250,000
INTERFAITH HEALTH CENTER$200,000
FISH HOSPITALITY PANTRIES$190,000
SCORE$150,000
CITY OF KNOXVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION$150,000
SEEED INC$125,000
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 (FY20–24, $663k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $500 → 14%YWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION: $400k → 12%KNOXVILLE AREA URBAN LEAGUE: $250k → 12%KNOXVILLE AREA URBAN LEAGUE: $10k → 12%KNOXVILLE AREA URBAN LEAGUE: $2k → 12%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.
$21M · 51 repeat orgs$6.7M to everyone else

51 repeat relationships: 41 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

51
108

Total granted

$21M
$4.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+22%

Still filing today

61%
23%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.3M went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthAnimalsYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesOther
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

  • TU
    THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $8.6M · revenue +131%
  • GT
    GIRL TALK INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +69% · 39% of their budget
  • KE
    KNOX EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $933k · revenue +95%

Funded once

  • MD
    METRO DRUG COALITION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +33% · 27% of their budget
  • YK
    YWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $400k · revenue -87% · 31% of their budget
  • RR
    RIVER & RAIL THEATRE CO
    one grant, 2020 · $300k
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
Knoxville Museum of Art

The purpose of the knoxville museum of art is to support and promote public interest, awareness, knowledge and education in the visual arts in east tennessee . to this end, the corporation shall, among other things, develop permanent…

Arts & Culture
2
Knox Housing Partnership Inc

To provide affordable housing to low and moderate income persons in east tennessee through first-time homebuyer education; assist with mortgage loans, downpayments, and closing costs; build new single family housing; develop multi-family…

Housing & Shelter
3
Knoxville Academy of Medicine

The academy serves as the local medica society for physicians of knox county and surrounding counties in east tennessee. its purpose is to afford a medium for free discussion and exchange of ideas among physicians.

—
4
4 Market Square Inc

Primarily to spread the gospel of jesus christ in downtown knoxville, tennessee by serving the community of the greater knoxville area through the provision of services, resources, worship, teaching, fellowship and networking capabilities.

Religion
5
Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation

To hold, maintain, renovate and improve certain real property known as the historic tennessee theatre located in knoxville tennessee, in order to provide a performing arts venue for the community and other entities for historic and…

Arts & Culture
6
Nourish Knoxville Inc

To cultivate healthy communities by supporting relationships between local farmers, producers, and the public.

Food & Nutrition
7
Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley Inc

Humane society of the tennessee valley, inc. is dedicated to providing lifesaving programs and resources to enrich the lives of people and companion animals in the communities we serve.

Animals
8
Tennessee Quality Award Inc

The mission of tennessee quality award, inc. d/b/a tennessee center for performance excellence (tncpe) is to drive organizational excellence in tennessee.

—
9
Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum

Knoxville botanical gardens and arboretum provides and maintains gardens for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.

Environment
10
Knoxville Panther Scholarship Found

Knoxville panther scholarship foundation was created to provide a means for the knoxville community to provide academic support and financial aid to students of the community to further their education.

Education
11
Knoxville Academy of Medicine Foundation

To provide no-cost health care to families who have no insurance and do not qualify for the states low income insurance program.

—
12
Knoxville Symphony Foundation

To receive and manage endowment funds for the benefit of the knoxville symphony society, incorporated; a tennessee non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is East Tennessee Foundation; the most unlike its peers is James Whites Fort. 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

70 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. 70 of the 178 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.

10
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
67/70
Grantees still filing
43/70
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $8,645,982 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION IN…KNOX EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $932,500 · EducationKNOX EDUCATION FOUNDATION+11 more: $679,972 · Education+11 moreUNITED WAY OF GREATER KNOXVILLEINC: $2,221,500 · OtherUNITED WAY OF GREATER KNOXVILLEINCZOO KNOXVILLE: $1,000,000 · OtherZOO KNOXVILLECARTER COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherCARTER COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATIONYWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherSCORE INTERNATIONAL INC: $600,000 · OtherSCORE INTERNATIONAL INC+131 more: $5,181,025 · Other+131 moreGIRL TALK INC: $1,030,000 · Youth DevelopmentGIRL TALK…EMERALD YOUTH FOUNDATION: $830,000 · Youth DevelopmentEMERALD Y…BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TENNESSEE VALL: $252,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GI…BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF EAST TENNESSEE INC: $250,000 · Youth DevelopmentBIG BROTH…+1 more: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE MUSE KNOXVILLE: $515,000 · Arts & CultureBIG EARS FESTIVAL: $450,000 · Arts & CultureJAMES WHITES FORT: $250,000 · Arts & CultureGREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN HERITAGE CENTER: $100,000 · Arts & CultureBECK CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureKNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED: $95,000 · Arts & CultureJUNIOR APPALACHIAN MUSICIANS INC: $61,190 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $97,000 · Arts & CultureMETRO DRUG COALITION INC: $500,000 · HealthHELEN ROSS MCNABB FOUNDATION: $482,500 · HealthRandom Acts of Flowers: $230,000 · HealthINTERFAITH HEALTH CENTER: $200,000 · Health+3 more: $105,000 · HealthWESLEY HOUSE COMMUNITY CENTER CO: $1,000,000 · Housing & ShelterVOLUNTEER MINISTRY CENTER: $50,000 · Housing & Shelter+2 more: $28,000 · Housing & ShelterHOMETOWN SERVICE COALITION: $400,000 · Community ImprovementSEEED INC: $288,139 · Community Improvement
Education$10,258,454Other$10,402,525Youth Development$2,367,000Arts & Culture$1,668,190Health$1,517,500Housing & Shelter$1,078,000Community Improvement$688,139

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 budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $8,645,982 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER KNOXVILLEINC: $2,221,500 over 4y, 9.0% of budgetGIRL TALK INC: $1,030,000 over 2y, 39% of budgetWESLEY HOUSE COMMUNITY CENTER CO: $1,000,000 over 2y, 39% of budgetKNOX EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $932,500 over 5y, 6.9% of budgetEMERALD YOUTH FOUNDATION: $830,000 over 3y, 6.2% of budgetSCORE INTERNATIONAL INC: $600,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetTHE MUSE KNOXVILLE: $515,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetMETRO DRUG COALITION INC: $500,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetHELEN ROSS MCNABB FOUNDATION: $482,500 over 4y, 5.5% of budgetBIG EARS FESTIVAL: $450,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetHOMETOWN SERVICE COALITION: $400,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetYWCA KNOXVILLE FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetSEEED INC: $288,139 over 3y, 34% of budgetKNOXVILLE AREA URBAN LEAGUE INCORPORATED: $262,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TENNESSEE VALL: $252,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetJAMES WHITES FORT: $250,000 over 1y, 64% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF EAST TENNESSEE INC: $250,000 over 4y, 5.6% of budgetTwo Bikes: $245,147 over 3y, 23% of budgetRandom Acts of Flowers: $230,000 over 4y, 59% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $223,888 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetINTERFAITH HEALTH CENTER: $200,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCHANGE CAMPUS CULTURE: $194,246 over 1y, 90% of budgetHOSPITALITY PANTRIES INC: $190,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetCUMBERLAND COMMUNITIES COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION: $125,000 over 3y, 7.9% of budgetLIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY: $120,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARROWMONT SCHOOL OF ARTS & CRAFTS: $100,730 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetGREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN HERITAGE CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetROANE STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetBECK CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER INC: $100,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetEQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATION: $98,625 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetKNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED: $95,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF EAST TENNINC: $82,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetSMOKY MOUNTAIN ANIMAL CARE FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetLAKESHORE PARK CONSERVANCY: $75,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetJUNIOR APPALACHIAN MUSICIANS INC: $61,190 over 2y, 15% of budgetKNOXVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetVOLUNTEER MINISTRY CENTER: $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CHATTANOOGA FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetThe Mend House Sober Living Community: $50,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetSUSANNAH'S HOUSE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetGOVERNOR'S EARLY LITERACY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMUSEUM OF APPALACHIA: $47,500 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetLEADERSHIP KNOXVILLE INC: $40,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF DICKSON COUNTY: $25,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetOVERTON PARK CONSERVANCY: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetKNOXVILLE DREAM CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetCHEATHAM COUNTY ANIMAL AWARENESS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 37% 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.

East Tennessee Founda…The Clayton Homes Fou…Haslam Family Foundat…Stowers Machinery Fou…Bill and Crissy Hasla…The Aslan FoundationThe Clayton Family Fo…Lawson Family Foundat…Akima Club IncUniversity Health Sys…United Way of Greater…Thompson Charitable F…
East Tennessee FoundationTN59.3× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: East Tennessee Foundation · The Clayton Homes Foundation · Haslam Family Foundation Inc · Stowers Machinery Foundation Inc · Bill and Crissy Haslam Foundation · The Aslan Foundation · The Clayton Family Foundation · Lawson Family Foundation · Akima Club Inc · University Health System Inc · United Way of Greater Knoxvilleinc · Thompson Charitable 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 Boyd Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Boyd Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    29report 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 The Boyd Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Boyd 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 178 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Boyd’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