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The Carpenter Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Carpenter Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$300k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$1.8MHuman Services$1.2MRecreation & Sports$250kCrime & Legal$200kHealth$100k
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$200,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER$200,000
FRIENDS OF SHELBY$100,000
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 (FY20–23, $1.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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.

area typical 10%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $100k → 14%YMCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $500k → 14%YMCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $250k → 14%YMCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $250k → 14%YMCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $100k → 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 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
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
2
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
3
Tennessee State Collaborative On Reforming Education

The mission of the state collaborative on reforming education (score) is to catalyze transformative change in tennessee education so that all students can achieve success. score is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan institution,…

Education
4
Methodist Healthcare-Memphis Hospitals

Methodist le bonheur healthcare, in partnership with its medical staffs, will collaborate with patients and their families to be the leader in providing high quality, cost-effective patient-and family-centered care. services will be…

Health
5
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
6
Texas Wesleyan University

Texas wesleyan university, guided by its deep methodist heritage, provides transformational learning experiences and research opportunities to a diverse group of students to develop their full potential as individuals and as members of the…

Education
7
Tenngreen Land Conservancy

The organization's primary mission is conserving land where people and nature can thrive by creating green corridors linking existing public lands using conservation easments and outright purchase.

Recreation & Sports
8
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Inc

Methodist le bonheur healthcare, in partnership with its medical staffs, will collaborate with patients and their families to be the leader in providing high quality, cost-effective patient and family-centered care. services will be…

Health
9
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
10
Georgian Court University

Georgian court university (gcu), provides a comprehensive liberal arts education and is open to students of all faiths, delivers a curriculum that promotes scholarship, service, and personal development.

Education
11
Tusculum University

Building on a rich Presbyterian heritage and a pioneering spirit, Tusculum University provides an active and experiential education within a caring Christian environment to inspire civic engagement, enrich personal lives, and equip…

Education
12
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

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

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Friends of Shelby Park Inc; the most unlike its peers is Texas Christian University. 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

8 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. 8 of the 9 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
3/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Young Men's Christian Association of Middle Tennessee (6273): $1,100,000 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Christian Association of M…THE CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $100,000 · Human ServicesTHE CROSSROADS CAMPUSVANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTE: $1,000,000 · OtherVANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL C…TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $500,000 · EducationTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITYTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $306,450 · EducationTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOLLIVELIKELOU FOUNDATION: $100,000 · EducationLIVELIKELOU FOUNDATIONTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC: $200,000 · Crime & LegalFRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC: $150,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF SHELBY PARK INC: $100,000 · Environment
Human Services$1,200,000Other$1,000,000Education$906,450Crime & Legal$200,000Recreation & Sports$150,000Environment$100,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of Middle Tennessee (6273): $1,100,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $306,450 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTENNESSEE JUSTICE CENTER INC: $200,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC: $150,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetTHE CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetLIVELIKELOU FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF SHELBY PARK INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.1% 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 Frist FoundationMemorial Foundation I…The Community Foundat…Baird Foundation IncThe Blackbaud Giving …Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Frist FoundationTN13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Frist Foundation · Memorial Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · 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 Carpenter Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Carpenter 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s 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 · 0–20%
    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 9 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

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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