· Private foundation
The Powell Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k5 grants · $29k
- $10k–50k20 grants · $438k
- $50k–250k16 grants · $1.2M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY | $235,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $200,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $75,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $75,000 |
| CRUMLEY HOUSE | $60,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| BUMC | $50,000 |
| BUMC | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE | $50,000 |
| BUMC | $50,000 |
| EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 6% of The Powell Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in TN; by stated purpose, 96%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +132% since the first grant, against -28% for those funded once.
23 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $84k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ETEAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION6× · 2017–2022 · $3.1M · revenue +29%
- TUTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC6× · 2017–2022 · $1.7M · revenue +178%
- UWUNITED WAY OF EAST TENNESSEE HIGHLANDS INC6× · 2017–2022 · $60k · revenue +132%
Funded once
- MSMOUNTAIN STATES FOUNDATIONone grant, 2017 · $5k
- FHFRONTIER HEALTH FOUNDATIONone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -28%
- FOFRIENDS OF COAL AUTO FAIRone grant, 2017 · $2k
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.
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.
The organizations mission is to promote and maintain a business climate favorable to businesses in tennessee.
To maintain high standards for nursing homes in the state of tennessee and to seek the solutions to problems common to members of the association.
To conserve the unique character of tennessee's natural and historic landscapes and sites for future generations.
The mission of the governor's foundation for health and wellness is to encourage and enable more tennesseans to lead healthier lives.
To promote and support literacy, scientific, educational,scholarship,research, and developmental goals at tennessee state university.
Operation of public tv station.
To surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
The united way of south central tennessee's mission is to improve lives by advancing opportunities for education, health, and financial stability for all. its vision is to be the primary community solutions leader for human services.
Convene passionate, collaborative partners to help build bold, data-driven systems and solutions that promote healthy communities for all
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.
To advance state policies and practices that ensure all tennessee children from birth through 3rd grade get the high quality early education they need to power our state's future.
Leadership tennessee fosters collaborative, non-partisan dialogue on issues of state importance, by connecting and deploying a network of diverse leaders and engaged citizens.
How this is measured
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 31 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF EAST TENNESSEE HIGHLANDS INC ↗
- Who funds TENNESSEE SPORTS HALL OF FAME INC ↗
- Who funds The Coalition for Kids Inc ↗
- Who funds JOHNSON CITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds HANDS ON DISCOVERY CENTER ↗
- Who funds BALLAD HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MOUNTAIN MISSION SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds MOUNTAIN STATES FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FRONTIER HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Eastman Credit Union · Food City Charitable Foundation · Tennessee Health Foundation Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Powell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Powell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Powell Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Powell 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.
Play a game based on Powell’s filings →