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The Vandewater Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Vandewater 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.

$5k
Granted FY2023
4
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Education$150kHealth$135kArts & Culture$61kHuman Services$51kYouth Development$42kInternational$25kFood & Nutrition$10kReligion$8kOther$0
02FY2023 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$88k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INTERNATIONAL WALDENSTROMS MACROGLOBULINEMIA FOUNDATION INC$2,575
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER$1,000
PROJECT REDESIGN INC$1,000
MORRISON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$500
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 (FY17–23, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PROJECT REDESIGN INC: $1k → 14%FAMILY FOUNDATION FUND: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

MN
NY
PA
CO
AR
TN
OK
GA
FL
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.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$307k · 6 repeat orgs$183k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2023, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
13

Total granted

$307k
$178k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+60%

Still filing today

83%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’22’23
HealthEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentReligionAnimalsOther
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× · 2017–2022 · $75k · revenue +178%
  • EC
    EQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATION
    2× · 2017–2019 · $40k · revenue +26%
  • TH
    THE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL
    4× · 2017–2020 · $35k · revenue +141%

Funded once

  • SH
    Starkey Hearing Foundation
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue -80%
  • AC
    ARDENT CARES FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEEgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +60%
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
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
2
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
3
Methodist Medical Center

Methodist Medical Center provides quality healthcare, in alignment with Covenant Health's mission to serve the community by improving the quality of life through better health regardless of a patient's ability to pay.

Health
4
Cumberland Medical Center

Cumberland Medical Center provides quality healthcare, in alignment with Covenant Health's mission to serve the community by improving the quality of life through better health, regardless of the patient's ability to pay.

Health
5
Roane County Medical Center

Roane County Medical Center provides quality healthcare, in alignment with Covenant Health's mission to serve the community by improving the quality of life through better health, regardless of a patient's ability to pay.

Health
6
American Academy of Neurology

The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.

Community Improvement
7
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
8
University Hospital & Clinics Inc

The organization provides medical care to improve, maintain, and restore the health of the people in the communities we serve.

Health
9
Ut Medical Group Inc

To be a successful physician led, professionally managed medical practice that benefits our patients and our community, while supporting the UT Health Science Center's mission through clinical excellence, financial responsibility and a…

Health
10
Journey Health Foundation

Convene passionate, collaborative partners to help build bold, data-driven systems and solutions that promote healthy communities for all

Human Services
11
Children's Health System of Texas

With more than 1 million patient visits each year, Children's Health is North Texas' leading pediatric health system and among the largest in the nation. For more than a century, our mission has been clear: make life better for children.…

Health
12
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee; the most unlike its peers is Starkey Hearing Foundation. 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

14 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. 14 of the 23 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE SOCIETY - TENNESSEE: $57,475 · OtherALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE SOCIETY - TEN…ARDENT CARES FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherARDENT CARES FOUNDATIONEL DORADO BOYS CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $12,500 · OtherEL DORADO BOYS CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIAT…STEPHANIE BATMER MEMORIAL GARDEN: $10,000 · OtherSTEPHANIE BATMER MEMORIAL GARDENSISTERS OF CHARITY SETON HILL: $7,000 · Other+4 more: $14,500 · Other+4 moreTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDA…EQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATION: $40,000 · EducationEQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATIONTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $35,000 · EducationTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOLAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $75,000 · HealthAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INCStarkey Hearing Foundation: $50,000 · HealthStarkey Hearing Foundation+3 more: $4,575 · HealthHEAL MINISTRIES INC: $25,000 · ReligionBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $24,500 · Youth DevelopmentFAMILY FOUNDATION FUND INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT REDESIGN INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesNASHVILLE ZOO INC: $2,500 · AnimalsFRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC: $1,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$151,475Education$150,000Health$129,575Religion$25,000Youth Development$24,500Human Services$6,000Animals$2,500Recreation & Sports$1,000

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 budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetStarkey Hearing Foundation: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $35,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHEAL MINISTRIES INC: $25,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $24,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFAMILY FOUNDATION FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL WALDENSTROM'S MACROGLOBULINEMIA FOUNDATION INC: $2,575 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNASHVILLE ZOO INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University Medical Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCUMBERLAND HEIGHTS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT REDESIGN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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 Frist FoundationAmerican Endowment Fo…The Community Foundat…United Way of Middle …Hca Healthcare Founda…Servant FoundationNational Philanthropi…Charities Aid Foundat…Paypal Charitable Giv…Natl Christian Charit…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…
The Frist FoundationTN15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Frist Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · Servant Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Vandewater Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Vandewater Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report 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 23 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Vandewater’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