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Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable 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.

$175k
Granted FY2025still arriving
48
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Youth Development$546kFood & Nutrition$213kPhilanthropy$156kHuman Services$120kEducation$118kHousing & Shelter$85kEnvironment$68kAnimals$27kOther$0
02FY2025 · 48 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k42 grants · $71k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $104k
$1,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIES$40,000
OASIS CENTER$20,000
HARPETH HALL SCHOOL$14,000
SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN$10,000
NASHVILLE TREE FOUNDATION$10,000
NASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT$10,000
WESTMINSTER HOME CONNECTION$7,500
CUMBERLAND HEIGHTS$7,500
YWCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE$5,250
UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE$5,000
THE LEGION FUND (COMMUNITY FDN OF SOUTH CENTRAL KY)$5,000
HARDING ACADEMY$3,000
BRIGHTSTONE$2,500
ROOM IN THE INN$2,500
UNICYCLE$2,500
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 (FY17–25, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SHOWER UP: $200 → 10%SHOWER UP: $100 → 10%UniCycle: $7k → 14%UNICYCLE: $3k → 14%UNICYCLE: $3k → 14%UNICYCLE: $3k → 14%CROWDED TABLE: $1k → 14%CROWDED TABLE: $1k → 14%FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES: $250 → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%Rooftop Foundation: $1k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%Rooftop Foundation: $1k → 14%ALIVE HOSPICE: $500 → 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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 54 repeat orgs$29k to everyone else

54 repeat relationships: 40 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

54
28

Total granted

$1.4M
$25k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+44%

Still filing today

70%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesHealthEnvironmentAnimalsArts & 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

  • PT
    PRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIES
    9× · 2017–2025 · $335k · revenue +25%
  • OC
    OASIS CENTER INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $204k · revenue +57%
  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $128k · revenue +80%

Funded once

  • MO
    MARTHA O'BRYAN CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +153%
  • HW
    HILLSBORO WEND NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOC
    one grant, 2018 · $4k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
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 Cares

Nashville cares exists to end the hiv epidemic, promote comprehensive sexual health and end sexual health stigmatization and discrimination through prevention, education, treatment, support, advocacy, and strategic partnership.

Health
2
Our Place Nashville

To empower adults with developmental disabilities by providing affordable housing, work that is meaningful and an inclusive community in which to live.

Housing & Shelter
3
The Nashville Chamber Public Benefit Foundation

The nashville chamber public benefit foundation supports the work of the nashville area chamber of commerce through efforts to improve the quality of education, encourage public and private efforts around education, and to facilitate the…

—
4
Nashvillehealth

Nashvillehealth creates a culture of health and wellbeing by serving as a convener to open dialogue, aligning resources and building smart strategic partnerships to create a plan for health unique to nashvilles needs.

Health
5
Greenways for Nashville Inc

Greenways for nashville promotes, supports, and enhances a system of greenways and open space in nashville and davidson county.

Recreation & Sports
6
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
7
Needlink Nashville

Provide needy families and individuals with rent and utilities assistance in order to prevent their eviction or termination of utility services. also provide food and other assistance to needy families and individuals.

—
8
Nashville Public Media Inc

Nashville banner is a locally owned, community supported, civic news organization. we exist to empower the people of nashville to make informed decisions by providing non-partisan journalism from an independent, nonprofit newsroom. we are…

Arts & Culture
9
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville

Seeking to put god's love into action, habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.

—
10
Nashville Rescue Mission

Nashville rescue mission, formerly known as nrm holdings, inc., fein 45-2424130, continues the mission services established in 1954, by nashville rescue mission, fein 62-6018832. following god's command to love our neighbors as ourselves,…

Housing & Shelter
11
Nashville Police & Public Safety Alliance

To create a safer nashville through initiatives that engage our community, businesses, and nonprofits to prevent crime, introduce innovation and best practices, and help build the best police department in the nation.

Public Safety & Disaster
12
Harpeth Conservancy

To restore and protect clean water and healthy ecosystems for rivers in tennessee by employing scientific expertise and collaborative relationships to develop, promote, and support broad community stewardship and action.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nashville Parks Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Shower Up. 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

57 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. 57 of the 90 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)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/57
Grantees still filing
43/57
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIES: $335,000 · EducationPRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIESTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $62,100 · EducationTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOLNASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $19,800 · EducationEQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATION: $19,500 · Education+5 more: $22,300 · EducationThe Legion Fund: $100,000 · OtherThe Legion FundNASHVILLE TREE FOUNDATION: $48,250 · OtherNASHVILLE TREE FOUNDATIONYWCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $40,500 · OtherYWCA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEEROOM IN THE INN INC: $24,500 · OtherROOM IN THE INN INCWESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $22,200 · OtherWESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHCUMBERLAND HEIGHTS: $17,150 · OtherFRIENDS OF RADNOR LAKE: $17,950 · Other+59 more: $137,525 · Other+59 moreOASIS CENTER INC: $204,000 · Community ImprovementOASIS CENTER INCWESTMINSTER HOME CONNECTION: $65,000 · Community ImprovementWESTMINSTER HOME CONN…SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN INC: $127,500 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARVEST F…NASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT INC: $82,500 · Food & NutritionNASHVILLE FOOD P…UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $43,500 · PhilanthropyUNICYCLE: $14,000 · Human ServicesROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $10,500 · Human ServicesCROWDED TABLE: $2,000 · Human ServicesCUL2VATE: $1,700 · Human Services+3 more: $1,050 · Human ServicesNASHVILLE ZOO INC: $25,500 · Animals+2 more: $1,150 · Animals
Education$458,700Other$408,075Community Improvement$269,000Food & Nutrition$210,000Philanthropy$43,500Human Services$29,250Animals$26,650

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 budgetPRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIES: $335,000 over 9y, 3.0% of budgetOASIS CENTER INC: $204,000 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN INC: $127,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT INC: $82,500 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetWESTMINSTER HOME CONNECTION: $65,000 over 9y, 1.1% of budgetTHE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL: $62,100 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE TREE FOUNDATION: $48,250 over 9y, 4.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $43,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE ZOO INC: $25,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $19,800 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF RADNOR LAKE: $17,950 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetUNICYCLE: $14,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC: $13,200 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetHARDING ACADEMY: $12,600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetROOFTOP FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetMARTHA O'BRYAN CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNASHVILLE SAFE HAVEN FAMILY SHELTER INC: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBRIGHTSTONE INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMONROE HARDING INC: $6,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNASHVILLE PARKS FOUNDATION: $6,250 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetGoodwill Industries of Middle TN Inc: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $2,250 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetDAYSTAR COUNSELING MINISTRIES INC: $2,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO: $2,050 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCROWDED TABLE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMEN OF VALOR: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCUL2VATE: $1,700 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDOLPHIN AQUATICS DBA NASHVILLE DOLPHINS: $1,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $1,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE COMMUNITY BAIL FUND: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Mill Ridge Park: $900 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSILOAM HEALTH: $850 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE HUMANE ASSOCIATION AKA NASHVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY: $850 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCENTERSTONE FOUNDATION: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMATTHEW 25 INC: $600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINTERFAITH DENTAL CLINIC OF NASHVILLE: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALIVE HOSPICE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION INC: $500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LAND TRUST FOR TENNESSEE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetShower Up: $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEVE OF JANUS BENEFIT INC: $300 over 1y, 0.2% of budget413 STRONG INC: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOWL'S HILL NATURE SANCTUARY: $300 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHEEKWOOD BOTANICAL GARDEN AND MUSEUM OF ART: $275 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.

  • Who funds PRESTON TAYLOR MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds OASIS CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds WESTMINSTER HOME CONNECTION ↗
  • Who funds THE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE TREE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE ZOO INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EQUAL CHANCE FOR EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF RADNOR LAKE ↗
  • Who funds UNICYCLE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE WARNER PARKS INC ↗
  • Who funds HARDING ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds ROOFTOP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MARTHA O'BRYAN CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE SAFE HAVEN FAMILY SHELTER INC ↗
  • Who funds BRIGHTSTONE INC ↗
  • Who funds MONROE HARDING INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Goodwill Industries of Middle TN Inc ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds DAYSTAR COUNSELING MINISTRIES INC ↗
  • Who funds NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO ↗
  • Who funds TENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT ↗

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.

Dorothy Cate and Thom…Memorial Foundation I…The Community Foundat…Hca Healthcare Founda…The Frist FoundationUnited Way of Middle …The Steven & Laurie E…Enchiridion FoundationThe Wade-Buntin Famil…The Blum Family Found…Msb Cockayne Fund IncJames R Meadows Jr Fo…
Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist FoundationTN57.2× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · Memorial Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Hca Healthcare Foundation · The Frist Foundation · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Enchiridion Foundation · The Wade-Buntin Family Foundation · The Blum Family Foundation · Msb Cockayne Fund Inc · James R Meadows Jr 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 Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    20report 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 Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Thomas & Mamie Houser Charitable 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 90 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

    Play a game based on Thomas & Mamie Houser’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