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Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$692k
Granted FY2025still arriving
27
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$70k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0182% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$1.2MEducation$708kHuman Services$630kYouth Development$563kEnvironment$330kReligion$288kCommunity Improvement$277kHealth$254kOther$0
02FY2025 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $4k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $398k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $290k
$20,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Overton Park Conservancy$70,000
RedZone Ministries$60,000
Neighborhood Christian Center$60,000
Christopher A Pugh Center$50,000
Circuit Playhouse Inc$50,000
Alcy Ball Development Corporation$40,000
World Relief$40,000
Beautiful Spirited Women$33,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
Dorothy Day House of Hospitality Inc$25,000
Room in the Inn$25,000
Bevo Boys Fitness Academy$20,000
A Step Ahead Foundation$20,000
New Ballet Ensemble$20,000
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 (FY17–25, $477k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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%GRANTMAKERS IN AGING: $5k → 7%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER MINISTRY: $10k → 17%MERGE MEMPHIS: $11k → 17%MERITAN: $33k → 17%COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $30k → 17%MERITAN: $25k → 17%MERITAN: $17k → 17%COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FOR THE HOMELESS: $15k → 17%Explore Bike Share: $10k → 17%MY CUP OF TEA: $25k → 17%My Cup of Tea: $15k → 17%LATINO MEMPHIS: $20k → 17%LATINO MEMPHIS: $20k → 17%Neighborhood Christian Center: $60k → 17%I AM MY SISTER'S KEEPER: $10k → 17%Beautiful Spirited Women: $33k → 17%A Step Ahead Foundation: $20k → 17%FAMILIES MATTER: $16k → 17%HOPE HOUSE DAY CARE CENTER: $15k → 17%FRIENDS FOR LIFE: $15k → 17%HOPE HOUSE DAY CARE CENTER: $5k → 17%Hope House: $4k → 17%Neighborhood Christian Center: $11k → 17%NEIGHBORHOOD CHRISTIAN CENTER: $10k → 17%Streets Ministries: $23k → 17%STREETS MINISTRIES: $20k → 17%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.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.6M · 74 repeat orgs$2.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +13% since the first grant, against -13% for those funded once.

74 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 58 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

74
94

Total granted

$3.6M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
-13%

Still filing today

68%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $199k 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentReligionCrime & LegalOther
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

  • RC
    Rhodes College
    2× · 2017–2018 · $100k · revenue +13%
  • CH
    CHURCH HEALTH CENTER OF MEMPHIS INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $100k · revenue +54%
  • NC
    NEIGHBORHOOD CHRISTIAN CENTERS INC
    3× · 2017–2025 · $81k · revenue +142%

Funded once

  • MB
    MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDENS
    one grant, 2020 · $150k
  • BM
    Brooks Museum
    one grant, 2024 · $80k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $75k
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
Mayor's Institute for Excellence in Government Inc

Develop and implement programs to meet major urban challenges that exist for memphis, tennessee

Public Benefit
2
Memphis Tomorrow

Memphis tomorrow is an association of ceos of memphis' largest businesses working to promote opportunity and quality of life for all memphians through collective action and public-private partnerships.

Community Improvement
3
City Leadership

City leadership's mission is to recruit, develop, and catalyze leaders for the benefit of the city of memphis. the organization was founded in order to maximize the leadership capital and potential of memphis. city leadership strives to…

Public Benefit
4
Creative Works

Creative works is organized to accelerate cultural and economic change by focusing on connecting, inspiring and educating the memphis creative community.

—
5
Memphis Center City Development Corporation

Assist private development projects

—
6
Memphis Black Arts Alliance Inc

MBAA inspire, educate and engage artists and audiences towards the creatin of just and equitable communities through forward-thinking experiences. MBAA acknowledge that African American art and culture are living, breathing, and…

—
7
One Family Memphis
Human Services
8
Memphis Urban League Inc

To enable and empower african-americans and other minorities in underserved communities to achieve their highest human potential and secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights.

Human Services
9
Thrive Memphis

To enrich the lives of the developmentally challenged by meeting their social, recreational and continuing educational needs.

Human Services
10
Memphis Academy of Science and Engineeri

To produce lifelong learners, critical thinkers, effective communicators, and productive members of the global community

Education
11
Memphis for All

To build a cross-class multi-racial progressive alliance, by combining integrated voter engagement, distributive organization, and sustained leadership development.

Civil Rights
12
Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce

To serve our members and partners by improving the quality of life through regional economic prosperity.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Memphis Equity Through Arts Inc; the most unlike its peers is Collage Dance Collective. 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

99 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. 99 of the 180 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
97/99
Grantees still filing
46/99
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDENS: $150,000 · Other+110 more: $2,875,063 · Other+110 moreNEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC: $75,500 · Arts & CultureNEW BALLET ENSEMBLE…CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC: $75,000 · Arts & CultureCIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE I…MEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INC: $72,500 · Arts & CultureMEMPHIS EQUITY THRO…INDIE MEMPHIS: $65,000 · Arts & CultureINDIE MEMPHISNATIONAL ORNAMENTAL METAL MUSEUM INC: $58,500 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL ORNAMENTAL…COLLAGE DANCE COLLECTIVE: $55,000 · Arts & CultureCOLLAGE DANCE COLLE…MID-SOUTH PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Arts & CultureTHEATRE MEMPHIS: $50,000 · Arts & CultureVOLUNTEER ODYSSEY: $50,000 · Arts & CultureSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Arts & CultureMEMPHIS FOURTH ESTATE INC: $48,000 · Arts & CultureOPERA MEMPHIS INC: $46,000 · Arts & CultureLorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation: $40,000 · Arts & CultureARTSMEMPHIS: $37,500 · Arts & Culture+13 more: $224,550 · Arts & Culture+13 moreRhodes College: $100,000 · EducationRhodes Coll…ADVANCE MEMPHIS: $100,000 · EducationADVANCE MEM…CARPENTER ART GARDEN: $85,000 · EducationCARPENTER A…MEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY INC: $66,000 · EducationMEMPHIS TEA…Whole Child Strategies Inc: $65,000 · EducationWhole Child…Teach for America Inc: $50,000 · EducationTeach for A…ARISE2READ INC: $43,600 · EducationARISE2READ …ALLMEMPHIS INC: $25,000 · Education+4 more: $50,000 · Education+4 moreNEIGHBORHOOD CHRISTIAN CENTERS INC: $81,000 · Human ServicesNEIGHBORH…MERITAN INC: $75,000 · Human ServicesMERITAN I…STREETS MINISTRIES INC: $43,000 · Human ServicesSTREETS M…LATINO MEMPHIS INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesLATINO ME…My Cup of Tea Inc: $40,000 · Human ServicesMy Cup of…A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION INC: $38,750 · Human ServicesA STEP AH…Beautiful Spirited Women: $33,000 · Human ServicesBeautiful…COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $30,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY…HOPE HOUSE DAY CARE CENTER INC: $20,000 · Human Services+10 more: $105,250 · Human Services+10 moreJIFF INC: $244,000 · Youth DevelopmentANGEL STREET INC: $43,250 · Youth DevelopmentMemphis Inner City Rugby: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentPURE YOUTH ATHLETICS ALLIANCE INC: $30,750 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MEMPHIS: $26,500 · Youth DevelopmentTHE WOMEN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $77,000 · ReligionSu Casa Family Ministries: $48,000 · ReligionMEMPHIS ATHLETIC MINISTRIES INC: $20,000 · ReligionOASIS OF HOPE INC: $11,000 · ReligionCHURCH HEALTH CENTER OF MEMPHIS INC: $100,000 · HealthALPHA OMEGA VETERANS SERVICES INC: $51,000 · Health
Other$3,025,063Arts & Culture$997,550Education$584,600Human Services$506,000Youth Development$379,500Religion$156,000Health$151,000

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 budgetJIFF INC: $244,000 over 5y, 9.5% of budgetRhodes College: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetADVANCE MEMPHIS: $100,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetCHURCH HEALTH CENTER OF MEMPHIS INC: $100,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetOVERTON PARK CONSERVANCY: $97,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetCARPENTER ART GARDEN: $85,000 over 4y, 8.3% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD CHRISTIAN CENTERS INC: $81,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $77,000 over 2y, 43% of budgetNEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC: $75,500 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetMERITAN INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC: $75,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetMEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INC: $72,500 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetALCY BALL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $68,700 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetMEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY INC: $66,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetINDIE MEMPHIS: $65,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetWhole Child Strategies Inc: $65,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetMIFA CORPORATION: $62,500 over 6y, 8.5% of budgetNATIONAL ORNAMENTAL METAL MUSEUM INC: $58,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCOLLAGE DANCE COLLECTIVE: $55,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetALPHA OMEGA VETERANS SERVICES INC: $51,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetChristopher A Pugh II Center: $50,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetMID-SOUTH PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $50,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHEATRE MEMPHIS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetVOLUNTEER ODYSSEY: $50,000 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetMID-SOUTH FOOD BANK: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPORTER-LEATH: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSu Casa Family Ministries: $48,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetMEMPHIS FOURTH ESTATE INC: $48,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetWOLF RIVER CONSERVANCY INC: $47,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetOPERA MEMPHIS INC: $46,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetARISE2READ INC: $43,600 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetANGEL STREET INC: $43,250 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetSTREETS MINISTRIES INC: $43,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetLATINO MEMPHIS INC: $40,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetLorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation: $40,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMy Cup of Tea Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetA STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION INC: $38,750 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetARTSMEMPHIS: $37,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetMemphis Inner City Rugby: $35,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetLITERACY MID-SOUTH INC: $30,750 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetPURE YOUTH ATHLETICS ALLIANCE INC: $30,750 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY LEGAL CENTER: $30,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetIRIS ORCHESTRA INC: $30,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetSLINGSHOT MEMPHIS INC: $30,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetTHE URBANART COMMISSION: $27,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MEMPHIS: $26,500 over 2y, 0.3% 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.

Community Foundation …Christian Community F…The Kemmons Wilson Fa…Jr Hyde III Family Fo…The Assisi Foundation…Plough FoundationUnited Way of the Mid…The Urban Child Insti…ArtsmemphisCrews Family Foundati…Self FoundationSlingshot Memphis Inc
Community Foundation of Greater Memphis IncTN123.6× affinity78 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · Christian Community Foundation of Memphis · The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation · Jr Hyde III Family Foundation · The Assisi Foundation of Memphis Inc · Plough Foundation · United Way of the Mid South · The Urban Child Institute · Artsmemphis · Crews Family Foundation · Self Foundation · Slingshot Memphis Inc

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 W Briggs Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%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
    45report 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 W Briggs Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc 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 180 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 W Briggs’ 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