Tennessee · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,689,841 to it, the largest being TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND ($462,205). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $5.3M
What American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee Foundation Inc does
Mission
To protect and expand individual liberties through public education; to provide legal assistance to aggrieved persons; to provide bill of rights protection.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The underlying philosophy guiding acluf-tn's communications/public education program is that to protect your rights, you must exercise them; to exercise them, you must know them. We increase public awareness of civil liberties issues by sponsoring forums and meetings, preparing and distributing educational materials on constitutional rights both online and off, working in coalition with other organizations on issues of mutual concern, engaging supporters through email marketing and online mobilization, fostering dialogue on civil liberties across social media platforms, and speaking regularly to the media on civil liberties issues.
$300,979 spent24% of program spendingThe acluf-tn legal program aims to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties throughout the state. We meet this goal by providing guidance, engaging in advocacy, and (as a last resort) litigation. We provide legal representation, free of charge, for individuals and groups whose civil liberties have been threatened or denied. We also submit friend-of-the-court briefs in appropriate cases. Through such litigation, our goal is to provide legal representation in individual cases and establish legal precedents that will be of enduring value in tennessee and across the nation.
$505,389 spent$132,318 earned by the program41% of program spendingThe community engagement department's role within acluf-tn is to integrate our mission with communities across the state, collaborating with partners and individuals to build a movement and mobilize in support of bold, impactful civil liberties and civil rights changes in our state. Community engagement advocacy at aclu-tn centers the experiences and leadership of directly impacted people while ensuring that non-impacted allies participate in effective and substantive action.
$438,384 spent35% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,244,752.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $4.2M to $5.4M (+30%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $75k → $179k.
12 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.3M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
53% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 86% · 2019 31% · 2020 42% · 2021 68% · 2022 56% · 2023 42% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
36% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
52% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $814k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $875k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC?
- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,689,841 to it, the largest being TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND ($462,205). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $1,689,841 in grants to AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC?
- TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND is the largest funder on record, with $462,205 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF TENNESSEE FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 29 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing