Tennessee · Nonprofit
APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND
APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND (Tennessee) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $228,748 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($143,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $375k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $229k
- Net assets
- $103k
What Appalachian Opportunity Fund does
Mission
To improve financial health of asset-limited, income-constrained people in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia; to ensure availability and development of affordable housing to low-to-moderate income households in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia; and to alleviate poverty and combat community deterioration in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Through its certified financial coaching program, aof increased the financial well-being of 1,137 people in northeast tennessee - serving 517 individuals through direct, one-on-one coaching. Collectively, these clients paid off 254,000 in predatory debt, saved or invested 174,000, negotiated 92,000 in savings with creditors and lenders, and gained 11,085 points across their combined credit scores. As one coaching client shared "at first, managing money felt overwhelming. I tried different systems, but nothing really stuck. Everything changed when I started working with my financial coach. She helped me simplify everything - writing down my income, bills, and spending. For the first time, I had clarity. That small change has made big progress. I became more confident, more disciplined, and started taking control of my finances. My credit score increased by 90 points - proof that things were changing. With guidance from my coach, I was finally approved for a mortgage and closed on a home. For the first time, my kids and I will have a place that is truly ours - a home filled with stability, healing, and new beginnings.
$428,645 spent$39,680 earned by the program100% of program spendingTo improve financial health of asset-limited, income-constrained people in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia; to ensure availability and development of affordable housing to low-to-moderate income households in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia; and to alleviate poverty and combat community deterioration in northeast tennessee, southeast kentucky, and southwest virginia.
$132 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $428,777.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $79k to $129k (+63%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 30% · 2021 34% · 2022 18% · 2023 48% · 2024 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (37% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $59k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 76% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND’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
APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 78% · 2022 81% · 2023 94% — 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.
Where its funders are
76% of APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND'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 $54k that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $175k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Against its field
APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND has grown faster than three-quarters of the 7,828 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,828 housing & shelter nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND: 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 APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND?
- APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND (Tennessee) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $228,748 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($143,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $228,748 in grants to APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND?
- EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $143,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like APPALACHIAN OPPORTUNITY FUND 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 Appalachian Opportunity →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 6 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