Tennessee · Nonprofit
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,153,243 to it, the largest being STATE POLICY NETWORK ($1,854,500). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $9.2M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Beacon Center of Tennessee does
Mission
The Beacon Center of Tennessee is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to providing concerned citizens, the media and public leaders with expert empirical research and timely free market policy solutions to public policy issues in tennessee. The beacon center empowers tennesseans to reclaim control of their lives, so that they can freely pursue their version of the american dream.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research and policy analysis - conducting research into various policy reforms and determining the impact they have on tennesseeans' lives; publishing research and related information on key policy issues
$662,083 spentof which $25,667 as grants33% of program spendingGeneral educational and informational programming - communicating with tennesseans about various public policy issues and the impact those issues have on their lives via website, blog, videos, infographics, podcasts, opinion articles, media interviews, and events
$662,082 spentof which $25,667 as grants33% of program spendingPublic interest litigation - representing tennesseans whose constitutional rights have been violated in court; filing or signing off on amici briefs in key court cases related to state and federal constitutional issues
$662,082 spentof which $25,666 as grants33% of program spendingLegal foundation - to litigate pro bono on behalf of tennessee clients whose economic liberty, property rights, or other constitutional protections have been violated.
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,986,247.
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. 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 2019 to 2020, from $547k to $1.4M (+156%).
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.
98% of BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Justin Owen
President & CEO
Board chair
John Cerasuolo
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $292k → $1.7M.
17 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 funders by total. 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
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
64% 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 BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 37% · 2019 19% · 2020 23% · 2021 21% · 2022 29% · 2023 21% — 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
45% of BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 543 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 543 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE
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
98%
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
- Beacon Impact · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE: 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 BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE?
- BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,153,243 to it, the largest being STATE POLICY NETWORK ($1,854,500). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $9,153,243 in grants to BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE?
- STATE POLICY NETWORK is the largest funder on record, with $1,854,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE 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 Beacon Center 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 49 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing