Tennessee · Nonprofit
BETTER DECISIONS
BETTER DECISIONS (Tennessee) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $56,257 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($33,700). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
BETTER DECISIONS receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $56k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 987 crime & legal nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- The Junior League of Nashville Incshared funders
- A New Way of Life Reentry Projectportfolio match
- Mary's Penceportfolio match
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $7k → $17.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 BETTER DECISIONS’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
BETTER DECISIONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
78% 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 BETTER DECISIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 80% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
60% of BETTER DECISIONS'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 $23k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $34k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.
- The Junior League of Nashville Incshared fundersTN · backs 5 organizations that share your funders
- A New Way of Life Reentry Projectportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Mary's Penceportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girlsportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Serving USA Inc Fka Serving Californiaportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Criminal Justice Reform Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Womens Wayportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bob Barker Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bvm Capacity Building Institute Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Wild Gifting Projectportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Fund for Southern Communities Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Go Campaignportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like BETTER DECISIONS
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTER DECISIONS: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BETTER DECISIONS?
- BETTER DECISIONS (Tennessee) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $56,257 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($33,700). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BETTER DECISIONS have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $56,257 in grants to BETTER DECISIONS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTER DECISIONS?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $33,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTER DECISIONS 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2025–2025), and the filings of 5funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing