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Tennessee · Nonprofit

FORWARD TN

FORWARD TN (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,199,000 to it, the largest being ANTHONY CRABB AND BARBARA GRASSESCHI FOUNDATION ($188,850). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$358k
Funders on record
23
Grants received
$1.2M
Net assets
$52k
10/23 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 58%
01What it does

What Forward Tn does

Mission

Forwardtn is a non-profit project dedicated to elevating voices of forward-thinking tennesseans who want a balanced approach to government where policy affecting the wellbeing of people's lives is shaped by evidence and results, instead of extreme partisan ideology. Forwardtn's goal is to educate tennesseans about the negative effects extreme policies,certain elected leaders and organizations have on their quality of life through organizing,social media and action. Forwardtn provides issue and opinion research, shared message development, technical assistance and shared technology and resources to partner progressive advocacy groups. We monitor the statewide political landscape, identifying extreme legislative actions and other policy changes that could affect your life. We tell you about them quickly and let you know what you can do about them. We are determined to see tennessee be a great place to work, live and raise a family. To that end, Forward Tn raises the visibility of issues

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. We monitor the statewide political landscape, identifying extreme legislative actions and other policy changes that could affect your life. We tell you about them quickly and let you know what you can do about them. We are determined to see tennessee be a great place to work, live and raise a family. To that end, Forward Tn raises the visibility of issues that affect the quality of life in our state.

    $295,818 spentof which $32,499 as grants
    70% of program spending
  2. We monitor the statewide political landscape, identifying extreme legislative actions and other policy changes that could affect your life. We tell you about them quickly and let you know what you can do about them. We are determined to see tennessee be a great place to work, live and raise a family. To that end, Forward Tn raises the visibility of issues that affect the quality of life in our state.

    $126,262 spent
    30% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $422,080.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($161k) Expenses 100 ($156k) Net assets 100 ($37k)2019 Revenue 138 ($223k) Expenses 122 ($190k) Net assets 192 ($70k)2020 Revenue 174 ($280k) Expenses 181 ($283k) Net assets 182 ($67k)2021 Revenue 195 ($315k) Expenses 150 ($234k) Net assets 402 ($148k)2022 Revenue 302 ($488k) Expenses 273 ($427k) Net assets 568 ($209k)2023 Revenue 311 ($503k) Expenses 321 ($502k) Net assets 570 ($210k)2024 Revenue 222 ($358k) Expenses 330 ($516k) Net assets 143 ($52k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (222)Expenses (330)Net assets (143)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $211k to $53k (−75%).

$37k
$70k
$67k
$148k
$211k
$211k
$53k
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of FORWARD TN’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (62% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,439 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$5k
’18
$33k
’19
−$3k
’20
$81k
’21
$61k
’22
$769
’23
−$157k
’24
1.2
months of
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.

201920202021202220232024
Listed236666
Joined··+3+0+0+0
No longer listed··0000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $25k → $267k.

7 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 FORWARD TN’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

FORWARD TN has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

72% 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 FORWARD TN.

16%
largest funder
41%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 74% · 2019 32% · 2020 27% · 2021 35% · 2022 27% · 2023 20% — 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

60% of FORWARD TN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

FORWARD TN draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 8 states in all.

NY
MA
OH
PA
CA
VA
TN
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $479k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FORWARD TN has grown faster than half of the 11,971 community improvement nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−44% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)14% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like FORWARD TN

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 9%Fundraising 9%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

53%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 4 related entities

  • Tennessee Investor Fund · exempt
  • Action Tennessee · exempt
  • Civic Tn · exempt
  • Together Tennessee LLC · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FORWARD TN: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 FORWARD TN?
FORWARD TN (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,199,000 to it, the largest being ANTHONY CRABB AND BARBARA GRASSESCHI FOUNDATION ($188,850). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FORWARD TN have?
IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $1,199,000 in grants to FORWARD TN, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FORWARD TN?
ANTHONY CRABB AND BARBARA GRASSESCHI FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $188,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FORWARD TN 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 23 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