Tennessee · Nonprofit
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 283 organizations whose IRS filings report $109,657,062 to it, the largest being Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc ($10,485,328). 140 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 283
- Grants received
- $110M
- Net assets
- $25M
What Highlander Research & Education Center Inc does
Mission
Highlander serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in appalachia and the south. We work with people fighting for justice, equality and sustainability, supporting their efforts to take collective action to shape their own destiny.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Incubating rad work, southern power fund, and other program support.
$12,336,781 spentof which $11,349,925 as grants$1,156,014 earned by the program51% of program spendingCommunity supportcommunity support includes our bookstore and library, annual events (homecoming), andcalls to action that support community partners in the movement.
$6,553,665 spent27% of program spendingEnvironmental justicethe greensboro justice fund fellowship is grounded in learning and relationshipbuilding. The fellowship provides multiple opportunities for community action, and ismeant to enhance team building among fellows to expand their perspectives oncommunity initiatives in which they are involved.
$2,947,364 spent12% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$2,118,022 spent9% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $23,955,832.
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 $8.3M to $30M (+264%).
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 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% 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.
Board chair
Loan Tran
Co-chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 89 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $19M.
57 of 283 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 283 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
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
58% 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 HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 18% · 2019 10% · 2020 8% · 2021 23% · 2022 13% · 2023 27% — growing more concentrated.
“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 HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 38 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $47M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $210k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$160k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$50k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER 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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Fund for the Highlander Research & Education Center Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER 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 HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC?
- HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 283 organizations whose IRS filings report $109,657,062 to it, the largest being Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc ($10,485,328). 140 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 283 organizations giving $109,657,062 in grants to HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC, 140 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC?
- Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $10,485,328 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER 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.
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 283 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