Tennessee · Nonprofit
HUMANITIES TENNESSEE
HUMANITIES TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,188,416 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($309,793). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $823k
What Humanities Tennessee does
Mission
To foster community and civility in tennessee through public programs that examine and reflect upon ideas, stories, history, arts, and culture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Tennessee book award - first awarded in 2024, the tennessee book award was founded to recognize outstanding works by tennessee authors, to help support and promote writers in the state, and to provide engagement opportunities for readers, writers, and libraries. The inaugural tennessee book awards were awarded to three distinguished authors: monic ductan, fiction, daughters of muscadine; rachel louise martin, non-fiction, a most tolerant little town: the explosive beginning of school desegregation; and, denton loving, for tamp, a poetry collection. Shared futures lab - humanities tn launched the shared futures lab (sfl) initiative in 2024. The sfl explores how the outcomes of past and current humanities programming may impact the future of tennessee communities and civic life. Programming during this period included strategic foresight workshops in each grand division; presentations at the tennessee association of museums annual workshop; a podcast series, humanities in action: building a better future; and a series of blog posts interviewing tennesseans about the many ways they are creating more connected futures for communities and reframing how we understand the past and present.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Grants & awards humanities tn makes funding investments in all three grand divisions of the state to support the efforts of cultural, educational, and community-based organizations providing public humanities programs. The grant funds awarded to organizations are leveraged for additional community investment, including financial support and volunteer time. The organizers of these projects anticipate engaging more than one million people in tennessee history, culture, arts, and more. In fy25, we awarded more than 100,000 to organizations across the state through our general grants, opportunity grants, and sponsorships.
$436,577 spentof which $125,105 as grants38% of program spendingSouthern festival of books since 1989, the southern festival of books: a celebration of the written word has welcomed authors and readers to downtown nashville for a weekend of readings, signings, performances, and celebration. The mission of the festival has always been to provide a free, easily accessible event that provides access to anyone with an interest in reading in an environment that is rich in culture in conversation, inclusive, respectful, and encouraging of lifelong learning. The 36th annual southern festival of books was held october 26-27, 2024, at bicentennial capitol mall state park, the tn state museum, and the tn state library & archives, and featured more than 175 authors.
$677,472 spent$70,047 earned by the program59% of program spendingChapter 16 in response to the loss of book coverage in newspapers around the state, Humanities Tennessee founded chapter16.org in 2009 to provide comprehensive coverage of literary news and events in tennessee. Each weekday the site posts fresh content that focuses on author events across the state and new releases from tennessee authors. In addition, chapter 16 maintains partnerships with newspapers in each major media market statewide, and our content appears in print each week through the memphis commercial appeal, the nashville scene, and the knoxville news sentinel. Through the site, social media, a weekly newsletter, and our newspaper partnerships, chapter 16 reaches more than half a million readers - continued on schedule o
$33,327 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,147,376.
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 2024 to 2025, from $608k to $1.2M (+103%).
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: 2017 83% · 2019 84% · 2020 87% · 2021 89% · 2022 95% · 2023 85% · 2024 89% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of HUMANITIES TENNESSEE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
James Mckissic
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 10 funders, grant income fell $89k → $60k.
6 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 HUMANITIES TENNESSEE’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
HUMANITIES TENNESSEE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
90% 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 HUMANITIES TENNESSEE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 24% · 2019 33% · 2020 35% · 2021 32% · 2022 37% · 2023 42% — 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
45% of HUMANITIES TENNESSEE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
53% of HUMANITIES TENNESSEE's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $524k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
HUMANITIES TENNESSEE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding HUMANITIES TENNESSEE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $11.3M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$11.2M
- National Endowment for the Arts$140k
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 HUMANITIES 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
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 HUMANITIES 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 HUMANITIES TENNESSEE?
- HUMANITIES TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,188,416 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($309,793). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HUMANITIES TENNESSEE have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,188,416 in grants to HUMANITIES TENNESSEE, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HUMANITIES TENNESSEE?
- FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $309,793 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HUMANITIES 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.
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 25 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