Tennessee · Nonprofit
INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER
INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER (Tennessee) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,164,628 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($715,950). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $982k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What International Storytelling Center does
Mission
To creatively apply the power of storytelling to enrich the human experience and enhance the quality of life by addressing the challenges and opportunities in today's society and to infuse storytelling into the mainstream of society-building public awareness, greater credibility, and wider audiences for storytelling among the general public.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The annual storytelling festival which features performances and concerts from a variety of featured storytellers. Historically, the annual event is held in historic jonesborough, tennessee. However, due to the covid-19 pandemic, this event was converted to a online event with live streaming. The annual storytelling festival was to be held in october of 2024 but was cancelled due to the devastation and destruction caused by hurricane helene that hit the region in late september of 2024.
$917,299 spent$31,704 earned by the program93% of program spendingProgram development including creation and development of storytelling programs, projects and teaching aids.
$19,302 spent$26,600 earned by the program2% of program spendingStorytelling live program featuring storytellers performing concerts at the storytelling center in historic jonesborough, tennessee. The storytelling live program was a live in-person program. This program did entail one virtual streaming event each week for those unable to travel.
$49,646 spent$74,025 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $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 2022 to 2023, from $1.6M to $1.9M (+23%).
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 13% · 2018 7% · 2019 8% · 2020 41% · 2021 59% · 2022 26% · 2023 18% · 2024 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% 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
Lynda Harris
Chairwoman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $26k → $112k.
7 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER’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
INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 83% · 2019 81% · 2020 76% · 2021 61% · 2022 64% · 2023 68% — 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
40% of INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
90% of INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER'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 $121k that is directly attributable, 60% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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.
Against its field
INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER is better cushioned than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $960k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$519k
- National Endowment for the Arts$441k
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 INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
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 INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER: 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 INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER?
- INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER (Tennessee) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,164,628 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($715,950). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,164,628 in grants to INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $715,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING CENTER 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 International Storytelling Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 18 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