Tennessee · Nonprofit
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY (Tennessee) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,143,703 to it, the largest being THE BURCHFIELD FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($500,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $285M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $417M
What Lincoln Memorial University does
Mission
Lincoln Memorial University is a values-based learning community dedicated to providing educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Undergraduate/graduate programs the university strives to give students a foundation for a more productive life by upholding the principles of abraham lincoln's life: a dedication to individual liberty, responsibility, and improvement; a respect for citizenship; recognition of the intrinsic value of high moral and ethical standards; and a belief in a personal god. The university is committed to teaching, research, and service. The university's curriculum and commitment to quality instruction at every level are based on the beliefs that graduates must be able to communicate clearly and effectively in an era of rapidly and continuously expanding communication technology, must have an appreciable depth of learning in a field of knowledge, must appreciate and understand the various ways by which we come to know ourselves and the world around us, and must be able to exercise informed judgements. The university believes that one of the major cornerstones of meaningful existence is service to humanity. By making educational and research opportunities available to students where they live and through various recreational and cultural events open to the community, Lincoln Memorial…
$94,229,589 spentof which $30,603,753 as grants$156,146,822 earned by the program58% of program spendingDebusk college of medicine (dcom) statement committed to the premise that the cornerstone of meaningful existence is service to humanity. The mission of lmu-dcom is achieved by: teaching, research, service, including osteopathic clinical service and student achievement; needs of people within the appalachian region and beyond; rural communities supported by superior faculty and technology; care, diversity and public service as an enduring commitment to responsibility and high ethical standards.
$58,487,332 spent$96,918,717 earned by the program36% of program spendingThe Lincoln Memorial University-duncan school of law builds upon a foundation that upholds the principles of abraham lincolns life: a dedication to individual liberty, responsibility, and improvement; a respect for citizenship; recognition of the intrinsic value of high moral and ethical standards; and a belief in a personal god. Through teaching, research and service, the Lincoln Memorial University-duncan school of law will prepare graduates: 1. Who are committed to the premise that the cornerstone of meaningful existence is service to humanity; 2. Who understand their professional responsibilities as representatives of clients, officers of the courts, and public citizens responsible for the quality and availability of justice under the law; and 3. Who have an understanding of the fundamental principles of public and private law, an understanding of the nature, basis and role of the law and its institutions, and the skills of legal analysis and writing, issue recognition, reasoning, problem solving, organization, and oral and written communication necessary to participate effectively in the legal profession.
$9,747,889 spent$16,153,120 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $162,464,810.
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 $473M to $538M (+14%).
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 1% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 2% · 2021 6% · 2022 2% · 2023 2% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
5% of LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Autry Ov Debusk
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $124k → $279k.
14 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
43% 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 LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 21% · 2019 20% · 2020 14% · 2021 33% · 2022 16% · 2023 17% — 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.
How long its funders stay
43% of LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $422k arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $36.2M on record — $36.2M federal, $1k state.
- Department of Education$18.3M
- Department of Defense$10.9M
- Department of Health and Human Services$3.3M
- Department of Commerce$2.0M
- Appalachian Regional Commission$1.0M
- Department of Justice$378k
- DE POSTSECONDARY SCHLRSHP$1k
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 LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
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
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Al Educational Fund Management LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY: 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 LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY?
- LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY (Tennessee) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,143,703 to it, the largest being THE BURCHFIELD FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($500,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $3,143,703 in grants to LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY?
- THE BURCHFIELD FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY 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 Lincoln Memorial University →
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 73 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