Tennessee · Nonprofit
MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION
MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $153,750 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION ($147,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $205k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $154k
- Net assets
- $547k
What Memphis Bar Foundation does
Mission
The foundation provides a platform for attorneys and others in the legal community to give back to the community by promoting legal education, social justice promotion and supporting public awareness of the profession.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Grants to promote social justice and promoting the legal profession.
$54,000 spentof which $54,000 as grants48% of program spendingPromote summer intern programs for prospective law students.
$35,413 spentof which $22,000 as grants31% of program spendingOther related program expenses
$24,057 spent21% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $113,470.
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.
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 $361k to $458k (+27%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $35k → $33k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION’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
MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 96% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 96% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Organizations like MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION
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
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION: 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 MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION?
- MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $153,750 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION ($147,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $153,750 in grants to MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION?
- TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $147,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEMPHIS BAR FOUNDATION 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 3 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