Tennessee · Nonprofit
MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC
MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,866,483 to it, the largest being CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MEMPHIS ($9,604,810). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $929k
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $277k
What Memphis Leadership Foundation Inc does
Mission
To equip and empower grassroots urban leaders to transform lives and communities in memphis.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Christ fellowship ("cf") exists to foster positive changes in the life of at risk youth by going where kids are, building positive christ centered relationships, volunteering in schools, providing after school programming and engaging them in various enrichment activities in order to advance the kingdom of god against the darkness of this world by loving god, embodying god's love for each-other and proclaiming god's love to the world in word and deed
$74,595 spent$69,000 earned by the program23% of program spendingHeart to heart ("h2h")h2h is a partnership with youth villages to provide an on-site coordinator for their spiritual life program. More than 350 youth in residential treatment have the opportunity to participate in weekly chapel, bible study and worship services as well as individual pastoral training.
$70,157 spent22% of program spendingOther general ministries providing discipleship of christian principles to various groups of at risk urban youth and adults including the following specific ministries: global friends memphis ("gfm") gfm is an international community of students and volunteers who seek to journey together in faith and friendship as a registered organization of the university of memphis. The ministry was created to provide international students family in memphis as well as give them an opportunity to explore faith. Excel leadership/scholarship program ("excel") excel is a leadership and scholarship opportunity program for inner city youth. Students receive scholarships from union university, bethel university or christian brothers university to help defray education costs and are given a mentor for the duration of their college education. Virtually all of the students are first generation college students in their families.leadership development ("ld") ld offers two separate year-long training workshops to urban ministry leaders and pastors: (1) urban arrow teaches leadership and management training. (2) transformational giving teaches biblical fundraising and equips with various strategies and…
$173,085 spentof which $52,960 as grants$143,207 earned by the program54% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $317,837.
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 $3.8M to $2.2M (−42%).
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 8% · 2018 14% · 2019 9% · 2020 34% · 2021 30% · 2022 34% · 2023 15% · 2024 3% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Brandis Leverette
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021, and between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $1.7M → $1.6M.
8 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% 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 LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC’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 LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 41% · 2019 60% · 2020 69% · 2021 76% · 2022 68% · 2023 81% — 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
47% of MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
87% of MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC'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 $1.8M that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M 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
MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC's revenue fell 86% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION 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
27% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION 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 MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC?
- MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,866,483 to it, the largest being CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MEMPHIS ($9,604,810). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $13,866,483 in grants to MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC?
- CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MEMPHIS is the largest funder on record, with $9,604,810 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEMPHIS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION 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 28 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