Tennessee · Nonprofit
Nashville Debate League Inc
Nashville Debate League Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,873 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($58,984). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $264k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $149k
- Net assets
- $177k
What Nashville Debate League Inc does
Mission
Using a nationally recognized model for empowering high school students through the art of debate, we will play a significant role in improving academic performance, high school graduation and college enrollment rates, and equipping students for college success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Nashville Debate League was able to fund and run 8 debate tournaments during the fiscal year for approximately 87 Metro Nashville Public School students.
$74,101 spent$263,563 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $74,101.
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.
Chief executive
Starr Rhee
Executive Director
Board chair
Robert Harris
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $11k → $89.
4 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 Nashville Debate League 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
Nashville Debate League Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
65% 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 Nashville Debate League Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 52% · 2019 95% · 2020 93% · 2021 59% · 2022 51% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
53% of Nashville Debate League 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 $70k that is directly attributable, 74% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $79k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Nashville Debate League Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,734 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,734 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Nashville Debate League 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
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Nashville Debate League 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 Nashville Debate League Inc?
- Nashville Debate League Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,873 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($58,984). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Nashville Debate League Inc have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $148,873 in grants to Nashville Debate League Inc, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Nashville Debate League Inc?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $58,984 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Nashville Debate League 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.
Play a game about who funds Nashville Debate League →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2025–2025), and the filings of 7 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