Tennessee · Nonprofit
NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION
NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,887,910 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATION ($3,590,867). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $7.9M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Nashville Public Education Foundation does
Mission
The Nashville Public Education Foundation supports teachers and leaders to build schools where all kids thrive. The foundation does this by advocating for change, supporting mnps as a consulting partner, promoting excellence and innovation, and convening stakeholders to drive community solutions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In fy25, npef was able to further our mission to advance student outcomes in metro nashville public schools (mnps) in multiple ways as we focused on four key areas to support our students, teachers, and families: 1) sharing information about the critical issues facing mnps students; 2) convening stakeholders to solve challenges together; 3) delivering high-quality programs for teachers and families; and 4) strategically partnering with the district around specific priorities. We shared information about the issues affecting our students through a series of infographics and briefs on key topics, including public school funding; state standards, assessments, and accountability; career pathways in mnps; education policies such as school vouchers and post-secondary opportunities. We also shared information about our schools through our thriving schools work, where we partnered with the tennessee education research alliance to develop individual school profiles based on the data points families want. We convened stakeholders through two key initiatives - leadership public education (lpe) and the nashville child and youth collaborative (ncyc). Lpe, in partnership with the nashville area…
$1,530,571 spentof which $170,519 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,530,571.
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 2018 to 2019, from $4.2M to $2.3M (−46%).
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: 2019 14% · 2020 15% · 2021 10% · 2022 12% · 2024 7% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
103% of NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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.
Chief executive
Katie Cour
President and CEO (end 7/25)
Board chair
Ralph Davis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $659k → $698k.
6 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $890k from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 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
NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
81% 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 45% · 2019 40% · 2020 45% · 2021 54% · 2022 59% · 2023 43% — 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
63% of NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
97% of NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION 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. $155k 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
NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION 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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION 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 NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,887,910 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATION ($3,590,867). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $7,887,910 in grants to NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- TENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,590,867 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 42 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