Tennessee · Nonprofit
NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC
NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,597,336 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($3,097,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $9.6M
- Net assets
- $28M
What Niswonger Foundation Inc does
Programs
Project on track is a high-dosage/low ratio tutoring program for students in grades 1-8 in the areas of literacy and mathematics. This form of tutoring is an evidence-based practice that helps schools address learning gaps and accelerate learning through more intensive and personalized support for students. More than 8,000 students received these services during fy 2024-25.
$4,396,850 spentAp (advanced placement) access for all provides students across tennessee with the opportunity to access free virtual ap courses, educational resources, and individualized teacher support from licensed tennessee educators, and opportunity for ap course testing. Current ap teachers have access to advanced professional development. Teachers interested in becoming ap trained teachers are supported in reaching that goal. More than 3,000 students and 800 teachers were provided the benefits of this program in fy 2024-25. Twenty-one ap courses were available to tennessee's high school students.
$2,704,024 spentStem ld (science-technology-engineering and mathematics learning design) targets students and educators in grades 6-12. The project provides in-person and virtual stem-rich environments for students to accelerate learning and be exposed to stem fields, leading to positive student outcomes and potentially meaningful employment in the workforce post high school. There is an intensive effort directed towards professional development for educators and opportunities for early post-secondary opportunities for students.
$1,869,345 spentThe niswongercare (college access reaches everyone) program was initiated for the 2015-2016 school year. This program serves 26 high schools in 14 school districts in the niswonger consortium of school systems and impacts nearly 30,000 high school students. The niswongercare program combines the skills gained in the i3 grant project with elements of a model used by college advising corp. With this model, the niswonger foundation supports and enhances the important work already being accomplished by the region's high school counselors.
$1,187,632 spent
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-PF.
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. 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 $25M to $33M (+30%).
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
Dr Nancy L Dishner
President & CEO, board mem
Board chair
Scott M Niswonger
Chairman/founder
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-PF.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $370k → $646k.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 NISWONGER 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
NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
71% 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 NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 60% · 2019 46% · 2020 57% · 2021 57% · 2022 42% · 2023 48% — 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
27% of NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
54% of NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $16.2M on record.
- Department of Education$16.2M
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 NISWONGER 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.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NISWONGER 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 NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC?
- NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,597,336 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($3,097,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $9,597,336 in grants to NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NISWONGER FOUNDATION INC?
- EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,097,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NISWONGER 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 19 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