Tennessee · Nonprofit
Ronald McDonald House Knoxville
Ronald McDonald House Knoxville (Tennessee) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,980,914 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($1,441,204). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Ronald McDonald House Knoxville does
Mission
We offer temporary lodging for families having critically ill children. See page Part III for more information.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Our Main Purpose - Housing Families: The Ronald McDonald House offers temporary lodging for families having critically ill children, 21 years of age or younger, being treated in area hospitals. In our fourty years of operation we have served approximately 61,500 people. Beside the obvious financial advantage of staying at our home-away-from-home where we gladly waive the $5.00 per night requested donation if it is prohibitive, there is the additional benefit of meeting other families who are experiencing similar medical problems with their children. Its a place where they can draw additional comfort and support from friendships that are born here. In addition to lodging, our supportive community helps provide all the comforts of home such as food, laundry facilities, transportation,free wi-fi...all of which are included in their stay. We can accomodate 65 people or 15 families in the two houses we operate. By years end, we had received referrals from four different medical facilities that represented families from 12 various states and 41 counties from across Tennessee. What brought these people to our doors? The most prevalent reasons were newborn complications such as…
$654,346 spent65% of program spendingOur Secondary Purpose - Grantmaking: One of the hallmarks of the McDonalds corporation over the years has been their unqualified commitment to children. As a legacy to McDonalds founder, Ray Kroc, Ronald McDonald Childrens Charities or RMCC was founded to champion philanthropic groups worldwide that were dedicated to the betterment of children. In an effort to streamline their organization to make a greater impact on a local level, the Global McDonalds office requested that RMCC and Ronald McDonald Houses across the country consolidate which was the genesis of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Knoxville, TN, Inc. in 1996. Funding and operating the Knoxville Ronald McDonald House will always remain the number one priority of the non-profit and monies raised under the auspices of supporting the Ronald McDonald House will be used exclusively for that purpose and are maintained in a separate account.
$355,346 spentof which $293,700 as grants35% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,009,692.
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 2024 to 2025, from $13M to $15M (+14%).
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: 2020 6% · 2021 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of Ronald McDonald House Knoxville’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% 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
Sue Beverly
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $195k → $448k.
13 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 Ronald McDonald House Knoxville’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
Ronald McDonald House Knoxville leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 Ronald McDonald House Knoxville.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 79% · 2019 85% · 2020 41% · 2021 58% · 2022 49% · 2023 56% — 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
40% of Ronald McDonald House Knoxville's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
61% of Ronald McDonald House Knoxville'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 94% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Ronald McDonald House Knoxville is better cushioned than half of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Ronald McDonald House Knoxville
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 Ronald McDonald House Knoxville: 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 Ronald McDonald House Knoxville?
- Ronald McDonald House Knoxville (Tennessee) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,980,914 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($1,441,204). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Ronald McDonald House Knoxville have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $2,980,914 in grants to Ronald McDonald House Knoxville, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ronald McDonald House Knoxville?
- EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,441,204 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ronald McDonald House Knoxville 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 22 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