Tennessee · Nonprofit
ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE
ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE (Tennessee) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $757,807 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($444,801). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $195k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $758k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Rotary Foundation of Knoxville does
Mission
To provide scholarships to deserving students and to assist other charitable organizations through cash allocations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community service -promoted education by providing school equipment to lonsdale elementary school -supported the young artists program at knoxville museum of art, knoxville symphony orchestra performances, knoxville opera company performances and clarence brown theatre performances. -sponsored the rotary club of knoxville's annual peace luncheon. Awarded a member of this community with the peace award, a 3,000 donation to the charity of the recipient's choice. This year's award winner was the honorable charles a. Cerny jr. -provided financial and volunteer support for the area rotary clubs' world rotary day project
$37,461 spentof which $37,461 as grants27% of program spendingYouth service -awarded two scholarships to college-bound knox county students good for 5,000 per year for four years. -continue to provide annual scholarships to seven prior year scholarship award winners -recognized local educators chosen as rotary club of knoxville's outstanding teacher of the year with cash gifts and other awards. -subsidized local high school students attending the rotary youth leadership awards leadership conference. -subsidized the food program at beardsley community farm to provide education to help end food insecurity. -sponsored the tennessee valley fair medal of honor photography competition.
$59,398 spentof which $59,398 as grants42% of program spendingInternational service -continued to support an advanced trauma life support school for doctors and nurses in bulawayo, zimbabwe. -provided financial support for christmas food baskets for children living in an orphanage in nairobi, kenya. -provided ongoing funding for a preschool, dam contruction and traffic safety program in knsyna, south africa. -provided financial support to the rotary clubs of bulawayo south, zimbabwe and the interact club of knysna, south africa and nairobi, kenya.
$43,557 spentof which $43,557 as grants31% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $140,416.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.5M to $1.8M (+22%).
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.
77% of ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $87k → $189k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 ROTARY FOUNDATION OF 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
ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
64% 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 ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 72% · 2019 84% · 2020 72% · 2021 66% · 2022 70% · 2023 42% — 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
67% of ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 82% 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
64% of ROTARY FOUNDATION OF 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 $271k that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $487k 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
ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like ROTARY FOUNDATION OF 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
92% 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 ROTARY FOUNDATION OF 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 ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE?
- ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE (Tennessee) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $757,807 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($444,801). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $757,807 in grants to ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROTARY FOUNDATION OF KNOXVILLE?
- EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $444,801 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROTARY FOUNDATION OF 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 11 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