Tennessee · Nonprofit
Southern College of Optometry
Southern College of Optometry (Tennessee) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $995,452 to it, the largest being DR ROBERT HENRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND ($472,981). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $36M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $995k
- Net assets
- $78M
What Southern College of Optometry does
Mission
To lead the profession by: educating the best possible healthcare providers, promoting lifelong learning, and fostering a personal commitment to service.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
School of optometry, clinic, educational process and student training.
$22,113,765 spent$27,772,638 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $22,113,765.
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 2021 to 2022, from $101M to $90M (−11%).
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: 2017 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 0% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
16% of Southern College of Optometry’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Mark R Kapperman OD
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 7 funders, grant income rose $27k → $44k.
6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 Southern College of Optometry’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
Southern College of Optometry leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 67% · 2019 54% · 2020 34% · 2021 96% · 2022 31% · 2023 46% — 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.
How long its funders stay
36% of Southern College of Optometry's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
Southern College of Optometry draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $75k 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
Southern College of Optometry's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Southern College of Optometry receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.4M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.5M
- Department of Defense$834k
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 Southern College of Optometry
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
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Southern College of Optometry: 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 Southern College of Optometry?
- Southern College of Optometry (Tennessee) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $995,452 to it, the largest being DR ROBERT HENRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND ($472,981). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Southern College of Optometry have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $995,452 in grants to Southern College of Optometry, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Southern College of Optometry?
- DR ROBERT HENRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND is the largest funder on record, with $472,981 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Southern College of Optometry 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 Southern College of Optometry →
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 24 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