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Tennessee · Nonprofit

THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC

THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,502,514 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE RIVER GARDENS ($585,901). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$3.8M
Funders on record
35
Grants received
$2.5M
Net assets
$27M
22/35 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 18%
01What it does

What The Tennessee River Gorge Trust Inc does

Mission

To conserve a healthy tennessee river gorge as a community treasure for generations.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. To conserve a healthy tennessee river gorge as a community treasure for generations.

    $597,365 spent
    33% of program spending
  2. To promote environmental conservation and reduce atmospheric carbon.

    $1,199,564 spent$1,223,735 earned by the program
    67% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,796,929.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($2.3M) Expenses 100 ($924k) Net assets 100 ($16M)2020 Revenue 47 ($1.1M) Expenses 86 ($793k) Net assets 107 ($17M)2021 Revenue 79 ($1.9M) Expenses 88 ($813k) Net assets 115 ($19M)2022 Revenue 193 ($4.5M) Expenses 129 ($1.2M) Net assets 127 ($21M)2023 Revenue 216 ($5.1M) Expenses 151 ($1.4M) Net assets 152 ($25M)2024 Revenue 163 ($3.8M) Expenses 223 ($2.1M) Net assets 164 ($27M)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (163)Expenses (223)Net assets (164)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $21M to $25M (+17%).

$17M
$17M
$19M
$21M
$25M
$27M
201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 1% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

35% of THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,293 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.4M
’19
$308k
’20
$1.0M
’21
$3.3M
’22
$3.7M
’23
$1.8M
’24
2.3
months of
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

Eliot Berz

Executive director

Board chair

Scott Smith

Board chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

201920202021202220232024
Listed181111121412
Joined·+3+2+3+4+2
No longer listed·102224
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $57k → $410k.

12 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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

THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

58% 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 THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC.

23%
largest funder
50%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 50% · 2019 96% · 2020 24% · 2021 88% · 2022 42% · 2023 37% — 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

45% of THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

68% of THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.

NY
NJ
CT
CA
DE
TN
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $441k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin46% · top quartile
Months of reserve2.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 9%Fundraising 4%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

79%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

TN

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Appalachian Carbon Exchange LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST 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.

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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 THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC?
THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,502,514 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE RIVER GARDENS ($585,901). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC have?
IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $2,502,514 in grants to THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST INC?
TENNESSEE RIVER GARDENS is the largest funder on record, with $585,901 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE TENNESSEE RIVER GORGE TRUST 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.

Play a game about who funds Tennessee River Gorge →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 35 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