Tennessee · Nonprofit
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,171,276 to it, the largest being The Urban Child Institute ($3,973,276). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,072 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,072 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Slingshot Memphis Incshared funderslocal
- Horticultural Research Institute Incportfolio match
- International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economicsportfolio match
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.
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%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% 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
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $98k → $935k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $191k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis). These are real filings, and they are not money THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION’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
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 89% — 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.
Where its funders are
98% of THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.
- Slingshot Memphis Incshared funderslocalTN · backs 20 organizations that share your funders · funds 54 organizations near you
- Horticultural Research Institute Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economicsportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- McMaster Universityportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Osteo Science Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pci Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- American College of Laboratory Animal Medicineportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- National Communication Associationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Dialysis Clinic Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Society of Photo Optical Instrumentation Engineersportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Hacking for Defense Incorporatedportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- The University of Memphis · exempt
- The University of Memphis Foundation · exempt
- Auxiliary Services Foundation · exempt
- Umrf Ventures Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,171,276 to it, the largest being The Urban Child Institute ($3,973,276). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $4,171,276 in grants to THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- The Urban Child Institute is the largest funder on record, with $3,973,276 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION 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 3funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing