Tennessee · Nonprofit
The Works Inc
The Works Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,262,610 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($55,959,094). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $59M
- Net assets
- $37M
What The Works Inc does
Mission
The Works, Inc. rebuilds, restores, and renews Memphis neighborhoods through innovation, advocacy and collaboration.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The organization provides an array of services and programs related to community and economic development. This includes neighborhood revitalization, consumer advocacy, and other supportive social services in support of families and persons requisite to a holistic, healthful, and soci-economic success.
$10,261,402 spentof which $7,170,010 as grants$13,282,874 earned by the program83% of program spendingThe organization provides housing assistance programs to consumers who reside within its targetd areas. These services include home buyer education, down payment assistance, and affordable leases in safe housing.
$1,594,976 spent13% of program spendingThe organization has several programs aimed at combatting hunger, especially in areas that have been deemed food deserts. The organization also provides nutritional education and sustenance to many of its consumers. The organization operates a community grocer as well as sponsoring a Farmers Market to provide healty meal options for its consumers.
$535,385 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,391,763.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.4M to $40M (+524%).
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 20% · 2022 0% · 2023 2% · 2024 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of The Works Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 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
Roshun Austin
CEO
Board chair
Paul Morris
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $204k → $9.3M.
2 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 Works Inc’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 Works Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 Works Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 34% · 2019 56% · 2020 100% · 2021 85% · 2022 83% · 2023 95% — 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
44% of The Works Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
94% of The Works Inc'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 $3.3M that is directly attributable, 62% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56M arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
The Works Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 817 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 817 housing & shelter nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding The Works Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M
- Department of Agriculture$136k
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 The Works 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
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
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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Neighborhood Preservation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Works 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.
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 Works Inc?
- The Works Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,262,610 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($55,959,094). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does The Works Inc have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $59,262,610 in grants to The Works Inc, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Works Inc?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $55,959,094 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Works 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 Works →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 17 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