Tennessee · Nonprofit
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY (Tennessee) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,117,841 to it, the largest being Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc ($600,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $37M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Tusculum University does
Mission
Building on a rich Presbyterian heritage and a pioneering spirit, Tusculum University provides an active and experiential education within a caring Christian environment to inspire civic engagement, enrich personal lives, and equip career-ready professionals.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Tusculum University provided formal instruction and related academic support for over 1000 full-time equivalent students toward the fulfillment of Associate and Bachelor of Science and Associate and Bachelor of Art degrees, along with Master degrees in a variety of fields of study. The academic program challenges students to innovate, engage, experiment, and persevere as they discover their purpose. Along their educational journey, they are encouraged, empowered, supported, and inspired through a pioneer spirit. Most students receive generous financial support through a variety of scholarship programs. The instructional classrooms are small, which enables faculty to provide individual attention where needed. Strong personal relationships create life-long friendships and support. Academic services are provided through the library and technology resources, testing resources, career services, tutoring, workshops, counseling, and special academic accommodations. Labs are available on an ongoing basis. Personal counseling services are available by licensed clinical social workers.
$28,778,605 spentof which $13,585,974 as grants$22,924,165 earned by the program85% of program spendingAuxiliary services were provided to the population of students, as Tusculum University remains primarily a residential campus. Housing and meals were provided.
$5,008,943 spent$6,262,300 earned by the program15% of program spendingA variety of services were provided to students through many programs and offices, including intramural sports, general athletics, spiritual life, the student lounge, Admissions, Financial Aid, the Registrar, Business Office, and Dean of Students, as well as others. Campus employment and internships were available for eligible students, providing financial resources and valuable work experiences, preparing students that are career-ready.
$0 spent$4,305,584 earned by the program0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $33,787,548.
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 $115M to $106M (−8%).
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 6% · 2018 6% · 2019 6% · 2020 5% · 2021 14% · 2022 12% · 2023 6% · 2024 6% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
10% of TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY’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. 7 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
Dr Gregory Nelson
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $132k → $420k.
10 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
62% 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 TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 54% · 2019 33% · 2020 26% · 2021 26% · 2022 24% · 2023 31% — 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
43% of TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY draws 73% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 18 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $29.8M on record.
- Department of Education$29.6M
- Corporation for National and Community Service$135k
- Department of Agriculture$53k
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 TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Tusculum Tomorrow Trust · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY: 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 TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY?
- TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY (Tennessee) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,117,841 to it, the largest being Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc ($600,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $3,117,841 in grants to TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY?
- Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY 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 Tusculum University →
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 45 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing