Tennessee · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH
UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH (Tennessee) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,347,386 to it, the largest being PLOUGH FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 51
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $13M
What United Way of the Mid South does
Mission
The mission of United Way is to improve the quality of life for Mid- Southerners by mobilizing and aligning community resources to address priority issues.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The organization provides funding to over 500 non-profit agencies throughout the United States through donor designated funds. In addition United Way provides grant funding to 73 agencies within the 8 county service area. Grants are targeted to programs that improve education, financial stability, equity, and health and work collaboratively to reduce mid-south poverty.
$6,394,918 spentof which $2,864,361 as grants41% of program spendingUnited Way of the Mid-South coordinates the work of multiple agencies to implement the Free Tax Prep / Volunteer Income Tax Assistance in Crittenden County, AR; DeSoto, Tunica, and Tate Counties in MS; and Fayette, Lauderdale, Tipton, and Shelby Counties in TN. This program provides free tax preparation to maximize the total amount of eligible tax credits for low and moderate-income tax filers. The Free Tax Prep / VITA program was supported by funding from the Internal Revenue Service, Wells Fargo, Entergy, Cummins, Regions, and United Way of the Mid-South investments. Funds were used to support the operation of VITA sites, mobile tax preparation, marketing, and volunteer recognition. In the fiscal year ending 6/30/2025, over 9,400 returns were filed serving more than 13,000 individuals. Clients saved over $2.5 million in estimated refund costs and received over $11 million in refunds.
$490,437 spent3% of program spendingUnited Way of the Mid-South (UWMS) has broadened its community impact agenda to include a focus on strategically funding initiatives that promote economic mobility, and financial self-sufficiency for families and individuals in the Mid-South service region, encompassing eight counties in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. UWMS now hosts, leads, manages, and is accountable for Driving The Dream(DTD), an unduplicated system of multi-domain human services and support that allows families living in poverty to grow their financial and social mobility. Driving the Dream creates a network of support by connecting human service agencies through a shared platform, enabling equitable access to services for the most vulnerable individuals and families. DTD provides a system that works for families.
$8,637,010 spent56% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,522,365.
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 2020 to 2021, from $13M to $20M (+53%).
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 4% · 2019 7% · 2020 7% · 2021 19% · 2022 18% · 2023 20% · 2024 48% · 2025 59%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% 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.
Chief executive
Tomeka Hart Wigginton
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $888k → $952k.
12 of 51 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $12M from 16 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 51 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
UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
43% 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 UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 40% · 2019 29% · 2020 21% · 2021 62% · 2022 65% · 2023 27% — broadly stable.
“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
63% of UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH draws 67% 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. $3.9M 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
UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH's funding base is broadening — from 16 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.0M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$2.0M
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 UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH: 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 UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH?
- UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH (Tennessee) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,347,386 to it, the largest being PLOUGH FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH have?
- IRS filings report 51 organizations giving $14,347,386 in grants to UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH?
- PLOUGH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF THE MID SOUTH 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 51 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