Tennessee Grants for Nonprofits
Learn more about grants for Tennessee with Inside Philanthropy. Below you can find top Tennessee funders. Find your next grant with the Grant Finder search tool. Become a member.
Funding landscape and giving trends in Tennessee
Since 2014, grantmaking across Tennessee stabilized, but then decreased dramatically by 2020 rather than increased as in many parts of the rest of the U.S. According to Philanthropy Southeast and 990 data, about 1,150 funders gave $975.1 million in grants in 2021.
Knowledge about giving in Tennessee largely filters through Philanthropy Southeast. In contrast with its Southeastern neighbors, Tennessee leads the region in funding for philanthropy and nonprofit management, the top driver of grantmaking in the state. Other top areas of grantmaking interest include community and economic development, human services, and religion, the last a common denominator of giving in the Deep South. In recent decades, foundations across Tennessee have become more professionalized, staffed and digitized, as funders become more focused on outcomes rather than individual agencies.
According to Nashville congressman, Jim Cooper:
Tennessee is one of the unhealthiest states in America, and we lead the nation in per capita hospital closings. Both of these tragedies are partly the result of our refusal to expand Medicaid.
Echoing these sentiments, several Tennessee foundations have called for an increase in spending on health outcomes in the state, so it’s possible health giving will increase here in future years.
Tennessee’s top funders reflect a mix of private, public and community foundations, which include Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, The Pyramid Peak Foundation, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee Foundation, Poplar Community Foundation, The Maclellan Foundation, Inc., The Frist Foundation, Haslam Giving, The Haslam Family Foundation, and the Plough Foundation, among others.
