GrantmakersTennessee

Delta Dental of Tennessee Inc

Nashville, TN · EIN 62-0812197. Reported 153 grants totalling $19.8M to 62 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

62organizations funded
$20,000median reported grant
$19.8Mgranted, 2021-2024
78%of grantees funded again the next year
66%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 62 distinct organizations, with 66% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
  3. How much its list changes. 78% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $35,000; the smallest was $5,171 and the largest $5,084,032. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
21 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
65 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
37 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
20 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
6 grants
$250,000 Or More
4 grants

11 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,121,059 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Smile 180 FoundationNashville, TN$13.1M442024
The University of Tennessee Foundat Ion IncKnoxville, TN$2,596,000222024
American Lebanese Syrian Assoc Char IncMemphis, TN$520,000442024
Music City Bowl IncNashville, TN$330,000442024
Governors Early Literacy FoundationNashville, TN$300,000442024
Tennessee Performing Arts Center Management CorporationNashville, TN$275,000442024
Hospital Hospitality HouseNashville, TN$208,300442024
The Salvation ArmyBrookhaven, GA$203,000442024
Erlanger FoundationChattanooga, TN$190,600442024
Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital FoundationMemphis, TN$137,100442024
Operation Stand Down TennesseeNashville, TN$130,000442024
American National Red CrossWashington, DC$118,000542024
Tennessee Golf FoundationFranklin, TN$109,000442024
Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation IncFranklin, TN$102,500442024
Second Harvest Food Bank of East TennesseeMaryville, TN$100,000442024
Vanderbilt University Medical CenterNashville, TN$88,600442024
West Tennessee Healthcare FoundationJackson, TN$88,200442024
Blood Cancer United IncRye Brook, NY$85,000442024
Ballad Health FoundationJohnson City, TN$75,000442024
East Tennessee Childrens Hospital Association IncKnoxville, TN$72,300222022
Liberty Bowl Festival AssnMemphis, TN$66,000332024
Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee IncNashville, TN$65,000442024
Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Middle TennesseeNashville, TN$62,000442024
Kingsport Chamber FoundationKingsport, TN$60,482332024
Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders Association IncChicago, IL$57,500442024
American Cancer Society IncAtlanta, GA$56,600442024
Knoxville Zoological Gardens IncKnoxville, TN$55,000332024
Special Olympics Tennessee IncBrentwood, TN$55,000332024
Niswonger FoundationGreeneville, TN$49,300442024
Cable FoundationNashville, TN$42,500442024
Renaissance Charitable Foundation IncIndianapolis, IN$37,952112021
Middle Tennessee State University FoundationMurfreesboro, TN$25,000222022
Nashville Rescue MissionNashville, TN$25,000112022
Adoption Project IncEagleville, TN$20,000222024
East Tennessee FoundationKnoxville, TN$20,000222024
Leadership Tennessee IncBrentwood, TN$20,000222022
March of Dimes IncArlington, VA$20,000222024
Childrens Museum of MemphisMemphis, TN$19,500222022
Nashville BalletNashville, TN$18,000222024
Covenant Health FoundationKnoxville, TN$15,000112024
Drummonds Elementary SchoolDrummonds, TN$12,382222023
Jackson Madison County General HospitalJackson, TN$12,200112024
US Figure Skating Championships Nashville IncNashville, TN$12,000112022
Meharry Medical CollegeNashville, TN$11,500112021
American Heart Association IncDallas, TX$10,500112024
Austin Peay State University FoundationClarksville, TN$10,000112021
Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee IncNashville, TN$10,000112024
Tennessee Dental AssociationFranklin, TN$10,000112024
United Way of Humphreys CountyWaverly, TN$10,000112021
University of Memphis FoundationMemphis, TN$10,000112021
Christ Presbyterian Church IncNashville, TN$7,500112024
Nashville Public Television IncNashville, TN$7,500112024
Nashville Zoo IncNashville, TN$7,500112021
National Federation of Independent Business IncNashville, TN$7,500112024
White House Heritage Elementary SchoolWhite House, TN$7,111112023
Junior Achievement of Middle TennesseeNashville, TN$6,500112024
Northeast Middle SchoolJackson, TN$6,135112022
Star Center IncJackson, TN$6,000112022
North Parkway Middle SchoolJackson, TN$5,819112022
Hispanic Dental AssociationNew Rochelle, NY$5,172112023
Ellen Myers PrimaryHarrogate, TN$5,171112023
Mary Hughes SchoolPiney Flats, TN$5,171112023

38 of 62 (61%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 47 of 62 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Health Care
10 orgs
Education
7 orgs
Arts & Culture
5 orgs
Diseases & Disorders
5 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 orgs
Human Services
2 orgs
Community Improvement
2 orgs
Animal Welfare
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202137$8,694,084$25,000
202239$5,811,488$20,000
202335$4,001,145$19,000
202442$1,312,648$20,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

97% of its giving went to organizations in Tennessee. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Tennessee
$19.2M
Georgia
$260K
District of Columbia
$118K
New York
$90K
Illinois
$58K
Indiana
$38K
Virginia
$20K
Texas
$10K

Down to the city

Nashville, TN
$14.7M
Knoxville, TN
$2.8M
Memphis, TN
$753K
Franklin, TN
$222K
Brookhaven, GA
$203K
Chattanooga, TN
$191K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund32 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc30 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc28 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program25 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of Middle25 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc20 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $20,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Tennessee.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding health care in TennesseeEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Delta Dental of Tennessee Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 38 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 1600 West End Avenue Suite 1700, Nashville, TN, 37203.

EIN 62-0812197 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.