Funders › Tennessee

Kennedy Foundation Inc

Chattanooga, TN · EIN 62-1296643. Reported 48 grants totalling $22.9M to 29 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$20,000median grant
$22.9Mgranted, 2021-2025
29recipients, as named on its returns
53%of grantees funded again the next year
$56.3Massets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Kennedy Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $2,000 and the largest $14.7M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
5 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
5 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
15 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 and Up
14 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Jp Morgan Charitable Giving Fund National Philanthropic Trust Kennedy FLancaster, PA$14.8M222024
University of Chattanooga FoundationChattanooga, TN$3,720,000852025
Erlanger Health System FoundationsChattanooga, TN$3,400,000222023
Houston Museum of Decorative ArtsChattanooga, TN$200,000222025
Memorial Health Care System Foundation IncChattanooga, TN$200,000112025
Friends of the National World War II MemorialWashington, DC$125,000332024
Skyuka HallChattanooga, TN$84,000112025
Friends of Special Children for the Benefit of Signal Centers LLCChattanooga, TN$50,000222024
The Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage CenterChattanooga, TN$50,000112025
Chattanooga Public LibraryChattanooga, TN$25,000112022
Friends of Special ChildrenChattanooga, TN$25,000112025
United Way of Greater ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN$25,000222024
Erlanger HealthChattanooga, TN$20,000112025
Saint Annes Episcopal ChurchAtlanta, GA$20,000112025
United Way of Central GeorgiaMacon, GA$20,000112025
Haiti Deaf AcademyWalker, IA$15,000222025
American Heart Association IncDallas, TX$14,000552025
Agape Youth and Family CenterAtlanta, GA$10,000112025
ArtsbuildChattanooga, TN$10,000112024
Boys and Girls Clubs of ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN$10,000112024
Chattanooga Area Food BankChattanooga, TN$10,000112024
Deo Clinic IncDalton, GA$10,000112025
Erlanger HospitalChattanooga, TN$10,000112023
Mary Cameron Robinson FoundationChattanooga, TN$10,000112023
Retrieving Independence IncNashville, TN$10,000112025
University of the SouthSewanee, TN$10,000112023
International Committee of the Red Cross- Ukraine Crisis ReliefWashington, DC$5,000112022
Metropolitan MinistriesChattanooga, TN$5,000112023
St Paul's Episcopal ChurchChattanooga, TN$5,000112023

9 of 29 (31%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 53%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 30 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Education
10 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Diseases & Disorders
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Mental Health
1 grant
Food & Nutrition
1 grant
Recreation & Sports
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20213$2,702,000$100,000
20225$158,000$25,000
202313$15.7M$10,000
202412$2,076,272$22,500
202515$2,262,000$20,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Kennedy Foundation Inc has 5 of them, worth $10.1M. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
University of Chattanooga FoundationChattanooga, TN$8,000,000
Memorial Health Care System Foundation IncChattanooga, TN$1,000,000
University of Chattanooga FoundationChattanooga, TN$500,000
Houston Museum of Decorative ArtsChattanooga, TN$400,000
Skyuka HallChattanooga, TN$166,000

Where its money goes

65% of its giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Pennsylvania
$14.8M
Tennessee
$7.9M
District of Columbia
$130K
Georgia
$60K
Iowa
$15K
Texas
$14K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Inc13 shared recipientsChattanooga Christian Community11 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Pennsylvania.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Kennedy Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 320 Mccallie Avenue, Chattanooga, TN, 37402. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 62-1296643 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.