The Sunshine Lady Foundation Inc
Lebanon, TN · EIN 56-1977987. Reported 74 grants totalling $8,616,411 to 37 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. The Sunshine Lady 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $47,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $75,500; the smallest was $500 and the largest $3,702,979. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morehead City Grants Morehead City Grants | Morehead City, NC | $3,702,979 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Morehead City Grants Morehead City Grants | Denver, CO | $867,565 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| California State University of Fullerton | Fullerton, CA | $558,000 | 5 | 3 | 2025 |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | $230,800 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| Portland State Prison Education Program | Portland, OR | $228,750 | 6 | 3 | 2025 |
| University of West Georgia | Carrollton, GA | $214,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Ohio State University | Columbus, OH | $209,714 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| St Louis University | St Louis, MO | $200,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Offender Alumni Association | Birmingham, AL | $191,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Freedom Education Project Puget Sound | Seattle, WA | $182,800 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Southeast Communit College | Lincoln, NE | $182,460 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Prison Neighborhood Artseducation | Evanston, IL | $158,500 | 6 | 3 | 2025 |
| Reentry Sisters | Portland, ME | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Miami Dade College Foundation | Miami, FL | $143,500 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| Pennsylvania State Education Progra | Harrisburg, PA | $135,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| University of Scranton | Scranton, PA | $130,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| West Virginia University Foundation | Morgantown, WV | $120,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Life University | Marietta, GA | $105,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison | Ossining, NY | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Baltimore Foundation | Baltimore, MD | $95,300 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Washington University in St Louis | St Louis, MO | $86,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Alliance for Higher Education | Denver, CO | $75,575 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Thurman Perry Foundation | Mandeville, LA | $65,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Wesleyan University | Middletown, CT | $55,480 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Marian University | Indianapolis, IN | $52,400 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Grand Valley State University | Allendale, MI | $48,102 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Metropolitan State University | Denver, CO | $48,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Emerson College | Boston, MA | $47,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Villanova University | Villanova, PA | $40,695 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Piedmont Virginia Commnity College | Charlottesville, VA | $37,529 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Alliance for Higher Education in Prison | Los Angeles, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Rhode Island Department of Corrections | Cranston, RI | $33,660 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Texas San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $33,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Herkimer County Community College | Herkimer, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Twin Forks Rising Community Dev Cor | Hattiesburg, MS | $21,870 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Guest House | Alexandria, VA | $3,327 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $2,405 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
18 of 37 (49%) 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 73%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.
- Reentry Sisters
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMEN - Freedom Education Project Puget Sound
HIGHER EDUCATION IN PRISON
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 31 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | $3,702,979 | $3,702,979 |
| 2022 | 1 | $867,565 | $867,565 |
| 2023 | 26 | $753,052 | $34,330 |
| 2024 | 21 | $1,168,310 | $50,000 |
| 2025 | 25 | $2,124,505 | $50,000 |
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.
Where its money goes
43% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $47,500. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in North Carolina.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Sunshine Lady 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: 1055 Greenwood Rd, Lebanon, TN, 37090. 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 56-1977987 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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