Grantmakers › Tennessee

Looking Out Foundation

Nashville, TN · EIN 45-5300890. Reported 58 grants totalling $2,278,413 to 54 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

54organizations funded
$20,000median reported grant
$2,278,413granted, 2021-2024
6%of grantees funded again the next year
15%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. For Looking Out Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a public foundation -- a grantmaker that raises its money from many sources rather than from one donor (NTEE T30).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 54 distinct organizations, with 15% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 6% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $40,000; the smallest was $7,000 and the largest $250,000. 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
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
29 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
11 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
5 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
8 grants
$250,000 Or More
1 grant

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
Children in Conflict IncNew York, NY$350,000222022
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund IncNew York, NY$140,112112022
Center for Contemplative Justice IncNashville, TN$135,000112023
Nashville Lgbt Chamber FoundationNashville, TN$135,000112023
Out MemphisMemphis, TN$135,000112023
Tennessee Equality Project FoundationNashville, TN$135,000112023
Kaleidoscope Ministries IncNew York, NY$100,000112023
The Trevor Project IncW Hollywood, CA$100,000112023
UnmanageableNashville, TN$65,000222023
Tkdubs ProductionsDurham, NC$64,000112021
Carolina Abortion FundDurham, NC$55,494112022
Holler Health Justice IncCharleston, WV$55,494112022
Midwest Access CoalitionChicago, IL$55,494112022
Womens Reproductive Rights Assistance Project WrrapSanta Monica, CA$55,494112022
Fannys School of MusicNashville, TN$40,000112021
International Medical CorpsLos Angeles, CA$34,000112022
Outright Action InternationalNew York, NY$34,000112022
Entertainment Industry FoundationLos Angeles, CA$33,413112022
Newport Festivals Foundation IncManchester, MA$33,413112022
Amnesty International of the USA IncNew York, NY$33,333112022
Campaign for Human Rights IncBrooklyn, NY$33,333112022
Truth for JusticeWashington, DC$33,333112022
Equality Florida Institute IncTallahassee, FL$30,000222024
Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential IncAtlanta, GA$25,000112023
Exalt YouthNew York, NY$20,000112024
Head Count IncNew York, NY$20,000112024
Honor the EarthColstrip, MT$20,000112022
Outright VermontBurlington, VT$20,000112024
Pen American Center IncNew York, NY$20,000112024
Stonier Scholarship IncTowson, MD$20,000222023
Thrive Youth Center IncSan Antonio, TX$20,000112024
South Carolina Philharmonic IncColumbia, SC$15,000112024
Americana Music Association FoundationNashville, TN$10,000112024
Care Dimensions IncDanvers, MA$10,000112023
Childrens Home Society of IdahoBoise, ID$10,000112024
Downtown Streets IncSan Jose, CA$10,000112023
Every Mother CountsNew York, NY$10,000112023
For the GirlsSilver Spring, MD$10,000112023
Grimalkin Records IncDendron, VA$10,000112023
Hello in There FoundationNashville, TN$10,000112022
If ProjectSeattle, WA$10,000112023
Make ShiftBellingham, WA$10,000112024
NAMI New York State IncMenands, NY$10,000112022
Noise for NowSanta Fe, NM$10,000112023
Queen Ann Nzinga Center IncPlainville, CT$10,000112024
Serve Your CityWashington, DC$10,000112024
Support and Feed IncLos Angeles, CA$10,000112022
Tulsa Community FoundationTulsa, OK$10,000112024
Vine Maple PlaceMaple Valley, WA$10,000112024
Youth Haven IncNaples, FL$10,000112023
Onepulse FoundationOrlando, FL$10,000112023
Batala New York IncBrooklyn, NY$8,000112024
Community Kitchen of Monroe County IncBloomington, IN$7,500112024
Hopecam IncReston, VA$7,000112023

4 of 54 (7%) 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.

It also reported 1 group of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

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 the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 51 of 54 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Arts & Culture
10 orgs
Human Services
8 orgs
Civil Rights
6 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 orgs
International Affairs
4 orgs
Health Care
4 orgs
Crime & Legal
2 orgs
Education
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20214$229,000$52,000
202218$903,913$33,413
202320$925,000$10,000
202416$220,500$10,000

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

34% of its giving went to organizations in New York. 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.

New York
$779K
Tennessee
$665K
California
$243K
North Carolina
$119K
West Virginia
$55K
Illinois
$55K
Florida
$50K
Massachusetts
$43K

Down to the city

New York, NY
$727K
Nashville, TN
$530K
Memphis, TN
$135K
Durham, NC
$119K
W Hollywood, CA
$100K
Los Angeles, CA
$77K

Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one

6 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 8 grants totalling $83,019 to Looking Out Foundation. That is 30% of the 20 funders we can see giving to it. Those 6 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a grantmaking organization.

1 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.

What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.

FoundationStateReportedGrantsYearsLast
The Harry and Jeanette WeinbergMaryland$50,000112023
Gqg Partners Community EmpowermentFlorida$20,000112023
Amazonsmile FoundationWashington$10,927332023
Dean Foundation IncColorado$2,000112022
John E Fetzer Institute IncMichigan$50112020
The Pfizer Foundation IncNew York$42112023

A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.

Every foundation in the table above files Form 990-PF, which reports every grant it made and asks outright whether it funds only organizations it picks. That answer is what puts it on this list; no other form asks the question. The grants this organization reports making are on Form 990 Schedule I, which only requires listing recipients paid more than $5,000. Two different populations, so the money in and the money out on this page are not two halves of one figure and must not be added or compared.

Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.

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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 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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund38 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc37 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc36 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program28 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust26 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation24 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 New York.
  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 arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding civil rights in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Looking Out Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 16 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: Po Box 340020, Nashville, TN, 37203.

EIN 45-5300890 · 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.

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