It’s about taking what you can give and making it meaningful for both you and those who will ultimately benefit. It’s not about the size of the gift; every gift matters.
Give to support a cause, address an issue or help a charitable organization. You can start your own fund, give to an existing fund, or give directly to Middle Tennessee nonprofits.
As support for the African Methodist Episcopal Church's commitment to education, this Endowment Fund will provide financial assistance to young men and women who are training for the ministry in the A.M.E. Church.
Lillian Ashley was born in Manchester, Tennessee, attended Ward Belmont in Nashville and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a degree in elementary education. Following a wonderul life filled with extensive travel, Lillian wanted to give back to her community. She specified her estate be used to benefit the children, animals and environment of Coffee County.
Caring community members in Bellevue, led by Councilman Charlie Tygard, stepped in many years ago to help a family in trouble, and the wheels were set in motion to help many more. Through creation of The Bellevue Community Fund and the guidance of the committee of Bellevue residents that will oversee its work, there is now a dedicated pool of charitable dollars available to support programs serving Bellevue's community.
The Brooks Fund's mission is to encourage the inclusion, acceptance and recognition of Middle Tennessee's lesbian and gay citizens, to protect their dignity, their safety and their health. By supporting and encouraging the development of programs to enhance the quality of life for lesbians and gays in Middle Tennessee, The Brooks Fund hopes to raise philanthropic awareness within the LGBT community. For 25 years, Franklin Brooks was one of the most beloved figures on the Vanderbilt University campus. As an associate professor in the Departments of French and Italian, he was repeatedly recognized for his work in the classroom - as much for his creative teaching technique as for his natural bonhomie and his personal integrity. The Brooks Fund was created to perpetuate another avenue of Franklin's work, his forthright championing of human rights.
The Center for Nonprofit Management helps nonprofits improve their services to the community. It provides training, consulting, and evaluation programs for its 700 member nonprofit agencies throughout Middle Tennessee. It also recognizes excellence in the nonprofit community and serves as an advocate for the nonprofit sector in the Nashville area. This Fund will enable The Center to work toward its vision of enhancing our community through extraordinary nonprofit services.
Through The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, each of us can be empowered to help define and realize our own unique vision of the opportunities which will shape the next century of life in our community. The Community Foundation brings good people and good causes together to help ensure both the excellent stewardship of donor Funds and the wise investment of grants in the counties it serves.
For 30 years, Davis-Kidd Booksellers was a home to people in Nashville who loved not only books, but also learning and sharing ideas. At the closing of this beloved community institution, its founders, Karen Davis and Thelma Kidd, created a way to ensure its spirit lives on. Through this Fund, there will always be charitable resources available to support nonprofit programs in Middle Tennessee dedicated to instilling a love of learning and reading in our community. This Fund carries on the memory of the bookstore which instilled that same love in so many of us.
The Jane G. Eskind Endowment for The Women's Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Established 2011
GivingMatters.com, an initiative of The Community Foundation, provides detailed information about more than 1,200 Middle Tennessee nonprofits to help donors give with meaning, confidence and ease. GivingMatters.com is an important resource to promote and facilitate philanthropy, providing in-depth information about nonprofits? missions, finances, management, and programs and the ability to make credit card gifts directly to organizations. Learn about issues facing Middle Tennessee, find organizations addressing community needs, and give directly through the website.
The Gordon Jewish Community Center is the center of Jewish life in Nashville, providing recreational, educational, social and cultural programs and services to thousands of member families. The GJCC proudly reaches out to its non-Jewish neighbors, inviting everyone in the community to join, play and learn together, regardless of religious affiliation. Their purpose has changed little in the over 100 years since its founding: to enrich lives and strengthen community.
Hands On Nashville creates and provides meaningful opportunities for people to transform their community through volunteer service. The agency leads approximately 900 volunteer projects and works with 200 nonprofit organizations, schools, government agencies, and corporate partners, connecting 24,000 volunteers to community needs in agencies and schools. As a way of recognizing founder Hal Cato's invaluable leadership in creating Hands On Nashville, the board of directors established this Fund in his name.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Community Foundation, and to give back to the generous people of Middle Tennessee, the Make Your Community Flower Fund was established in 2001. This Fund truly makes Middle Tennessee flourish by providing the means to plant flowers and to beautify the place we all call home. Gifts of any size are welcome.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Support Fund has been created to champion community support for the professional men and women who fulfill the public safety mission of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Established by a group of Nashville's business, civic, religious and academic leaders, this Fund is designed to augment the Department's ability to access the best in education, training, technology, communication, outreach and community partnership - on our behalf. Its goal is to make our lives and our community safe.
Congregation Micah was founded in 1992 as an addition to the three other synagogues serving Middle Tennessee. Since then, it has welcomed some 600 families as members, built a permanent home, created a cemetery, and begun an endowment to help ensure its ability to serve the generations to come.
In 1948, Miss Lucy Fellis Dye founded the Nashville Area Home Economics Association for women with degrees in home economics. The association grew, and by 1976 they published "The Nashville Cookbook." The proceeds from the cookbook are used to fund the NAAFCS formerly the Lucy Fellis Dye Fund. NAAFCS benefits several Tennessee counties by providing money for scholarships, grants, conferences, leadership development, etc.
The Nashville Area Junior Chamber of Commerce (NAJCC) was founded to offer civic and social opportunities for young professionals in the Nashville area. Even through changing times, today a core tenet remains: NAJCC opportunities enable members to engage in hands-on professional development and leadership training experiences that are unparalleled. NAJCC Charities helps ensure that Nashville's signature giving spirit continues with each new generation of young professionals dedicating themselves to community enhancement and civic engagement.
NowPlayingNashville.com, an initiative of The Community Foundation, is Middle Tennessee's comprehensive arts and entertainment calendar, with information about music, theatre, sports, dance, museums, kids and family activities, and more, and discount ticket offers. Since its launch, the Website has collaborated with hundreds of community partners, providing one-stop shop information to support arts and entertainment organizations and enrich the Middle Tennessee community.
There are lessons only sports can teach. Sports often provide positive and constructive after-school activities, and they can promote and inspire active, healthy lifestyles and life-long habits among people of all ages, all races, and all backgrounds. Sports and team membership provide: A sense of belonging, self-esteem, hope, and the inspiration of coaches; A source of activity particularly in those critical after-school hours; And a “hook” to attract kids to nonprofit programs also offering tutoring. Through The Sports Fund of The Community Foundation, Middle Tennessee nonprofit organizations providing these opportunities will have a permanent endowed source of funding to ensure support.
It is the mission of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to connect generosity with need through a variety of charitable funds supporting issues and nonprofit organizations across Middle Tennessee. For example, The Fund for Strategic Opportunities, established by The United Way of Metropolitan Nashville 10 years ago, serves to help nonprofits work together to increase efficiency and maximize outcome. In these tough times, it is the goal of The Community Foundation to help preserve the vital services nonprofits provide to our community. Through the Fund, nonprofits are encouraged to transform their organizations to maximize services to clients while minimizing overhead. It offers one-time funding to support not only collaborations and mergers, but also "right-sizing" efforts to generate new revenue sources, outsourcing, and even shutting down.
The Technology Community Fund is intended to support charitable projects and initiatives to improve and enhance technology in Middle Tennessee. The Fund supports the work of local nonprofit organizations as they broadly educate, inform and equip the community of Nashville and its citizens for the technological needs and opportunities of the decades ahead.
The Tomorrow Fund was formed by several professionals in the Middle Tennessee community to foster civic leadership and community awareness among young adults in their twenties and thirties. Through both hands-on charitable service and committee-based grantmaking to support local programs for children, the Fund provides a training ground for the future leaders of Middle Tennessee's community outreach efforts.
DeLois Wilkinson knew the "ins and outs" and the "ups and downs" of community and community building. She loved this community and was a vocal advocate for the changes she thought would make it better. She invested deeply in solutions to its ills. How fitting that, at her passing, her five children established this Fund to support the nonprofits and charitable causes she held dear.
Begun in 1994 with the vision of improving the lives of women and girls in need throughout Middle Tennessee, The Women's Fund has surpassed the $1 million mark as it builds an endowment to support nonprofits working to: encourage the achievement of self-sufficiency for women; promote the health and physical well-being of women and girls; and prevent violence against women and girls. Over the last 16 years, The Women's Fund has awarded more $600,000 in grants to nonprofits serving women and girls in Middle Tennessee.
The Youth Innovation Project is designed to encourage young people to create new solutions to important community problems. The program, administered by the Oasis Center, with support from The Community Foundation and the Mayor's Office of Children and Youth, is one of only eight selected in the country to receive a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Youth board members investigate and learn about local concerns, resources, power structures, service-learning, and youth philanthropy, awarding grants to young people for innovative civic action projects of their own design.