When CMA Award-winning Musician of the Year Charlie Worsham came to CFMT in 2016, he was carrying gratitude for home and a new scholarship idea that would change the trajectory of his giving career.

Charlie remembered being a student himself, a boy from Grenada High School in Mississippi, who filled out every scholarship application he could find. He knew what it meant to be believed in and to have someone invest in your future. Charlie wanted to help students from his hometown pursue the arts with the same kind of support that helped shape his own path.

That early vision brought him to Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and to Rondal Richardson, CFMT’s director of entertainment philanthropy and now executive director of Music Community Foundation. Together, they helped give Charlie’s giving goals the structure needed to last. CFMT manages the scholarship application and approval process, helping ensure fairness while allowing Charlie to stay focused on the mission behind the fund.

It also brought him to Kristen Korzenowski, who worked for the Foundation at the time.

“What I remember most about my time at CFMT was the sense of community and purpose behind the work,” said Kristen. “That’s actually where I met Charlie, when he launched his Follow Your Heart Scholarship Fund in January 2016. I admired not only his passion for giving back, but also his intelligence, humility, and genuine nature.”

Charlie and Kristen began dating later that year. After ten years, they are married, raising two children and stewarding their giving together.

In 2023, they launched the Compadres Fund, an effort to support nonprofit initiatives near and far that champion arts education, mental health services, and assistance to those who need it most.

For Charlie, CFMT made that next step possible because the partnership had already been built over time. When he and Kristen were ready to expand their giving, they did not have to start from scratch.

“I’ll never forget being backstage at a gig in Las Vegas, on the phone with Rondal, trying to describe what Kristen and I hoped to build,” said Charlie. “I barely knew what questions to ask, much less how to choose the right fund for our needs. Rondal’s intuition and compassion took the lead as he described the possibilities. Within a couple weeks, the Compadres Fund was born.”

Rondal has watched Charlie and Kristen’s giving evolve from its beginnings as a focused scholarship fund into a shared family practice with room to grow.

“Kristen and Charlie, at the core of who they are, are guides for all of us,” said Rondal. “They show up, dig deeply, and build lasting change. They teach me as much about philanthropy as I could ever pretend to teach them.”

For Kristen, the partnership also reflects what many people may not see from the outside.

“A lot happens behind the scenes to make sure donors and nonprofits feel supported and cared for,” said Kristen. “That human side of the work is something I don’t think people always see from the outside.”

Today, Charlie’s leadership on the Music Community Foundation advisory council marks another step in a relationship that has continued to grow alongside his career.

“Simply put, we couldn’t have done any of this without CFMT,” said Charlie.

What began as one scholarship fund has become something larger: family philanthropy, broader community support, and a long-term partnership built to evolve. Ten years in, Charlie and Kristen’s story shows that sustained giving is not just about one generous act. It is about having the right people, structure, and trust in place so generosity can keep growing as life changes.