Assisi Foundation Of Memphis Inc.

The Assisi Foundation of Memphis has been the dominant private philanthropic institution in the Greater Memphis area since 1994, distributing over $280 million across three decades. With total assets ranging from $205 million to $238 million and annual grantmaking of $10–14 million, Assisi operates at a scale that dwarfs most regional peers — and its giving philosophy reflects that institutional confidence.

Assisi's core orientation is transformational, capacity-building partnership rather than transactional project support. The grantee database makes this unmistakable: Metal Museum Foundation received $3,000,000 across two grants for expansion; Knowledge Quest secured $2,500,000 over two cycles for the Green Leaf program; William R. Moore College of Technology received $2,000,000 for mechatronics workforce development. The foundation bets on organizations with demonstrated capacity to scale impact — and then funds that scaling directly, including capital campaigns and multi-year programmatic investments.

Four primary program areas define the portfolio: Healthcare and Human Services, Education and Literacy, Social Justice/Ethics, and Cultural Enrichment and the Arts. Capital projects (construction, renovations, technology upgrades, equipment) are explicitly eligible — a meaningful distinction from many foundations that decline infrastructure asks.

The application cycle is quarterly, with deadlines in August, November, February, and May. Critically, specific program areas are assigned to specific deadline windows — literacy programs in Q2 (February deadline), digital news in Q3 (May deadline) — so applicants must align their submission timing accordingly. Notifications arrive approximately three months after each deadline.

For first-time applicants, the most important pre-application step is enrolling in the "Before You Ask" 12-session educational series. The foundation explicitly directs new applicants toward this program, which runs Spring (January–March) and Summer (April–June) cohorts. Completing it signals organizational readiness and establishes a relationship with foundation staff before any formal application. Contact Ernestine Smith at esmith@assisifoundation.org to register.

Geographic eligibility is tightly defined: Shelby, Fayette, and Tipton Counties in Tennessee; Crittenden County, Arkansas; and DeSoto County, Mississippi. Organizations outside this corridor are not eligible regardless of proximity. All applications submit exclusively through the online portal.

IRS 990 filings from 2011 through 2022 reveal a consistent, enduring grantmaking program with annual grants paid ranging from $8.2 million to $12.8 million:

• FY2022: $10,360,140 grants paid; $12,420,647 total giving; $205,049,009 assets
• FY2021: $10,320,838 grants paid; $12,649,468 total giving; $238,137,134 assets
• FY2020: $12,790,937 grants paid; $14,697,564 total giving (elevated — likely COVID-19 emergency response)
• FY2019: $9,557,322 grants paid; $11,289,275 total giving
• FY2015: $11,440,849 grants paid; $13,689,842 total giving

The median grant in the database is $75,000, with a minimum of $2,050 and a maximum of $1,500,000. The average grant is $171,810, but this skews upward due to a small number of very large multi-year awards. Most individual grants cluster between $50,000 and $250,000.

Program area breakdown by estimated dollar volume: - Education & Workforce Development: ~35% (Knowledge Quest $2.5M, William R. Moore $2M, Schoolseed Foundation $1.1M, University of Memphis $500K, Rhodes College $500K, St. Agnes Academy $500K, Junior Achievement $170K, Memphis Teacher Residency $80K) - Healthcare & Human Services: ~25% (St. Jude $1.5M, Harwood Center $800K, Shelby Residential Vocational Services $1M, Room In The Inn $350K, Community Alliance for Homeless $400K) - Arts & Culture: ~15% (Metal Museum $3M, Dixon Gallery $450K, Urban Art Commission $80K, Orpheum Theatre $100K, Historic Clayborn Temple $400K) - Social Justice & Ethics: ~12% (AFM Initiatives $697K, Just City $200K, OutMemphis $250K, Tennessee Innocence Project $70K, Advocates for Immigrant Rights $450K) - Community & Economic Development: ~8% (United Housing $900K, Start Co. $200K, Women's Foundation $200K) - Media, Civic Infrastructure & Membership Dues: ~5% (Memphis Fourth Estate $200K, FADICA $140K, Philanthropy Southeast $25K)

Capital project grants are a recurring and significant category. Multiple top grantees received dedicated capital funding: Schoolseed Foundation's STEM building ($1.1M), St. Agnes Academy Math & Science building ($500K), and William R. Moore campus capital campaign ($2M) confirm that Assisi actively funds infrastructure — not just programming.

The following table compares Assisi Foundation of Memphis to four peer foundations at similar asset levels (~$223M), drawn from IRS records. Note that peer giving estimates are derived from publicly available 990 data and should be treated as approximations.

Assisi stands out among asset-size peers in two critical ways. First, it maintains an open quarterly application cycle — by far the most accessible intake structure in this comparison set. The Gorman Foundation and Schiff Family Foundation operate primarily by invitation, which requires cultivated relationships before any formal application is possible. Second, Assisi's geographic mandate is uniquely concentrated: every dollar goes to a defined 5-county corridor, allowing for deeper community relationships and higher repeat-grantee rates than statewide or national funders. For Memphis-area nonprofits, Assisi's scale, open process, and multi-year capacity-building orientation make it the highest-priority funder to develop a long-term relationship with.

The most operationally significant recent development at Assisi Foundation is the migration to a new online grants management platform, completed in March 2025. Grantees with active awards were automatically transferred; all other organizations — both new applicants and prior grantees without active awards — must create fresh accounts. This technical transition affects every organization planning to apply in 2025 or 2026.

For the 2025-2026 grant cycle schedule, the foundation published firm quarterly deadlines: August 8, 2025 (Q4 2025), November 7, 2025 (Q1 2026), February 6, 2026 (Q2 2026), and May 8, 2026 (Q3 2026). The Q2 cycle (February 6) specifically accepts education-focused applications and general program applications that don't fall under another designated category, with notification by May 1, 2026. The Q3 cycle (May 8) is designated for digital news applications, with notification by August 1, 2026.

The "Before You Ask" educational series scaled to two annual cohorts in 2026, adding a Summer session (April 7 – June 23, Tuesday evenings, 5:30–8:00 PM) alongside the established Spring cohort (January 13 – March 31, Tuesday mornings, 8:30–11:00 AM). This expansion reflects the foundation's investment in building a stronger applicant pipeline.

Jan Young remains Executive Director with FY2022 compensation of $311,316 (up from $282,836 in FY2020), and the board continues to be chaired by Martin F. Thompson with no reported leadership transitions. No major strategic shifts or executive changes were identified in recent public filings.

1. Complete "Before You Ask" before submitting. This is not optional for serious applicants. Assisi's staff explicitly directs all first-time applicants to this 12-session pre-grant series. It runs Spring 2026 (January 13 – March 31, Tuesday mornings) and Summer 2026 (April 7 – June 23, Tuesday evenings). Contact Ernestine Smith at esmith@assisifoundation.org. Organizations that skip this step signal they haven't engaged with the foundation's capacity-building philosophy.

2. Call or email before every new application. Taylor Wamble (Director of Grants Management, twamble@assisifoundation.org, 901-684-1564) is the pre-application contact. A brief eligibility confirmation call prevents submitting in the wrong cycle and demonstrates organizational professionalism.

3. Submit in the correct cycle for your program area. Literacy applications belong in Q2 (February deadline). Digital news applications belong in Q3 (May deadline). Submitting in the wrong quarter means your application will not be reviewed — and with quarterly cycles, a mistimed submission delays you three months.

4. Lead with transformational community change language. Assisi's mission explicitly targets "root causes" and "community-wide transformation." Proposals that frame programmatic work as addressing systemic drivers — not just delivering services — consistently align with how the foundation evaluates impact. Use outcome data that connects organizational activities to population-level change in Memphis.

5. Build a multi-year relationship, not a single ask. The top 10 Assisi grantees all received repeat multi-cycle funding. The foundation's largest grants ($1M–$3M) represent phased investments in organizational scaling. First-time applicants should frame their proposal as the beginning of a partnership, with explicit plans for how additional investment in future cycles would increase impact.

6. Capital projects are fundable — pitch them strategically. Unlike many foundations, Assisi explicitly funds construction, renovations, technology upgrades, and equipment. Frame capital asks as infrastructure enabling programmatic scale, include the total project budget, list co-funders already committed, and describe how the capital investment changes organizational capacity.

7. Demonstrate faith-openness explicitly. Any requirement — written or informal — for staff, volunteers, board members, or program participants to hold or affirm specific religious beliefs is grounds for disqualification. Include a sentence in your narrative confirming your organization welcomes people of all faith traditions.

8. Avoid the excluded categories. Charter schools, summer camps, standalone fundraising events, deficit funding, political activities, scholarships for individuals, and international or national campaigns are explicitly ineligible. If your work touches any of these, clarify the distinction in your proposal.