Louisiana First Horizon Foundation

Louisiana First Horizon Foundation (EIN 85-0890540) is the Louisiana-facing arm of First Horizon Corporation's national bank foundation, administered from Memphis, TN under a board of Fenstermaker, Burkett, Hoefer, Byrd, Morse, Ardoin, and Casbon — all corporate/community bank leaders rather than program staff, which signals a relationship-and-reputation-driven, not cold-application-driven, funder. IRS data shows only 4 recorded grants totaling $14.9M since 2020, but three of those four are bulk 'Various — See Statement/Attachment for Detail' entries covering dozens of underlying grantees, meaning this is a high-volume, small-check foundation, not a handful of large single gifts. First-time applicants should not expect a marquee six-figure award; the realistic target is a $5,000-$15,000 community grant similar to the $10,000 average check size the national program uses across its 160-grant annual cycle. The Foundation favors organizations already embedded in one of five regions (New Orleans, Acadiana, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Monroe/Shreveport) with a clear operating track record — it explicitly excludes individuals, political organizations, K-12 schools, and pass-through/regranting charities. There is no LOI-to-full-proposal ladder or site-visit stage documented; applications go directly through a single-stage Kadince online portal reviewed by the regional market contact (a First Horizon banker, not a program officer), which means relationship-building with local branch/market leadership before applying is more valuable here than with a typical private foundation. Given the falling asset base ($20M in 2020 down to $9.3M in 2024) and giving trending down each year since 2021, applicants should treat this as a modest, dependable annual grassroots-support line rather than a growth funder, and diversify with the peer foundations below.

Total assets have declined steadily from $20.0M (FY2020) to $9.3M (FY2024) as the entity spent down a one-time $20M contribution received in 2020 (the only contribution recorded in five years of filings). Total giving by fiscal year: $1,476 (2020, first year, pre-deployment) → $3,129,304 (2021) → $5,173,868 (2022, the peak year) → $2,164,750 (2023) → $1,474,775 (2024), a roughly 71% drop from peak to most recent year. Net investment income has been the sole revenue source in most years ($499,280 in 2024 on $9.3M in assets, a ~5.4% yield), meaning future grantmaking capacity is now tied to investment returns on a shrunk asset base rather than fresh corporate contributions. The IRS grantee-of-record data lists only 4 disbursement entries, all in Tennessee on paper and all but one labeled 'General Operating Funds' for 'Various' recipients per attached statements — $10.3M (2 grants), $3.1M (1 grant), and $1.47M (1 grant) — with an average per-entry size of $3.7M, which reflects bulk reporting of many underlying small grants rather than genuinely large single checks. Cross-referencing the national program (160 grants totaling $1.6M in a recent cycle, ~$10,000 average) suggests the true per-organization grant size in Louisiana is concentrated in the $1,000-$100,000 range cited by Instrumentl, skewed toward the low end. No public breakdown by program area is available in the 990 data, but web sources confirm five focus buckets — Arts & Culture, Education & Leadership, Environmental Sustainability, Financial Literacy, and Health & Human Services — with Louisiana-specific activity also touching coastal/environmental resilience ('blue carbon') work outside the standard bucket list. Geographic concentration in the DB sample is 100% Tennessee-recorded (an artifact of centralized Memphis accounting), underscoring that the true Louisiana distribution is only visible through the regional application portals, not the parent 990.

The most concrete recent activity is organizational rather than grantmaking-specific: on January 7, 2026, First Horizon Corporation announced Tony Adams as Gulf States Regional President overseeing Louisiana and Jimmy Dunn's promotion to New Orleans Market President, both of whom sit above the regional foundation contacts (Ashley Morgan in New Orleans) that manage Louisiana grant applications — a leadership refresh worth noting for any organization building a relationship with the bank ahead of applying. On the grantmaking side, the most recent documented cycle awarded $1.6 million across 160 grants of roughly $10,000 each nationally, with named Acadiana-area recipients covered by The Advocate; specific 2025-2026 Louisiana award announcements were not found in this search and may not yet be public. Louisiana First Horizon Foundation has previously supported a coastal 'blue carbon' initiative, indicating at least one instance of Louisiana-specific environmental grantmaking beyond routine community grants. IRS filings show FY2024 (the most recent year on record) giving of $1,474,775, down from $2,164,750 in FY2023 and $5,173,868 in FY2022 — a multi-year decline that predates any 2025-2026 news and should be read as the baseline trend rather than a one-off dip. No leadership changes, new program launches, or controversies specific to the Louisiana entity's board (Fenstermaker, Burkett, Hoefer, Byrd, Morse, Ardoin, Casbon) were found in this research window.

Apply through the correct regional door: the Foundation's Louisiana program is split into five independently timed windows, and using the wrong regional link or missing a deadline (Acadiana closes April 30, 2026) is one of the most avoidable rejection reasons. Baton Rouge and Lake Charles opened October 1, 2025 and run on a rolling basis — apply as early in the cycle as possible, since rolling programs typically slow disbursement once the annual allocation is spent, even without a published hard deadline. Before drafting, identify which of the five focus areas (Arts & Culture, Education & Leadership, Environmental Sustainability, Financial Literacy, Health & Human Services) your program most directly serves and use that exact language in the portal's project description field — reviewers are regional bank employees screening volume, not program officers doing deep mission alignment, so explicit keyword matching helps. Because the Foundation excludes pass-through/regranting charities, K-12 schools, political organizations, and individuals, confirm your organization's structure fits before applying — a fiscal sponsor arrangement should be described carefully to avoid being read as a 'redistributes funds' exclusion. Given the review sits with local market/branch leadership rather than a foundation program team, cultivating a banking relationship or introduction through a First Horizon branch officer in your region (e.g., via the regional contacts: Ashley Morgan in New Orleans, Ashley Dauterive in Acadiana, Patti Oufnac in Baton Rouge, Tracey Barbe in Lake Charles, Donna Seale in Monroe/Shreveport) is more likely to move an application forward than a cold portal submission alone. Expect a modest award size — plan your budget narrative around a $5,000-$15,000 grant rather than assuming eligibility for a six-figure gift, since the national program's most recent disclosed cycle averaged about $10,000 per grant across 160 awards. A common mistake is requesting unrestricted general operating support without a project hook; framing the ask as a specific, measurable community program (workforce development, financial literacy classes, coastal/environmental stewardship, arts enrichment) fits the Foundation's demonstrated preference for named initiatives over blanket operating grants.