Washington Foundation

The Washington Foundation is a small, closely-held Nashville family foundation, not a competitive grants program. Its board — Dr. Gilbert D. Ezell (President, former longtime Lipscomb University president), Thomas Stumb, James Gooch, Jeff Hazelip, Harold Hazelip, and James N. Denton III — serves entirely uncompensated, and the giving pattern reflects a small circle of trusted, long-relationship grantees rather than open competition. Of 329 recorded grants worth $2,835,500, 308 (94%) went to Tennessee organizations, and the top 50 recipients are almost uniformly logged with the purpose code "UNRESTRICTED GIFT" — general operating support with no program restrictions attached. Critically, nearly every top recipient (Nashville Symphony, Second Harvest Food Bank, Siloam Health, Lipscomb University, Men of Valor, Nashville Rescue Mission, and dozens more) shows a grant_count of 3-4, meaning this foundation renews the same relationships year after year rather than funding new organizations through a competitive cycle. There is no accessible online application: application_instructions is recorded as none, there is no application_form_url or grants_page_url, and the website on file for the foundation (washington.org) is actually Destination DC's tourism site, unrelated to this funder. Directories that track live opportunities (Instrumentl, Candid) confirm zero open grant listings. For a first-time applicant, the realistic path in is not a cold proposal but a warm introduction — through Lipscomb University, a Church of Christ congregation, or one of the Nashville human-service nonprofits already on the recipient list — followed by a direct phone call to the foundation office (615-423-4033), since no other public contact channel exists. Organizations whose mission overlaps with disaster relief, addiction recovery, homelessness, hunger, Christian education, or Nashville performing arts are the closest fit to the demonstrated pattern. Because the foundation's own "typical_grant_size" data shows a median of $5,000 against an $8,434 average, seekers should calibrate expectations toward a modest annual gift renewed over multiple years rather than a single large capital award, and treat a first grant as the opening of an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time transaction.

Across the 329 grants captured in the data (totaling $2,835,500), the average award is $8,619, while the foundation's own typical_grant_size figures (83 grants in the most recent reported year) show a median of $5,000, an average of $8,434, and a range of $1,000 to $35,000 per single grant. The largest cumulative relationships — built from four annual gifts each — top out around $140,500 (Nashville Symphony Association) and $140,000 (Second Harvest Food Bank of Mid-TN), meaning even the biggest beneficiaries typically receive roughly $30,000-$35,000 per year, not one large lump sum. Geographically, giving is overwhelmingly local: 308 of 329 grants (93.6%) went to Tennessee organizations, with small numbers scattered to DC (4), Louisiana (4), Michigan (4), Virginia (4), Texas (3), Kentucky (1), and West Virginia (1) — likely reflecting affiliated Church of Christ institutions or alumni ties outside Nashville rather than a deliberate multi-state program. By purpose, the portfolio splits roughly across four buckets: human services/health and disaster relief (Second Harvest Food Bank $140,000, Faith Family Medical Clinic $135,000, Siloam Health $107,500, Nashville Rescue Mission $91,000, Church of Christ Disaster Relief $84,500, Cumberland Heights $69,000, Alive Hospice $59,000); Christian higher education and schools (Lipscomb University $97,000, Vanderbilt University Law School $40,000, Ezell Harding Christian School $30,250, African Christian Schools $43,000); Nashville arts and culture (Nashville Symphony $140,500, Nashville Repertory Theatre, Nashville Opera, and Tennessee Performing Arts Center each around $56,000, Nashville Ballet $47,000); and faith/ministry organizations (Men of Valor $92,500, Healing Hands International $43,000, Tennessee Prison Outreach Ministry $42,000). On the balance-sheet side, total giving has held in a narrow band for over a decade — $600,000/year (FY2013-2015) climbing steadily to $787,584-$901,531/year (FY2019-2023) — while total assets grew from $8.78M (FY2015) to $12.96M in the most recent FY2025 filing, an increase driven almost entirely by investment gains (net investment income of $213,526-$1,084,681/year) rather than new contributions, which have been effectively $0 every year on record.

Washington Foundation sits at the small end of this Nashville peer set by assets, but its giving-to-assets ratio (roughly 6-8% annually) is on par with or above several larger peers, reflecting a payout-focused rather than endowment-building posture. Like Ezell Foundation — led by overlapping family and board figures and funding many of the same Church of Christ and Lipscomb-affiliated institutions — Washington Foundation operates as a closed, relationship-driven vehicle with no public application infrastructure, a pattern that appears to be the norm rather than the exception among this cluster of Nashville family foundations.

No independent news coverage, press releases, or announcements about the Washington Foundation were found in web searches covering 2025-2026 — consistent with an organization that has no website, no communications staff, and no public grants program to announce. The most current verifiable activity is the foundation's FY2025 Form 990-PF, which shows total assets of $12,958,211 (up from $10,117,459 in FY2023, a roughly 28% increase over two years), total revenue of $2,630,984 (86.7% from asset sales, 13.3% from dividend income, with zero contributions received), and charitable disbursements of $832,413 against total expenses of $978,336. This continues a multi-year upward trend in both assets and giving capacity: total giving rose from $773,151 in FY2019 to $901,531 in FY2021 before settling to $787,584 in FY2023, and the FY2025 disbursement figure of $832,413 suggests giving has stayed in that same $780K-$900K band rather than expanding or contracting sharply. Leadership has also remained stable — Dr. Gilbert D. Ezell continues as President, with Thomas Stumb, James Gooch, Jeff Hazelip, Harold Hazelip, and James N. Denton III listed as directors across multiple years of filings, all uncompensated. No leadership transitions, new program announcements, or notable single large grants beyond the recurring top-recipient pattern (Nashville Symphony, Second Harvest, Faith Family Medical Clinic) were identified.

Because the Washington Foundation publishes no application form, no LOI process, no deadline, and no grants portal, the standard cold-proposal playbook will not work here — treat outreach as relationship-building, not application submission. First, verify current leadership and mailing address by phone (615-423-4033) or the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filing (mailing address: PO Box 159057, Nashville, TN 37215) before sending anything, since there is no confirmed email or online contact. Second, recognize that 94% of dollars stay in Tennessee and the overwhelming majority of top recipients are repeat, multi-year grantees — a first-time, out-of-network organization has a materially harder path than one already connected to Nashville's Church of Christ, Lipscomb University, or established local human-services community. If your organization has any board, alumni, or ministry overlap with Lipscomb University, Church of Christ congregations, or existing grantees like Second Harvest Food Bank, Siloam Health, or Men of Valor, lead with that connection explicitly. Third, calibrate the ask: the typical single grant is $1,000-$35,000 with a $5,000 median, so request general operating support in that range rather than a large capital campaign gift — the foundation's own data shows it overwhelmingly prefers unrestricted gifts over restricted program grants. Fourth, because giving is renewed annually to the same organizations rather than awarded through a competitive cycle, a realistic strategy for a new organization is to seek a modest first gift and demonstrate reliable stewardship, positioning for renewal in subsequent years rather than expecting a large one-time award. Common mistakes to avoid: submitting an unsolicited detailed grant application (there is nowhere to send it and no reviewer role defined), assuming the washington.org website represents this foundation (it is Washington, D.C.'s tourism site and has no connection), and requesting restricted or capital funding when the foundation's entire visible pattern is unrestricted general support.