FundersTennessee

The Hand Foundation Inc

Chattanooga, TN · EIN 23-7442979. Reported 93 grants totalling $189,353 to 41 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$189,353granted, 2021-2024
41organizations funded
76%of grantees funded again the next year
$845,273assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Hand Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $2,500; the smallest was $20 and the largest $13,800. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
36 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
45 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
7 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
St Anne's School of AnnapolisAnnapolis, MD$42,000442024
Chattanooga Track ClubChattanooga, TN$27,300442024
Annapolis Maritime MuseumAnnapolis, MD$12,500442024
Cal Ripken SR FoundationBaltimore, MD$12,500222022
Church of the Good ShepherdLookout Mountain, TN$11,100442024
American Red CrossChattanooga, TN$10,075442024
Southern Lit AllianceChattanooga, TN$5,825332024
Back Creek Benefits IncAnnapolis, MD$5,500222024
Chattanooga Rotary ClubChattanooga, TN$5,068442024
Creative Discovery MuseumChattanooga, TN$5,000112024
Historic Annapolis FoundationAnnapolis, MD$5,000112021
Humane Educational Society of ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN$4,500442024
The Bernie HouseAnnapolis, MD$4,500332024
Mckamey Animal Care and Adoption CenterChattanooga, TN$3,500442024
Wild TrailsChattanooga, TN$3,250332024
Black Creek BenefitsChattanooga, TN$3,000112022
Chattanooga Girls Leadership AcademyChattanooga, TN$3,000442024
Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature CenterChattanooga, TN$3,000442024
Stanford University Development SvcsStanford, CA$3,000332024
Friends of HospiceChattanooga, TN$2,500112024
Chattanooga Food BankChattanooga, TN$2,000222024
Marylanddc Hands & VoicesGaithersburg, MD$2,000112023
Room to ReadSan Francisco, CA$2,000112022
Community Foundation Greater ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN$1,700332023
Girls Preparatory SchoolChattanooga, TN$1,500332024
Wutcfm 881Chattanooga, TN$1,500442024
Razia's Ray of Hope FoundationWellesey, MA$1,260112021
Chattanooga State FoundationChattanooga, TN$1,100332024
Wikimedia Foundation IncWashington, DC$1,020332024
Ronald Reagan Presidential FoundationWashington, DC$1,000112021
Prison Prevention MinistryChattanooga, TN$500112023
Alzheimers AssociationChicago, IL$250112021
Harrison United Methodist ChurchHarrison, TN$250112022
National Medical of Honor MuseumArlington, TX$250112021
Rotary FoundationChattanooga, TN$250112023
Ronald Mcdonald House CharitiesChattanooga, TN$150112023
Salvation ArmyChattanooga, TN$150112021
Grateful GobblerChattanooga, TN$105112021
Mary Cameron Robinson FoundationChattanooga, TN$100112021
No Kid Goes HungryWashington, DC$100112021
United WayChattanooga, TN$50112021

22 of 41 (54%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 76%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 37 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
11 grants
Human Services
4 grants
Animal Welfare
4 grants
Environment
4 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Arts & Culture
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202126$56,012$1,000
202221$50,515$1,500
202324$37,826$1,000
202422$45,000$1,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 51% of this one's giving went to organizations in Tennessee. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Tennessee
$96K
Maryland
$84K
California
$5K
District of Columbia
$2K
Massachusetts
$1K
Illinois
$250
Texas
$250

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund12 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsChattanooga Christian Community10 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program9 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Inc9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Tennessee.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Hand Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 100 Scenic Highway Unit 2, Chattanooga, TN, 37350. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 23-7442979 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.