OVERVIEW: The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is one of the largest funders in the region, awarding grants in western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi. Funding priorities include education, youth development, public health, human services, community development, neighborhood revitalization, racial justice, arts, and nonprofit capacity building.
IP TAKE: The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis has a narrow geographic scope but funds a range of issues affecting the Memphis region. It also provides consulting, capacity-building, and financial advising. For many nonprofits, the most direct pathway to support is through the foundation’s “Forever Funds,” which distribute about $1.5 million in discretionary grants annually, though the total varies by year and program.
CFGM is a relatively transparent and accessible funder. The Foundation encourages applicants to reach out for information, advice, and feedback throughout the application process. While it does not accept applications for any donor-advised funds, there are many ways to engage and build visibility for DAF giving — for example, engaging with foundation staff and maintaining a strong presence in the local nonprofit community.
In 2025, the Foundation announced a pause on some traditional grantmaking. Current and prospective grantseekers should stay tuned for further information and updates.
PROFILE:TheCommunity Foundation of Greater Memphis (CFGM), established in 1969, has emerged as the largest grantmaker in the Memphis area, with community grantmaking exceeding $1 billion since its founding. It seeks to improve the “community through philanthropy.” The community funder manages over 1,000 charitable funds and nearly $1 billion in assets. It makes discretionary grants throughout western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi.
CFGM’s work includes a wide range of services and resources for community members interested in philanthropy. It operates a number of Donor Advised Funds that conduct their grantmaking according to the wishes of community donors, as well as resources for Financial Advisors with clients interested in giving. The foundation also offers nonprofit organizations in the Mid-South an opportunity to invest alongside the foundation’s other assets in its diversified family of investment pools. Project funds are established for short-term use and collaborative efforts, and over 70 nonprofits have created funds with CFGM. It also offers Nonprofit Capacity Building grants for organizations seeking to expand their impact.
The foundation’s core grantmaking efforts center around its Systems Change Grants, which aim to address the “root causes” of pressing issues in the areas of Arts & Culture, Community Development, Economic Development, Education & Youth Development, Health & Wellness, Justice & Safety, and Civic Engagement/Participation. Other Forever Funds programs include Responsive Grants, Give365 Grants, Community Solutions, Rapid Response Grants and Reforming the Housing and Justice Systems.
Grants for Arts & Culture
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that “address the root causes of pressing social, environmental, or cultural issues.”
Grants for Arts & Culture target issues such as the lack of public resources, affordable spaces, and infrastructure for the arts, as well as unfair labor practices and youth access to the arts.
Previous grantees include Carpenter Art Garden, Crosstown Radio Partnership, and Memphis Jazz Workshop, among others
Grants for Community Development and Housing
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that “address the root causes of pressing social, environmental, or cultural issues.”
Grants for Community Development aim to address the lack of affordable housing, renter protections, reliable public transportation, and walkable city infrastructure.
It also supports solutions to sustainable waste management. Grants for Economic Development support job creation, healthy work environments, racial equity in employment and neighborhood improvement.
Past grantees include Explore Bike Share, Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County and Dorothy Day House of Hospitality.
Housing and Justice reform has become a major priority of the Foundation since 2023, as the Foundation seeks to “invest in tackling the root causes of some of our biggest issues to create transformational change.”
- Recent grantees of this initiative include United Housing INC, Just City and Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH).
Grants for Education & Youth
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that work “to solve the root cause(s) of Memphis problem(s) through systems level change and community activation.”
- Grants for Education & Youth Development aim to correct inequities in access to high-quality education and family involvement, as well as the “lack of rigorous and developmentally aligned curricula, from cradle to career.”
- Previous grantees include Arise2Read, Gestalt Community Schools and Memphis Teacher Residency.
In addition to its grantmaking, CFGM offers thirty different Scholarships available to students graduating from Memphis-area high schools.
Each of these scholarships has different eligibility requirements, so interested grantees should read details closely..
Some are available only to students graduating from a specific high school or planning to attend a specific university. For others, applicants must declare their intention to pursue a specific major or career.
Grants for Public Health
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that “create a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential.”
Grants for Health & Wellness support programs to address food insecurity and food deserts, as well as access to quality medical care.
It also supports organizations that are working to address violence as a public health issue.
Grantees include Casaluz, American Heart Association Memphis, and Good Shepherd Pharmacy.
Grants for Racial Equity
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that “invest in innovations and solutions that attack root causes of complex issues…by influencing the behaviors of populations, organizations, and institutions.”
Grants for Justice & Safety support programs that aim to rectify systems that “do not value the lives or safety of Black and Brown youth,” such as “over-reliance on police to meet community needs” and “disproportionate investment in incarceration” in the justice system.
Grantees include the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Just City, and New Dawn Social Services.
Grants for Democracy & Civic Engagement
CFGM’s System Change Grants program aims to create “a just and equitable region where all individuals and groups receive the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential” by supporting organizations that “enable all community members to thrive.” ”
Grants for Civic Engagement/Participation aim to increase leadership and collaboration in organizations that serve communities in the foundation’s giving area.
Grantees include William J. Brennan Jr. Center for Justice, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Memphis Public Interest Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Tennessee.
Important Grant Details:
The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis awarded more than 750 grants in a recent fiscal year. Grants generally range from $10,000 to $30,000, with the funder awarding $137.5 million in total grants.
- Grantees may review the foundation’s Recent Grants page for more information on its grantmaking priorities.
- CFGM’s giving area includes west Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and eastern Arkansas.
- CFGM typically accepts applications for its Forever Grants through one grant cycle per year, although this may no longer be the case as the Foundation reassesses certain grantmaking procedures.
- The deadline to submit a letter of inquiry generally falls in July; for those invited to submit a full proposal, the following deadline is in September.
- Applicants are typically notified of the foundation’s decision in December.
- The Responsive Grants program, a subprogram of Forever Funds, will distribute $800,000 based on feedback from a widely distributed survey to nonprofits rather than on traditional evaluation methods.
- System Change Grants—previously a key Forever Funds initiative providing roughly $500,000 in multi-year general operating support—may no longer be active.
- Applicants for Nonprofit Capacity Building grants must attend a mandatory information session in August before submitting their proposal in September. Applicants will be notified of the foundation’s decision following a site visit in October or November.
- Grant decisions are made by members of the foundation’s Board of Governors.
- The foundation does not accept applications or requests for funding for any of its donor-advised funds.
- Grants are generally for multi-year general operating support and capacity building, rather than project specific funding.
- Applicants are welcome to contact Director of Community Impact Aerial Ozuzu at aozuzu@cfgm.org for inquiries or feedback prior to submitting an application.
- Grant seekers can keep up with what the foundation is doing in its newsroom and events page.
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