Asian Culture Center of Tennessee

What it reported doing in 2025

The acctn operates at the intersection of equity and arts education and strives to reach underserved populations and those living in rural communities and/or isolated settings in greater knoxville and beyond. East Tennessee is a wonderful place to live and raise a family, but with 39% of residents in our area under the alice threshold and low-income families lacking access to digital technologies, disparities in education, healthcare, and economic opportunity persist. These barriers to access mean that many of our region's students lack opportunities for meaningful exposure to other ways of life. Believing that authentic engagement in diverse arts improves quality of life, we seek to add value to education in our region by opening up the worlds of k-12 students (and their teachers and caregivers). With the introduction of our india and taiwan outreach programs this year, our initiatives were able to reach 10,000 students in 125 schools with our unique, hands-on afterschool programming focused on immersive language learning, cultural exploration, and personal development. Our organization also serves east Tennessee's asian and pacific islander communities. Despite an unprecedented number of hate crimes targeting the asian american community in 2020, the center for the study of hate and extremism reports that anti-asian hate crime increased nationally by 339% in 2021. It is well documented that the racism experienced by racial and ethnic minorities is linked to poorer health outcomes for these populations. According to a 2022 study conducted at the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health, however, social connectedness serves as an important buffer to mitigating the effects of racism on health and wellbeing. The acctn is committed to uniting people to solve these systemic issues in service of vibrant, healthy, and socially just communities where diverse asian and pacific islander identities and heritages are represented and honored through intergenerational dialogue, educational programming, and cross-cultural exchange. As communities become increasingly diverse, there is also a growing demand for programs that both celebrate and preserve cultural heritage to pass on to future generations. We address this need for culturally relevant educational opportunities by providing children with the tools and resources they need to connect with their roots on the path to becoming confident, multicultural citizens of the world. Deeply connected to the educational leadership of the greater knoxville community, the acctn meets frequently with knoxville's educators k-12 and university leadership. Whether educational institutions are just looking for exposure to other cultures for community school families with fewer resources; opening up children's worldview and making learning fun; or a more philosophical approach centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion; the acctn is happy to tailor its programming to specific needs. Our partnership with the knox county and city governments also allows us to reach thousands of people every year to do our japanese outreach programming by connecting us to knox community schools and knoxville-area senior centers. We strive to reach traditionally opening up the worlds of underserved children through classes and demonstrations of traditional arts like sushi making, origami, calligraphy, tea ceremonies, kimono classes, japanese banjo music, language, dance, and storytelling. The joi coordinator position is key to exposing a greater number of students to new cultural experiences, which furthers our mission of a more peaceful, more diverse, and more harmonious society made up of vibrant and welcoming communities populated by global citizens. We established a scholarship program for sister city middle school students, enabling them to learn about japan and participate in a homestay program. In addition, we supported high school sister city students visiting knoxville, providing them with meaningful homest

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 66.5%; rating input score 66
• Program expense ratio: 88.9%; rating input score 89
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 25.2%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 26.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 33.4% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings