Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

What it reported doing in 2024

Education and talent development: the availability and preparedness of the nashville area's labor force is the number one driver of economic prosperity. The foundation's work helps ensure high school graduates, opportunity youth, Tennessee reconnect adults, and current workers are equipped with the credentials and experience necessary to increase the availability and preparedness of nashville area talent.new skills ready in october 2020, jpmorgan chase selected nashville as one of six u.s. Sites for the new skills ready network, a $7 million investment over five years to support the seamless transition of underrepresented students from metro nashville public schools (mnps) into postsecondary credentials, degrees, and high-wage, high-demand careers. The foundation serves as site lead and fiscal agent. Partners include mnps, nashville state community college, tcat nashville, middle Tennessee state university, the Tennessee department of education, the Tennessee higher education commission, the Tennessee department of labor and workforce development, the Tennessee board of regents, the Tennessee college access and success network, the scarlett family foundation, and the mayor's office.during fy25, the grant entered an extension period through october 2025, with the foundation invited to apply for and receive a subsequent no-cost extension running through march 2027. Sustainability defined the year's work, with partners embracing shifts that positioned the collaborative to continue beyond the original five-year term.career-based learning at mnps expanded from 55 students in 20212022 to 360 students by the close of fy25, supported by growth in employer partners from 15 to 23. While new skills ready anchored the model, work-based learning infrastructure scaled district-wide beyond the original four nsr high schools. Dual enrollment continued to grow as institutional partners assumed sustained roles in coordination and delivery, with tcat nashville continuing its partnership with mnps to support technical dual enrollment for academies of nashville students.college and career readiness coaches originally seeded by the nsr investment were sustained through school principal funding at all five participating high schools, including glencliff high school, which was added during fy25 and retained its newly placed coach. A foundation-supported pilot at overton high school placed a second coach to test whether expanded capacity could address acute student needs; overton sustained one coach following the pilot, with learnings about coach capacity informing broader strategy. A separate pilot tested a virtual work-based learning model in partnership with hari medical college, completing one cohort of approximately eight students; while the district did not sustain the virtual model, learnings about virtual work-based learning informed go-forward strategy.across the grant period, the new skills ready collaborative brought together more than seventeen partners spanning k-12, postsecondary institutions, state agencies, philanthropic partners, and local organizations, all working to address systemic inequalities and barriers to postsecondary access and persistence. The foundation's role as backbone organization convening and coordinating across the collaborative has been a key driver of progress and a foundation for sustainability. The foundation also convenes the academies of nashville partnership council, the district-wide advisory body for the academies model. During fy25, the council's focus centered on continued growth of work-based learning and embedding the h3 (high-skill, high-wage, high-demand) pathway definition into mnps's pathway approval process. Twenty-one of mnps's thirty-nine career pathways are now aligned with h3 sectors, including healthcare, it, and advanced manufacturing.social capital grant the social capital grant from the gates foundation, administered by education strategy group, concluded in the prior fiscal year. During f

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 36.9%; rating input score 37
• Program expense ratio: 37.4%; rating input score 37
• Fundraising efficiency: $5.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 4.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.45; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 16.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -15.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings