Efficiency Ranking · Tennessee

Most Efficient Charities in Tennessee

20 nonprofits ranked by Efficiency Score. 4 earn an A grade for excellent financial stewardship.

Below: Tennessee's most efficient nonprofits, ranked by the LakeQuality nonprofit efficiency rubric. The rubric combines program-spending ratio (50%), revenue growth consistency (20%), fund reserves (20%), and CEO compensation ratio (10%).

Efficiency rankings do not necessarily favor large or small organizations — the rubric rewards organizations that allocate resources toward programs, run on stable funding, and pay executives in line with sector norms regardless of scale. Efficiency scores are recomputed each time we ingest new Form 990 filings; small movements year-to-year are normal as filing data updates.

#	Organization	Category	Score	Revenue	Program %	Grade
1	Vanderbilt University Medical Center Health	Health	82	$6.9B	78.0%	A
2	Lincoln Memorial University Education	Education	82	$225.1M	78.0%	A
3	Tennessee Performing Arts Center Management Corporation Arts, Culture & Humanities	Arts, Culture & Humanities	81	$30.4M	78.0%	A
4	Highlander Research & Education Center Inc Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	80	$23.7M	78.0%	A
5	Meharry Medical College Education	Education	77	$209.4M	78.0%	B
6	Ducks Unlimited Inc Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	75	$302.2M	78.0%	B
7	St Jude Childrens Research Hospital Inc Health	Health	73	$1.7B	78.0%	B
8	Belmont University Education	Education	73	$454.0M	78.0%	B
9	Vanderbilt University Education	Education	68	$2.3B	78.0%	B
10	University Of The South Education	Education	68	$175.3M	78.0%	B
11	Country Music Foundation Inc Arts, Culture & Humanities	Arts, Culture & Humanities	68	$57.1M	78.0%	B
12	Memphis Zoo Inc Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	68	$25.9M	78.0%	B
13	Tennessee Aquarium Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	67	$31.5M	78.0%	B
14	The University Of Tennessee Foundation Inc Education	Education	63	$211.8M	78.0%	C
15	Rhodes College Education	Education	63	$165.4M	78.0%	C
16	Education Loan Finance Inc Education	Education	63	$155.5M	78.0%	C
17	Nashville Zoo Inc Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	63	$47.4M	78.0%	C
18	Memphis Brooks Museum Of Art Inc Arts, Culture & Humanities	Arts, Culture & Humanities	63	$44.3M	78.0%	C
19	Ducks Unlimited Inc Environment & Animals	Environment & Animals	62	$59.3M	78.0%	C
20	Nashville Symphony Association Arts, Culture & Humanities	Arts, Culture & Humanities	61	$22.0M	78.0%	C

More Tennessee data

See highest paid CEOs in Tennessee or browse all Tennessee nonprofits.

Frequently Asked Questions

The most efficient charities in Tennessee are ranked above by our Efficiency Score. The top-ranked organization scores 82/100.

The Efficiency Score weighs four factors from IRS 990 data: program spending ratio (50%), revenue growth consistency (20%), fund reserves (20%), and CEO compensation relative to revenue (10%). Scores range from 0 to 100.