Clayton Family Foundation

About Clayton Family Foundation

The Clayton Family Foundation’s clearest recent pattern is its use of donor-advised fund vehicles at scale: two disclosed grants of $11 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025 both went to Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund in Boston. Alongside that intermediary giving, the foundation also makes direct grants in Knoxville and other Tennessee communities, with a visible emphasis on civic institutions, education, and community infrastructure. Its recent direct support includes funding for the Knoxville Science Museum’s site demolition for a new building and repeated support for United Way of Greater Knoxville for improving lives in the community. The direct grant record shows a foundation that mixes large pass-through commitments with recurring local philanthropy. Grants to Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Episcopal School of Knoxville, and Knox Education Foundation point to support for arts, schools, and public education. Other awards reach college, workforce, and youth-serving organizations such as Motlow College Foundation, Pellissippi State Community College Foundation, Muse Knoxville, and Great Smoky Mountain Council BSA. The overall picture is of a funder that channels most of its disclosed dollars through flexible philanthropic vehicles while also maintaining a steady local presence in East Tennessee.

What Clayton Family Foundation Funds

In education, the foundation backs both K-12 and postsecondary efforts. It gave $100,000 to Knox Education Foundation for public education and $75,000 to Tn State Collab on Reforming Educ for educational reform in each of three years: 2023, 2024, and 2025. It also supported Episcopal School of Knoxville with capital building campaign grants of $100,000 in 2023, 2024, and 2025. For arts and culture, the foundation funded Knoxville Museum of Art with $102,500 in 2024 and $100,000 in 2023 and 2025 for art museum and education. It also gave $75,000 in 2025, $70,000 in 2024, and $62,500 in 2023 to Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for its Christmas concert and endowment. Its youth and community support extends to Muse Knoxville, which received $50,000 in both 2024 and 2025 for the Muse Pop summer program, and Great Smoky Mountain Council BSA, which received $35,000 in 2024 for Camp Buck Toms, at-risk youth.

How Clayton Family Foundation Gives