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FIRST THINGS FIRST INC

EIN 62-1678048 CHATTANOOGA, TN

Browse the largest nonprofits in Tennessee

Revenue 2025
$1,337,876
Expenses 2025
$1,419,425

Program services were 73.7% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
E42Z
Classification
1000
Street
1427 WILLIAMS ST

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2025

Mission

WE PROVIDE RESOURCES THAT GUIDE PEOPLE IN THEIR RELATIONSHIPS SO THEY CAN LIVE BETTER LIVES. OUR VISION IS FOR HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS TO BE PASSED DOWN BY EVERY FAMILY FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.

Activities or mission (Part I)

TO PROVIDE RESOURCES THAT GUIDE PEOPLE IN THEIR RELATIONSHIPS SO THEY CAN LIVE BETTER LIVES.

  • MARRIAGE INITIATIVE - THIS INITIATIVE INCLUDES EDUCATION AND COACHING. THE PURPOSE IS TO EMPOWER COUPLES WITH THE SKILLS NECESSARY TO INCREASE MENTAL HEALTH.

    Expenses $191,794 · Grants $2,307 · Revenue $4,840

  • FATHERING INITIATIVE - THIS INITIATIVE HELPS FATHERS BECOME MORE INVOLVED IN THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN. DADS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IS A GRANT-FUNDED PROGRAM THAT SERVES MEN NAVIGATING THE CHILD SUPPORT SYSTEM. THE GOAL OF THE PROGRAM IS TO HELP DADS BE POSITIVE INFLUENCES IN THEIR CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT, REDUCE RECIDIVISM, HELP DADS IMPROVE THEIR MENTAL HEALTH, AND STRENGTHEN THE CO-PARENTING RELATIONSHIP. EPIC DADS IS A FATHERING PROGRAM TO HELP DADS HAVE POSITIVE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT WITH THEIR CHILDREN, BUILD A COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT, AND STRENGTHEN THE CO-PARENTING RELATIONSHIP. THESE PROGRAMS INCLUDE COACHING AND CASE MANAGEMENT.

    Expenses $232,725 · Grants $8,183

  • PARENTING INITIATIVE - THIS INITIATIVE INCLUDES EDUCATION AND COACHING. THE PURPOSE IS TO INCREASE POSITIVE PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT. THE PROGRAMS PARTNER WITH LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AND A LOCAL FAMILY SHELTER TO PROVIDE PARENTING EDUCATION, COACHING, AND CASE MANAGEMENT. THIS INITIATIVE ALSO INCLUDES MEND, MOMS EMBRACING A NEW DIRECTION, WHICH SERVES MOTHERS NAVIGATING THE CHILD SUPPORT SYSTEM.

    Expenses $543,057 · Grants $11,129

  • CROSS-CUTTING INITIATIVE

    Expenses $46,323

  • COMMUNICATIONS

    Expenses $31,826

As filed on the 2025 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Officers and directors · 2025

As listed in Part VII of the 2025 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Dawn Anderson

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Lorna Durrant

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Brent Faulk

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Ana Faulk

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Lauren Hall

    PRESIDENT AND CEO

    Total calculated
    $114,649
    From this org
    $114,649
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • El Lagutin

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Jennifer Lagutin

    CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Emily Ramsey

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Ryan Lusk

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Jeffrey Maddux

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Emily Maddux

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Mitchell Qualls

    SECRETARY AND VICE PRESIDENT OPERATIONS

    Total calculated
    $82,554
    From this org
    $82,554
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • Patricia Russell

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Peter Serodino

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Brianna Serodino

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Audrey Smith

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Susan Spletzer

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Kirk Stehr

    PAST CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Gerald Ware

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Dannis Weathersby

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2025
    Revenue
    $1,337,876
    Expenses
    $1,419,425
    Contributions
    $1,421,468
    Grants paid
    $21,619
  • 2024
    Revenue
    $1,510,967
    Expenses
    $1,156,368
    Contributions
    $1,527,465
    Grants paid
    $12,252
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $1,214,776
    Expenses
    $1,443,844
    Contributions
    $1,134,714
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $1,445,921
    Expenses
    $1,370,368
    Contributions
    $1,450,997
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2025 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2024 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,260,451
    Expenses
    $1,237,379
    Assets (EOY)
    $302,682

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,246,592
    Expenses
    $1,304,173
    Assets (EOY)
    $290,169

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,574,442
    Expenses
    $1,573,762
    Assets (EOY)
    $211,180

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,618,262
    Expenses
    $1,615,613
    Assets (EOY)
    $250,169

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,449,830
    Expenses
    $1,425,122
    Assets (EOY)
    $187,073

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,346,979
    Expenses
    $1,535,331
    Assets (EOY)
    $161,887

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,032,854
    Expenses
    $1,845,364
    Assets (EOY)
    $361,157

  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,863,907
    Expenses
    $1,794,476
    Assets (EOY)
    $175,632

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 11 November 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 9 November 2026 and read 9 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2025, the newest we have parsed for this organization.