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SYCAMORE INSTITUTE INC

EIN 47-5522558 NASHVILLE, TN

Revenue 2025
$841,885
Expenses 2025
$839,337

Program services were 86.7% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
W05
Classification
2000
Street
315 DEADERICK 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

TO PROVIDE ACCESSIBLE, RELIABLE DATA AND RESEARCH IN PURSUIT OF SOUND, SUSTAINABLE POLICIES THAT IMPROVE THE LIVES OF ALL TENNESSEANS.

  • THE SYCAMORE INSTITUTE IS AN INDEPENDENT, NONPARTISAN PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH CENTER THAT EXISTS TO HELP POLICYMAKERS, THE MEDIA, AND THE PUBLIC UNDERSTAND COMPLEX ISSUES THAT AFFECT AND CONNECT TENNESSEANS' HEALTH AND PROSPERITY. CRAFTING PUBLIC POLICY IS A CONTINUOUS, ITERATIVE PROCESS THAT CALLS FOR STAKEHOLDERS WITH DIVERSE VIEWPOINTS TO WORK TOGETHER. THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HEALTH, PROSPERITY, AND PUBLIC POLICY ARE COMPLICATED, NUANCED, AND WIDE-RANGING. MOVING THE NEEDLE TOWARD A HEALTHIER AND MORE PROSPEROUS TENNESSEE REQUIRES THOUGHTFUL ANALYSIS AND TAKING THE LONG VIEW. BY PROVIDING RELIABLE INFORMATION AND ENGAGING WITH EVERYONE, SYCAMORE HELPS TENNESSEANS OF ALL POLITICAL STRIPES UNCOVER THE FACTS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.

    Expenses $727,810 · Revenue $107,038

As filed on the 2025 return.

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.

  • Brian Straessle

    PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $158,339
    From this org
    $144,566
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $13,773
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $144,566
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $5,597
    Nontaxable benefits
    $8,176
    Filer's total
    $158,339

  • Amanda Spears

    EXECUTIVE VI

    Total calculated
    $140,522
    From this org
    $127,151
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $13,371
    Hours/week
    40

  • Christi Branscom

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Judge Sheila Calloway

    DIRETOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Leslie Hafner

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Kerry Hayes

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Veronica Jamison

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Matthew Marshall

    BOARD CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Jeff McCord

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Doug Overbey

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Karen Pershing

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Dan Springer

    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. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2025
    Revenue
    $841,885
    Expenses
    $839,337
    Contributions
    $605,053
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2024
    Revenue
    $855,949
    Expenses
    $829,079
    Contributions
    $748,540
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $834,850
    Expenses
    $733,758
    Contributions
    $815,109
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $732,194
    Expenses
    $759,326
    Contributions
    $725,671
    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

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $605,162
    Expenses
    $661,559
    Assets (EOY)
    $523,690

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $768,224
    Expenses
    $637,237
    Assets (EOY)
    $595,456

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $665,962
    Expenses
    $568,709
    Assets (EOY)
    $454,338

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $264,318
    Expenses
    $524,361
    Assets (EOY)
    $357,108

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $32,873
    Expenses
    $510,687
    Assets (EOY)
    $600,224

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,500,000
    Expenses
    $207,867
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,292,133

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.

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

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 13 October 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 13 October 2026 and read 29 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2025, the newest we have parsed for this organization.