SOURCE OF WEALTH: Frist Capital
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Nashville Community
OVERVIEW: Billy Frist and family move their philanthropy through their Frist Foundation, which is dedicated to sustaining and improving the quality of life in Nashville, Tennessee. Billy is chairman of the foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded over $12.2 million in grants in 2017. Much of the foundation’s recent funding has been directed to the Frist Art Museum and Nashville Zoo. In 2018, the Foundation has also focused on agencies serving vulnerable people.
BACKGROUND: Billy Frist was born in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Thomas F. Frist, Jr., is a billionaire who served as the chairman of the Hospital Corporation of America. Frist graduated from Princeton University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Frist has been Principal of Frist Capital since 2003.
ISSUES:
FRIST FOUNDATION: Established in 1982, the Frist Foundation is dedicated to sustaining and improving the quality of life in Nashville, Tennessee. As one of the larger foundations in Tennessee, it has been a philanthropic leader, serving as initiator, convener and catalyst among donors and nonprofit organizations.Since 2001, much of the foundation’s funding has been directed to the Frist Art Museum, where Frist is a director emeritus. In 2015, the Nashville Zoo began receiving similar strong support. Even more recently, in 2018, the foundation continued a special focus on agencies serving vulnerable people, and in “supporting efforts by nonprofit organizations to develop new sources of earned revenue and improve their managerial and technological infrastructure.”
Grantees have included Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Family And Children’s Service, Teach for America, The Salvation Army, YMCA of Middle Tennessee, Center for Nonprofit Management, University of Virginia, and United Way of Metropolitan Nashville.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the family to stick with its established interest areas.
CONTACT:
The Frist Foundation
3100 West End Avenue, Suite 1200
Nashville, Tennessee 37203-1348
Telephone: (615) 292-3868
askfrist@fristfoundation.org
