What UN Foundation does

The UNFoundation is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based grassroots giving circle organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and founded in 2011 by Teal Thibaud, Ben Garrison, Tavis Salazar, Bijan Dhanani, and Joda Thongnopnua after winning the crowd-favorite award at a 48 Hour Launch competition. The organization's operating model is a community giving circle: individual trustees contribute $100 per month, those contributions are pooled, and the full amount (100%) is redistributed as a monthly micro-grant to a Chattanooga-based community project. The sole funding criterion is that the project make Chattanooga better, with grants sized at $3,000 per month (raised from the original $1,000 at inception).

The UNFoundation operates without any proprietary technology platform. Its offerings consist of a monthly grant program, a trustee membership product, an online application portal, an email newsletter, and HOLLER — a community contact page where prospective applicants can seek free advice. Donation processing and tax-deductible contribution handling are provided through a strategic partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga. The organization is volunteer-run by a four-person board (Melanie Silva, Summer Elliott, Michelle Dunn-Loveless, Lisa Atkins) and has recently added a formal Executive Director role; the entity remains small (1–10 people).

Since inception, the UNFoundation has funded over 200 community projects and is on pace to reach $500,000 in cumulative dollars invested in Chattanooga by 2026. The customer base is geographically segmented to Chattanooga, serving local nonprofits, youth programs, food access initiatives, arts projects, and community organizers whose seed-stage funding needs fall outside the multi-year, established-nonprofit criteria of larger foundations. Go-to-market is community-led: marketing relies on social media, public radio (WUTC), word-of-mouth through trustees, partnerships with other local foundations, community events such as Beer + Advice, and an email newsletter.

Name

UN Foundation

Legal name

The UNFoundation

Website

https://theunfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The UNFoundation is a Chattanooga-based grassroots giving circle that pools $100/month trustee contributions to fund monthly $3,000 micro-grants for community projects, having funded over 200 initiatives since 2011.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Philanthropy and Micro-Grants

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Federated Giving Organizations (e.g., United Way-type) (BPAGAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)

Keywords

• Community philanthropy
• Micro-grant funding
• Giving circle
• Grassroots nonprofit
• Local community grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Chattanooga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Trustee Monthly Contributions: Members (trustees) each contribute $100 per month, pooling funds to make micro-grants. 100% of contributions go directly to funded projects. The organization operates out of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga for tax-deductible processing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The UNFoundation operates a grassroots giving circle in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where volunteer trustees each contribute $100 per month (12-month commitment) to pool funds for monthly micro-grants of up to $3,000 awarded to local community projects. Grant applications are reviewed monthly by trustees who vote on recipients, with the sole criterion being that the project makes Chattanooga better. The organization is run entirely by volunteers and operates out of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga for tax-deductible contribution processing.

Product overview

UN Foundation is a grassroots giving circle operating as a single unified offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization runs a monthly micro-grant program where trustees contribute $100/month to pool funds for $3,000 grants to Chattanooga community projects. The core product is the grant program itself, supplemented by trustee membership, a community contact page (HOLLER), and an application portal. The organization has funded over 200 projects since 2012 and is on pace to reach $500,000 in total investment in 2026. No technology product modules, APIs, or SaaS features are offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• UNFoundation Grant Program Monthly micro-grant program awarding up to $3,000 to community projects in Chattanooga. The sole criterion is that the project makes Chattanooga better. Applications are reviewed monthly and winners are selected by trustee vote. The program has funded over 200 projects since inception.
• Trustee Membership Monthly membership program where trustees contribute $100 per month for a 12-month commitment, pooling funds to award grants. Trustees participate in monthly meetings to review applications and vote on grant recipients, and gain networking and community engagement opportunities. 100% of contributions go directly to funded projects.
• HOLLER

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 projects funded since 2012
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Community Foundation of Greater ChattanoogacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe UNFoundation operates out of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, which handles donation processing and provides tax-deductible contribution options for trustees.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ioby: Community-led crowdfunding platform focused on neighborhood resilience and local projects, combining crowdfunding with volunteer-led giving mechanics. Comparable as a community-centered funding intermediary for small local projects.
• Patronicity: Civic crowdfunding platform pairing local donor dollars with government match funds for community improvement projects. Comparable mechanism of pooling small contributions to fund hyper-local community initiatives.
• Spark MicroGrants: Funds and facilitates community-led development through small seed grants paired with community mobilization, operating a comparable small-grant-plus-local-decision-making model.
• The Awesome Foundation: Global network of micro-chapters (each typically ~10 trustees) pooling small monthly contributions to award $1,000 grants to awesome projects. Operates as a decentralized giving circle model nearly identical to UNFoundation's structure.

Broad incumbents

• United Way: Federated giving organization pooling workplace contributions and distributing to local nonprofits—the closest established analog to UNFoundation's pooled-trustee grantmaking model, but operating at national scale.
• GlobalGiving: Large-scale nonprofit crowdfunding marketplace connecting donors to vetted grassroots projects worldwide. Comparable as an intermediary channeling small-dollar donor contributions to local community projects at greater scale.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): National community development intermediary that pools and channels philanthropic and corporate capital to local projects. Comparable role as a grantmaking intermediary funding community-level initiatives, though at far greater scale.

Others

• Bonterra / Network for Good: Provides donation processing, CRM, and fundraising infrastructure for small nonprofits. Comparable as the technology back-office layer serving small nonprofit grantmakers like UNFoundation.
• Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga: The community foundation under which UNFoundation operates for tax-deductible processing and donation administration. A direct operating partner and structural enabler of UNFoundation's grant program.

Emerging players

• Kiva: Crowdfunding platform pooling small individual contributions (often $25+) to fund loans and grants for entrepreneurs and community projects. Comparable small-dollar pooled funding of grassroots initiatives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/chattskates
• Xx.com/TheUNFoundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/theunfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tavissalazar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UN Foundation