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Christy-Houston Foundation
The Christy-Houston Foundation was established in 1986 from the sale of Middle Tennessee Medical Center, a facility originally built with a bequest from Frank...
Christy-Houston Foundation
The Christy-Houston Foundation was established in 1986 from the sale of Middle Tennessee Medical Center, a facility originally built with a bequest from Frank K. Houston and support from the Commonwealth Fund. The conversion of a community hospital into a for-profit entity generated the endowment that now funds the foundation's grantmaking. Anne C. Davis serves as President, with a board that includes local legal and banking professionals such as Mark Follis of Dempsey Vantrease & Follis and William S. Jones of Pinnacle Financial Partners, anchoring the foundation's governance in Rutherford County's professional community. The foundation's deployment strategy is singular: it makes grants for construction costs and capital projects to nonprofits serving Rutherford County, with an emphasis on healthcare. It is not a venture investor, private equity allocator, or fund-of-funds — the corpus is invested to sustain a perpetual grantmaking base, and the mission prohibits the kind of direct dealmaking seen at family offices or pension funds. Grant recipients have included Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital and local health-related organizations, reflecting the foundation's origin and board-level ties to the hospital system. The foundation operates from a single office in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and maintains ties to local institutions including Middle Tennessee State University, where several board members hold advisory roles. It is a member of Grantmakers In Health, the professional network for health conversion foundations. Chairman Michael Ussery, formerly President and COO of National HealthCare Corp, brings operational healthcare experience to the board. The foundation's model — a single-county health conversion foundation — is a legacy of the 1980s wave of nonprofit hospital sales, and it remains among a distinct peer group of similar foundations nationally. The structural differentiator is the foundation's legal DNA: it is a health conversion foundation, a creature of state law and hospital-sale litigation, not a family office or donor-advised fund. Its geographic restriction to Rutherford County is binding, not optional, and its grantmaking is capital-project-focused rather than programmatic, making it a construction funder for local health infrastructure. That constraint — a single county, a capital-grants-only mandate, a board drawn from the local professional community — defines its architecture more than any investment thesis.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1986
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Murfreesboro
Corporate office
1296 Dow St, Murfreesboro, TN, United States
Principals
Anne C. Davis
President
Michael Ussery
Chairman
Mark Follis
Director
William S. Jones
Director
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How was the Christy-Houston Foundation capitalized?
The foundation's corpus came from the proceeds of the 1986 sale of Middle Tennessee Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in Murfreesboro. The hospital had originally been funded by a bequest from Frank K. Houston and support from the Commonwealth Fund. When the hospital was sold to a for-profit entity, the proceeds were used to establish a health conversion foundation — a legal structure common in that era of hospital privatizations.
What is the foundation's grantmaking mandate?
The Christy-Houston Foundation makes grants exclusively for capital projects — primarily construction costs — for nonprofits serving Rutherford County, Tennessee. Its emphasis is on healthcare, consistent with its origin as a hospital-conversion foundation. The geographic restriction to Rutherford County is binding and central to its mission.
Does the Christy-Houston Foundation make venture capital or private equity investments?
No. The foundation is a grantmaker, not an institutional investor in venture capital or private equity. Its corpus is invested conservatively to sustain perpetual grantmaking, and its spending is directed entirely to grants for local capital projects, not fund commitments or direct investments.
Who serves on the foundation's board, and what is its governance structure?
The board is chaired by Michael Ussery, former President and COO of National HealthCare Corp. President Anne C. Davis manages day-to-day operations. Other directors include Mark Follis, a partner at Dempsey Vantrease & Follis, and William S. Jones, an area executive at Pinnacle Financial Partners. The board is composed of local professional and business leaders with deep ties to Rutherford County.
Is the Christy-Houston Foundation related to Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital?
Yes, structurally. The foundation was created from the sale of the hospital now known as Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford. While legally separate, the foundation has board-level ties to the hospital and has made grants to it. This ongoing relationship reflects the foundation's health-conversion origins.
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