While volunteers are the backbone of Shade Tree Clinic, its operation relies on a mix of grants, corporate and private donations, and annual fundraising to keep lights on and patient care uninterrupted.
Yearly benefits for the clinic raise approximately two-thirds of the needed annual operating funds, and gifts from donors make up the remainder of the budget.
An endowment fund is steadily growing to support the clinic’s ongoing work, said Robert Miller, MD, Shade Tree Clinic co-faculty medical director, and the fund is more than halfway to the goal.
When Middle Tennessee businesswoman Betty Bush was referred to Miller for a lung concern, she was so impressed by his exemplary care that she and her husband, Jim, decided to make a donation in Miller’s honor. When she learned about his longtime work at Shade Tree Clinic, she wanted her family’s gift to support the clinic and its mission.
“The clinic is becoming a model for other learning clinics,” she said. “We wanted the money to go to a place where people could utilize the value of it.”
Messer Construction Co. has been a sponsor of the annual Shade Tree Clinic Benefit Concert and Silent Auction, as well as the Shade Tree Trot, for many years. In business since 1932 as a general contractor and construction manager, Messer’s roots in the region run deep. The company’s first project in downtown Nashville was the iconic central post office, which is now the Frist Art Museum.
“We’ve definitely grown our involvement with Shade Tree Clinic through the years, just as we have with other nonprofits in the region,” said Messer Senior Business Development Manager Krista Cashion. “Our purpose as a company is to build better lives for our customers, communities and each other. For everyone involved, supporting Shade Tree Clinic aligns well with that mission.”
An annual dinner and silent auction provide an opportunity for attendees to not only support Shade Tree Clinic by bidding on signed guitars from music stars and family passes to the Nashville Zoo, but also learn more about that year’s successes. The Shade Tree Trot, a 5K fundraiser that draws hundreds of runners and walkers, was run in Nashville for the 17th year in 2025. Benefit concerts for the clinic have also been held, featuring Sheryl Crow, Rivers Rutherford and the Vanderbilt University Orchestra.
“The support we receive from our institutional leaders, VUSM and VUMC faculty, staff and students and their families, the Nashville community, and from corporate and private sponsors is invaluable, and Shade Tree Clinic would not exist as it is without this support,” said Miller. “We are profoundly grateful, and thousands of lives have been positively impacted due to this support.”
Visit shadetreeclinic.org to learn more about the Shade Tree Clinic. To support Shade Tree Clinic or learn more about fundraising events, contact Senior Director of Development Jenny Streams at jenny.streams@vumc.org