· Private foundation
Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k31 grants · $89k
- $10k–50k10 grants · $169k
- $50k–250k4 grants · $323k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HOUSTON BALLET | $99,890 |
| STAGES | $87,627 |
| CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON | $75,000 |
| ST JOHN'S SCHOOL | $60,500 |
| GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY | $40,000 |
| HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY | $26,000 |
| CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL | $21,650 |
| PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY | $17,500 |
| LELAND TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY | $12,500 |
| FRIENDS OF RIVER OAKS THEATRE | $11,000 |
| MD ANDERSON | $10,150 |
| BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP | $10,000 |
| HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| HERMANN PARK CONSERVANCY | $10,000 |
| TEXAS CULTURAL TRUST | $9,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–24, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 73% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.
54 repeat relationships: 29 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $54k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- DMDallas Museum of Art7× · 2017–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +396%
- SStages8× · 2017–2024 · $408k · revenue +8%
- SJSt John's School8× · 2017–2024 · $352k · revenue +130%
Funded once
- HMHOUSTON METHODISTone grant, 2019 · $22k
- EBELITE BAHAMIAN EDUCATION PROGRAMone grant, 2019 · $19k
- ECENTOUCH COUNSELING CENTERone grant, 2018 · $10k
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other…
The Houston Local Information Initiative, Inc. provides public service journalism that reflects the civic needs of the diverse communities comprising Greater Houston.
The Health Museum is an innovative science center that provides an interactive and entertaining experience for all ages, promotes understanding and appreciation of the human body, mind, and spirit, and inspires a lifelong commitment to…
To advance the conservation of birds and their habitats in the Greater Houston Gulf Coast region by acquiring and maintaining critical habitat as bird sanctuaries, providing education programs and nature experiences, and advocating policy…
To completely restore Houston Freedmen's Town as a heritage district that provides America with its only Freedmen's Town.
American Leadership Forum (ALF) brings together, in classes, leaders with diverse perspectives so they can build relationships, learn to dialogue and respectfully differ, and work together for the good of our community.
Our mission is to be the leading advocate for our member physicians, their patients and our community, in promoting the highest standards of ethical medical practice, access to quality medical care, medical education, research, and…
The HISD Foundation is dedicated to mobilizing the local community to support innovative priorities in HISD to improve outcomes for all students in the district. Our mission is to fund projects and programs of merit that fall outside of…
The Houston Parks Board Foundation provides the Houston Parks Board with financial assistance to support operations and park projects.
Houston MediaSource aspires to be the community media center for the City of Houston. HMS provides public access to media platforms that promote citizen engagement, protect the right to free expression, and provide opportunities to advance…
The mission of HGO is to enrich our diverse community through the art of opera. We will do so by creating, curating, exploring, and producing outstanding experiences centered around the human voice.(Continued on Schedule O)
The Houston Bar Foundation supports programs that help provide legal representation to the indigent, promote community understanding of our legal system, and foster the administration of justice.
How this is measured
73 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 73 of the 122 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds Dallas Museum of Art ↗
- Who funds Stages ↗
- Who funds St John's School ↗
- Who funds Contemporary Arts Museum Houston ↗
- Who funds Camp Allen Camp & Conference Center ↗
- Who funds GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Menil Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON ↗
- Who funds The Orange Show Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE BEACON OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON ↗
- Who funds River Oaks Chamber Orchestra ↗
- Who funds Garden Club of Houston ↗
- Who funds Hermann Park Conservancy ↗
- Who funds Buffalo Bayou Partnership Inc ↗
- Who funds Texas Cultural Trust Council ↗
- Who funds Crime Stoppers of Houston Inc ↗
- Who funds Houston Hospice ↗
- Who funds Galveston Bay Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds Breakthrough Houston ↗
- Who funds Friends of River Oaks Theatre Inc ↗
- Who funds Houston Botanic Garden ↗
- Who funds GLENWOOD CEMETERY HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Houston Arboretum & Nature Center ↗
- Who funds YOUNG LIFE ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: The Brown Foundation Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Houston Endowment Inc · The Elkins Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · Strake Foundation · The Powell Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Hobby Family Foundation · John P McGovern Foundation · The Methodist Hospital
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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