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Chesmar Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Chesmar Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
65
Grants FY2025still arriving
15
States reached
$510k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$7.1MHousing & Shelter$1.7MHealth$497kCrime & Legal$222kEmployment$173kHuman Services$140kFood & Nutrition$108kPhilanthropy$92kOther$0
02FY2025 · 65 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k34 grants · $175k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $381k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $874k
  • $250k+6 grants · $2.2M
$8,731
Median grant
15
States reached
$32M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOMEAID HOUSTON$510,000
DALLAS COLLEGE FOUNDATION$445,500
LONESTAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION$418,310
SAN JACINTO COLLEGE$302,683
ALAMO COLLEGE FOUNDATION$300,000
NEW HOPE HOUSING$250,000
WHARTON COUNTY JUNIOR COLLEGE FOUNDATION$216,338
HOMEAID AUSTIN$150,000
LITERACY NOW MAKING IT BETTER$125,000
MEALS ON WHEELS MONTGOMERY COUNTY$107,500
ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION$100,450
Individual grant recipient$100,000
EVERYBODY'S PLACE$75,000
CHILD ADVOCATES OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY$35,104
EDFINANCIAL SERVICES$31,013
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY18–24, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Chosen Care Inc: $2k → 10%HOPE HEALING AND HOOVES INC: $2k → 14%FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC: $5k → 16%THE LANDING: $5k → 16%THE LANDING: $3k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
AL
GA
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.3M · 87 repeat orgs$4.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +13% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

87 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 60 since wound down; 38 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

87
130

Total granted

$6.3M
$2.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
0%

Still filing today

30%
15%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 58% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.5M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthPhilanthropyHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesEmploymentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • NH
    NORTH HARRIS MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
    3× · 2023–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +26%
  • AC
    ALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +116%
  • WC
    WHARTON CO JR COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2024–2025 · $252k · revenue +153% · 26% of their budget

Funded once

  • DC
    DALLAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $1.0M
  • JC
    JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY AMERICAN FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $400k
  • SJ
    SAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2024 · $303k · revenue -19%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
2
National Association of College and University Attorneys

To advance the practice of higher education attorneys for the benefit of the institutions they serve.

—
3
Dallas International University

As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.

Education
4
Trinity University

Trinity university is an independent co-educational university whose mission is excellence in the interrelated areas of teaching, research and services.

Education
5
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
6
The University of TexasTexas a&M Investment Management Company

To generate superior long-term investment returns to support The University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems as they provide world-class teaching, push the boundaries of discovery, and achieve excellence in patient healthcare for…

Education
7
South Texas College of Law Houston Inc

South texas college of law houston provides a diverse body of students the opportunity to obtain an exceptional legal education, preparing graduates to serve their community and profession with distinction.

Education
8
Harvey Mudd College

HMC seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities, social sciences and the arts so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the…

Education
9
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
10
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
11
Evangel University

Evangel is a comprehensive christian university that is committed to excellence in educating and equipping students to become spirit empowered servants of god who will impact the church and society globally.

Education
12
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of St Thomas; the most unlike its peers is Movember Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

55 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. 55 of the 257 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
54/55
Grantees still filing
31/55
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DALLAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherDALLAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIONHOMEAID HOUSTON: $752,145 · OtherHOMEAID HOUSTONJAMES COOK UNIVERSITY AMERICAN FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherJAMES COOK UNIVERSITY AMERICAN FOUNDATIONSAN JACINTO COLLEGE: $302,683 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $289,322 · OtherJAMES COOK UNIVERSITY AMERIAN FOUNDATION: $275,000 · OtherWHARTON CO JR COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $251,619 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $209,020 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $201,000 · Other+161 more: $2,192,571 · Other+161 moreNORTH HARRIS MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT: $1,058,971 · EducationNORTH HARRIS MONTGOMERY COMMUNIT…ALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC: $1,050,000 · EducationALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INCDALLAS COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $445,500 · EducationDALLAS COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCBreakthrough Houston: $200,000 · EducationBreakthrough HoustonDONORSCHOOSEORG: $111,725 · Education+9 more: $214,693 · Education+9 moreNew Hope Housing Inc: $500,000 · Housing & ShelterOPERATION FINALLY HOME: $100,000 · Housing & ShelterSLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE INC: $26,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterSAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $302,683 · PhilanthropyHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 · PhilanthropyGHBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $49,511 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Greater Houston: $35,000 · PhilanthropyHelping a HeroOrg: $16,258 · Philanthropy+1 more: $7,150 · PhilanthropyALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $105,450 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $63,825 · HealthPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $50,150 · HealthCASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County Inc: $195,104 · Civil RightsHomeAid Austin Inc: $150,000 · EmploymentHOME BUILDERS INSTITUTE: $13,200 · Employment
Other$5,873,360Education$3,080,889Housing & Shelter$641,000Philanthropy$460,602Health$219,425Civil Rights$195,104Employment$163,200

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNORTH HARRIS MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT: $1,058,971 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC: $1,050,000 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetNew Hope Housing Inc: $500,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $302,683 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetWHARTON CO JR COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $251,619 over 2y, 26% of budgetBreakthrough Houston: $200,000 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetCASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County Inc: $195,104 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetHomeAid Austin Inc: $150,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $111,725 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS MONTGOMERY COUNTY: $107,500 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $105,450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHUMBLE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetOPERATION FINALLY HOME: $100,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $63,825 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $50,150 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGHBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $49,511 over 5y, 11% of budgetCONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Houston: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE INC: $26,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGrand Canyon University: $25,474 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMontgomery County Childrens Advocacy Center Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetREACH UNIVERSITY: $21,150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL ANGELS OF THE WOODLANDS: $17,050 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetHelping a HeroOrg: $16,258 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOME BUILDERS INSTITUTE: $13,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSTON CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSt Mary's University: $11,830 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPREGNANCY HELP CENTER INC DBA ADIRA CLINIC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSojourn Landing DBA The Landing: $8,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of St Thomas: $7,238 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOFUNDMEORG: $7,150 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTuskegee University: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOODLANDS RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCORELUV INTERNATIONAL INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMaryville University - St Louis: $2,831 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCullinan Park Conservancy: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budget
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 NORTH HARRIS MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT ↗
  • Who funds ALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds New Hope Housing Inc ↗
  • Who funds DALLAS COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds WHARTON CO JR COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Breakthrough Houston ↗
  • Who funds CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County Inc ↗
  • Who funds HomeAid Austin Inc ↗
  • Who funds DONORSCHOOSEORG ↗
  • Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS MONTGOMERY COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds HUMBLE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OPERATION FINALLY HOME ↗
  • Who funds BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC ↗
  • Who funds PANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GHBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds United Way of Greater Houston ↗

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.

Greater Houston Commu…Shell USA Company Fou…Marek Family Foundati…Houston Endowment IncAlbert & Ethel Herzst…Greater Texas Foundat…The Woodforest Charit…Astros FoundationHarry S & Isabel C Ca…United Way of Greater…Baker Hughes Foundati…The Arena Energy Foun…
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX38.5× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Marek Family Foundation · Houston Endowment Inc · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Greater Texas Foundation · The Woodforest Charitable Foundation · Astros Foundation · Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation Sentinel Trust Company · United Way of Greater Houston · Baker Hughes Foundation · The Arena Energy Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Chesmar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Chesmar Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 257 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Chesmar’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home