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Creative Waco at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Creative Waco

CREATIVE WACO's mission is to grow and support a thriving cultural and creative community in waco and mclennan county, texas.

$295k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$48k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.5MFood & Nutrition$25kYouth Development$15kHuman Services$10kPublic Benefit$10kCommunity Improvement$6k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 11 grants below total $232,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $294,606 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $62,606 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $224k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$925k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC$48,000
WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST$41,500
WACO CIVIC THEATRE$41,500
WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER$33,000
HOT CHILDREN'S THEATRE$10,000
GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND$10,000
HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY$10,000
JACOB DECORDOVA SOCIETY$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
SILENT HOUSE THEATRE CO$10,000
EMPOWERMENT DRIVEN BY KNOWLEDGE$8,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 15%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $53k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $48k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $42k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $39k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $38k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $36k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $30k → 16%WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $30k → 16%TRINITY SPORTS ORGANIZATION: $15k → 16%GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $20k → 16%SILENT HOUSE THEATRE DBA FRACTURED ATLAS: $20k → 16%GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $10k → 16%GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $10k → 16%GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $10k → 16%SILENT HOUSE THEATRE DBA FRACTURED ATLAS: $10k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $8k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $28k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $10k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $10k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $10k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $10k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $10k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $48k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $48k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $45k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $42k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $40k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $40k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $38k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $38k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $38k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $35k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $31k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $30k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $30k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $30k → 16%WACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $30k → 16%WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $30k → 16%CULTIVATE 7TWELVE: $25k → 16%WILD IMAGININGS: $15k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $53k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $40k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $39k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $38k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $35k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $33k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $30k → 16%WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $30k → 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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 13 repeat orgs$141k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
13

Total granted

$1.5M
$93k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+31%

Still filing today

62%
15%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $48k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CulturePublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementEducationRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • WC
    WACO CIVIC THEATRE
    8× · 2017–2024 · $319k · revenue +91%
  • WC
    WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER
    8× · 2017–2024 · $302k · revenue ×20
  • WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $301k · revenue +66%

Funded once

  • C7
    CULTIVATE 7TWELVE
    one grant, 2021 · $25k
  • TS
    TRINITY SPORTS ORGANIZATION
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +286%
  • PA
    PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS OF CENTRAL TEXAS
    one grant, 2019 · $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.

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
Tx Performing Chinese Arts
—
2
Festival On the Brazos

Festival on the brazos is a non-profit volunteer organization that promotes the unique spirit of waco by sharing waco's history, providing educational scholarships, and creating community-minded connections.

Arts & Culture
3
Fine Arts Society of Liberty Texas

Provide fine arts opportunities scholarships to students

Arts & Culture
4
Washington Community Theatre

Provide a low cost theatre options for the community of washington

Arts & Culture
5
Leander Theatre Booster Club

Booster club for public high school theater program

Education
6
Paris Community Theater

Paris Community Theatre is dedicated to producing high-quality entertainment that engages, inspires, educates, and transforms. Through the arts, we provide cultural enrichment, creative development, and opportunities for self-discovery. We…

Arts & Culture
7
Festival of Texas Fiddling

The Festival of Texas Fiddling is dedicated to the preservation, presentation, and performance, and education about of all styles of fiddling and fiddle-associated music played historically and currently in the State of Texas.

Arts & Culture
8
Creative Waco

Creative waco's mission is to grow and support a thriving cultural and creative community in waco and mclennan county, texas.

Arts & Culture
9
Denison Arts Council

To promote tourism awareness in the city of denison, texas.

Human Services
10
Wakulla Community Theater
Arts & Culture
11
T-Town Rocks Music Festival
—
12
Waco 40 Days
Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Waco Civic Theatre; the most unlike its peers is Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity Inc. 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

11 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. 11 of the 31 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
9/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WACO CIVIC THEATRE: $318,700 · Arts & CultureWACO CIVIC THEATREWACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $301,850 · Arts & CultureWACO CREATIVE ART CENTERWACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $300,500 · Arts & CultureWACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INCWaco Cultural Arts Fest: $125,000 · Arts & CultureWaco Cultural Arts FestHEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $94,886 · Arts & CultureHEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY+2 more: $31,000 · Arts & CultureWACO CULTURAL ARTS FEST: $165,000 · OtherWACO CULTURAL ARTS FESTSILENT HOUSE THEATRE DBA FRACTURED ATLAS: $30,000 · OtherSILENT HOUSE THEATRE DBA…CULTIVATE 7TWELVE: $25,000 · OtherCULTIVATE 7TWELVEEMPOWERMENT DRIVEN BY KNOWLEDGE COALITION: $21,229 · OtherEMPOWERMENT DRIVEN BY KN…+16 more: $98,430 · Other+16 moreGB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $59,658 · Public BenefitTRINITY SPORTS ORGANIZATION: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsCEN-TEX HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMM: $8,875 · Community ImprovementPHI IOTA ALPHA FRATERNITY INC: $5,785 · Education
Arts & Culture$1,171,936Other$339,659Public Benefit$59,658Recreation & Sports$15,000Community Improvement$8,875Education$5,785

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWACO CIVIC THEATRE: $318,700 over 8y, 22% of budgetWACO CREATIVE ART CENTER: $301,850 over 8y, 22% of budgetWACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $300,500 over 8y, 10% of budgetWaco Cultural Arts Fest: $125,000 over 4y, 22% of budgetHEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY: $94,886 over 8y, 21% of budgetGB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND: $59,658 over 6y, 41% of budgetWILD IMAGININGS: $23,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetCEN-TEX HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMM: $8,875 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetHEART OF TEXAS CHILDRENS THEATRE: $8,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetPHI IOTA ALPHA FRATERNITY INC: $5,785 over 1y, 3.0% 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 WACO CIVIC THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds WACO CREATIVE ART CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WACO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Waco Cultural Arts Fest ↗
  • Who funds HEART OF TEXAS FILM SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds GB LINDSEY FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND ↗
  • Who funds WILD IMAGININGS ↗
  • Who funds TRINITY SPORTS ORGANIZATION ↗
  • Who funds CEN-TEX HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMM ↗
  • Who funds HEART OF TEXAS CHILDRENS THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds PHI IOTA ALPHA FRATERNITY INC ↗

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.

Waco FoundationCooper FoundationThe Fentress Foundati…Bernard & Audre Rapop…Amazonsmile Foundation
Waco FoundationTX19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Waco Foundation · Cooper Foundation · The Fentress Foundation · Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation · Amazonsmile 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 Creative Waco funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Creative Waco. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 31 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Creative Waco’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