Skip to content
Dan L Duncan Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Dan L Duncan Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$40M
Granted FY2024still arriving
79
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$20M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

50% of Dan L Duncan Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Greater Houston Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 63 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

35
’17
29
’18
47
’20
46
’21
45
’22
54
’23
63
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Philanthropy$111MEducation$31MHealth$23MScience & Tech$11MAnimals$9.9MEnvironment$8.6MArts & Culture$6.1MHuman Services$4.4MOther$0
02FY2024 · 79 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k24 grants · $138k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $248k
  • $50k–250k21 grants · $2.5M
  • $250k+21 grants · $37M
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$701M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$19,759,772
HOUSTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE$2,388,366
HOUSTON ZOO INC$1,514,112
DIAMOND BAR CONSERVATION$1,500,000
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON$1,454,000
SAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION$1,323,500
BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE$1,071,378
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON$1,000,000
RIVER OAKS BAPTIST SCHOOL$1,000,000
EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL$714,286
CHAMBERS COUNTY CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$600,000
GIRL SCOUTS OF SAN JACINTO COUNCIL$505,000
PANOLA COLLEGE$500,000
GALVESTON BAY FOUNDATION$500,000
YES PREP PUBLIC SCHOOLS$458,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $4.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%B I G LOVE CANCER CARE SERVICES: $10k → 10%MOTHER'S MILK BANK AUSTIN: $5k → 10%MOTHER'S MILK BANK AUSTIN: $5k → 10%GALVESTON URBAN MINISTRIES: $250k → 14%GALVESTON URBAN MINISTRIES: $250k → 14%GALVESTON URBAN MINISTRIES: $25k → 14%WORKTEXAS TRAINING CENTER: $100k → 16%BEL INIZIO: $5k → 16%BEL INIZIO: $5k → 16%TODAY'S HARBOR FOR CHILDREN: $302k → 16%TODAY'S HARBOR FOR CHILDREN: $5k → 16%YMCA OF GREATER HOUSTON: $100k → 16%HOUSTON WELCOMES REFUGEES: $5k → 16%HOUSTON WELCOMES REFUGEES: $5k → 16%HOUSTON WELCOMES REFUGEES: $5k → 16%AID TO VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE: $281k → 16%AID TO VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE: $162k → 16%AID TO VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE: $162k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $13k → 16%KIDS' MEALS: $430k → 16%KIDS' MEALS: $410k → 16%HIS GRACE FOUNDATION: $36k → 16%HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: $200k → 16%HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: $200k → 16%HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: $200k → 16%THE WOMEN'S HOME: $250k → 16%CAMP ARANZAZU: $555k → 16%THE WOMEN'S HOME: $100k → 16%THE WOMEN'S HOME: $25k → 16%CAMP ARANZAZU: $5k → 16%THE WOMENS HOME: $5k → 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of Dan L Duncan Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Dan L Duncan Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$100M · 94 repeat orgs$6.8M to everyone else

94 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2024, 40 since wound down; 24 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

94
32

Total granted

$100M
$3.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+30%

Still filing today

77%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.4M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesAnimalsArts & CultureHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • Houston Museum of Natural Science
    7× · 2017–2024 · $11M · revenue +33%
  • Houston Zoo Inc
    7× · 2017–2024 · $7.5M · revenue +16%
  • BC
    Baylor College of Medicine
    6× · 2017–2024 · $3.8M · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • TE
    THE EDISON CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $750k
  • TR
    THE ROSE
    one grant, 2023 · $510k · revenue -7%
  • BH
    BAYSIDE HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $490k · revenue -78% · 71% of their budget
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
Houston Botanic Garden

To enrich life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.

Environment
2
Trees for Houston

Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.

—
3
Houston Independent School District Foundation

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…

—
4
Breakthrough Houston

The mission of Breakthrough Houston (BTH) is to work with highly motivated students to achieve post-secondary success and empower aspiring leaders to become the next generation of educational advocates.

Education
5
Houston Local Information Initiative Inc

The Houston Local Information Initiative, Inc. provides public service journalism that reflects the civic needs of the diverse communities comprising Greater Houston.

Arts & Culture
6
Houston Christian Foundation dba National Christian Foundation Houston

As the Houston affiliate of the National Christian Foundation (NCF), our mission is to serve and encourage givers to grow as faithful stewards who give wisely to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

—
7
Harris County Medical Society

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…

—
8
Rebuilding Together Houston

Rebuilding Together Houston is the only organization in Houston and Harris County providing free home repairs to hundreds of families each year. We employ licensed contractors to restore homes to safe, livable conditions, extending each…

Housing & Shelter
9
The Women's Resource of Greater Houston

See Schedule OThe Women's Resource of Greater Houston helps women and girls make choices toward becoming independent, productive, and financially stable. We fulfill our mission by recruiting volunteer instructors to deliver our programs in…

Philanthropy
10
The Heritage Society

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…

—
11
Texas a&M Research Foundation

To facilitate research and development within the texas a&m university system and selected other entities.

Education
12
Houston Bar Foundation

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.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Peregrine Fund Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

109 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. 109 of the 152 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
109/109
Grantees still filing
71/109
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $108,430,149 · PhilanthropyGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+5 more: $2,686,606 · PhilanthropyUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER HOUSTON: $11,714,077 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALT…UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON: $7,110,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF HOUSTONSAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION: $2,535,000 · OtherRIVER OAKS BAPTIST SCHOOL: $2,015,000 · OtherCamp Aranzazu Foundation: $3,510,000 · OtherCamp Aranzazu FoundationSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $1,858,000 · Other+84 more: $20,227,191 · Other+84 moreBaylor College of Medicine: $3,806,443 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice University: $2,925,008 · EducationYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $2,729,000 · EducationTrinity University: $2,055,000 · EducationSOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $1,065,000 · EducationYES Prep Public Schools Inc: $958,000 · EducationTeach for America Inc: $950,000 · EducationSmall Steps Nurturing Center: $583,000 · Education+14 more: $1,702,630 · EducationHouston Museum of Natural Science: $11,036,896 · Arts & CultureCHAMBERS COUNTY CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $1,900,000 · Arts & CultureGALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $1,425,000 · Arts & CultureRemember the Alamo Foundation: $800,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $1,470,742 · Arts & CultureGalveston Bay Foundation Inc: $3,400,000 · EnvironmentHouston Arboretum & Nature Center: $2,650,000 · EnvironmentHermann Park Conservancy: $1,800,000 · EnvironmentDiamond Bar Conservation: $1,500,000 · Environment+1 more: $275,000 · EnvironmentHouston Zoo Inc: $7,458,070 · AnimalsHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $759,000 · Animals+9 more: $165,000 · AnimalsMemorial Hermann Foundation: $2,650,000 · HealthRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES GREATER HOUSTON INC: $1,440,000 · HealthThe Foundation for the Council on Recovery: $505,000 · HealthBAYSIDE HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $490,485 · HealthTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Health+4 more: $25,000 · Health
Philanthropy$111,116,755Other$48,969,268Education$16,774,081Arts & Culture$16,632,638Environment$9,625,000Animals$8,382,070Health$5,360,485

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 budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $108,430,149 over 7y, 9.2% of budgetHouston Museum of Natural Science: $11,036,896 over 7y, 5.5% of budgetHouston Zoo Inc: $7,458,070 over 7y, 2.3% of budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $3,806,443 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCamp Aranzazu Foundation: $3,510,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetGalveston Bay Foundation Inc: $3,400,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $2,925,008 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $2,729,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetMemorial Hermann Foundation: $2,650,000 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetHouston Arboretum & Nature Center: $2,650,000 over 5y, 31% of budgetSAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION: $2,142,106 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetTrinity University: $2,055,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCHAMBERS COUNTY CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $1,900,000 over 3y, 46% of budgetSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $1,858,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetHermann Park Conservancy: $1,800,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetDiamond Bar Conservation: $1,500,000 over 1y, 94% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES GREATER HOUSTON INC: $1,440,000 over 6y, 8.9% of budgetGALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $1,425,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $1,215,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWONDERLAND EDUCATIONAL ESTATE DBA BEATRICE MAYES INSTITUTE: $1,086,400 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetSOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $1,065,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetYES Prep Public Schools Inc: $958,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $950,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSpringSpirit Inc: $905,000 over 6y, 18% of budgetKIDS' MEALS INC: $840,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetRemember the Alamo Foundation: $800,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $759,000 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetASCENSION SETON HAYS FOUNDATION: $700,000 over 3y, 27% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $610,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAVDA: $604,718 over 3y, 9.8% of budgetHouston Area Women's Center: $600,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetPRO-VISION INC: $585,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetSmall Steps Nurturing Center: $583,000 over 6y, 4.8% of budgetCamp Aranzazu Inc: $560,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetGalveston Urban Ministries: $525,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetTHE ROSE: $510,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetThe Foundation for the Council on Recovery: $505,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetThe Brookwood Community Inc: $505,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetGirl Scouts of San Jacinto Council: $505,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetBAYSIDE HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $490,485 over 1y, 71% of budgetTODAYS HARBOR FOR CHILDREN: $452,788 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetUndies for Everyone: $450,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetMenil Foundation Inc: $450,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetGRACEWOOD INC: $416,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetASCENSION SETON FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S HOME: $380,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetTexas A&M Foundation: $365,130 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE PEREGRINE FUND INC: $350,000 over 4y, 1.2% 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 GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Houston Museum of Natural Science ↗
  • Who funds Houston Zoo Inc ↗
  • Who funds Baylor College of Medicine ↗
  • Who funds Camp Aranzazu Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Galveston Bay Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds YELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds Memorial Hermann Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Houston Arboretum & Nature Center ↗
  • Who funds SAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Trinity University ↗
  • Who funds CHAMBERS COUNTY CHILDRENS MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds STAR OF HOPE MISSION ↗
  • Who funds Hermann Park Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds Diamond Bar Conservation ↗
  • Who funds RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES GREATER HOUSTON INC ↗
  • Who funds GALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds The Houston Food Bank ↗
  • Who funds WONDERLAND EDUCATIONAL ESTATE DBA BEATRICE MAYES INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds YES Prep Public Schools Inc ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds SpringSpirit Inc ↗
  • Who funds KIDS' MEALS INC ↗
  • Who funds Remember the Alamo Foundation ↗
  • Who funds HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ↗
  • Who funds ASCENSION SETON HAYS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds AVDA ↗
  • Who funds Houston Area Women's Center ↗

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…Albert & Ethel Herzst…The Brown Foundation …Strake FoundationShell USA Company Fou…Baker Hughes Foundati…The Elkins FoundationHarry S & Isabel C Ca…Houston Endowment IncThe John M O'Quinn Fo…Centerpoint Energy Fo…Houston Petset
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX62× affinity48 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Strake Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Baker Hughes Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation Sentinel Trust Company · Houston Endowment Inc · The John M O'Quinn Foundation · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · Houston Petset

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 Dan L Duncan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dan L Duncan Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    24report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Dan L Duncan Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Dan L Duncan 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.

    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 152 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Dan L Duncan’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