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Dian Graves Owen Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Dian Graves Owen 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.

$24M
Granted FY2024still arriving
202
Grants FY2024still arriving
17
States reached
$4.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$35MPhilanthropy$14MArts & Culture$12MPublic Benefit$7.6MHealth$6.3MRecreation & Sports$4.6MHuman Services$3.6MReligion$3.2MOther$0
02FY2024 · 202 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k61 grants · $223k
  • $10k–50k76 grants · $1.5M
  • $50k–250k45 grants · $4.6M
  • $250k+20 grants · $18M
$20,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$195M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ABILENE HERITAGE SQUARE$4,000,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ABILENE$2,516,400
MCMURRY UNIVERSITY$2,003,500
WEST TEXAS REHAB CENTER$1,255,500
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA$1,175,000
ABILENE YOUTH SPORTS AUTHORITY$1,000,000
GROVER NELSON PARK ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION$1,000,000
FREDERICKSBURG TENNIS CENTER FOUNDATION$625,000
ABILENE IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION$513,302
ADMIRAL NIMITZ FOUNDATION$506,500
DISCIPLESHIP NETWORK OF AMERICA$400,000
FREDERICKSBURG THEATER COMPANY$375,000
THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE$340,000
HARDIN SIMMONS UNIVERSITY$333,333
FRONTIER TEXAS$315,000
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 (FY20–24, $2.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 71% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION: $150k → 15%THE SPARROW PROJECT: $5k → 16%NARROW GATE FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%SCALA FOUNDATION: $48k → 11%BROOKWOOD IN GEORGETOWN: $5k → 6%CALLAHAN COUNTY AGING SERVICES: $10k → 14%THE HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION: $40k → 15%NARROW GATE FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%SCALA FOUNDATION: $25k → 11%CALLAHAN COUNTY AGING SERVICES: $10k → 14%NARROW GATE FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%SCALA FOUNDATION: $24k → 11%CALLAHAN COUNTY AGING SERVICES: $8k → 14%NARROW GATE FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%SCALA FOUNDATION: $24k → 11%CALLAHAN COUNTY AGING SERVICES: $5k → 14%SCALA FOUNDATION: $24k → 11%LITTLE HEARTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $500k → 10%MOUNTBATTEN HOUSE: $2k → 16%REGIONAL VICTIM CRISIS CENTER: $300k → 16%REGIONAL VICTIM CRISIS CENTER: $300k → 16%REGIONAL VICTIM CRISIS CENTER: $150k → 16%GILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING INC: $21k → 10%GILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING: $20k → 10%GILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING: $20k → 10%GILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING: $20k → 10%GILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING INC: $20k → 10%YMCA OF ABILENE: $156k → 16%HARMONY FAMILY SERVICES: $16k → 22%YMCA OF ABILENE: $6k → 16%DISABILITY RESOURCES: $8k → 22%YMCA OF ABILENE: $3k → 16%ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN: $6k → 22%DISABILITY RESOURCES: $6k → 22%ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN: $5k → 22%ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN: $5k → 22%ALLIANCE FOR WOMAN AND CHILDREN: $4k → 22%MEALS ON WHEELS: $3k → 22%JOSEPH THOMAS FOUNDATION: $40k → 16%HENDRICK HOSPICE CARE: $2k → 22%CHRISTIAN HOMES AND FAMILY SERVICES: $30k → 16%HARMONY FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 22%HARMONY FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 22%HARMONY FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 22%CHRISTIAN HOMES AND FAMILY SERVICES: $20k → 16%CHRISTIAN HOMES AND FAMILY SERVICES: $10k → 16%TEXAS FAMILY INSTITUTE: $1k → 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

ME
IL
MI
NY
SD
IA
NJ
CA
CO
MO
VA
DE
AZ
AR
TN
NC
DC
OK
MS
GA
TX
FL
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$74M · 208 repeat orgs$15M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

208 repeat relationships: 147 still active in FY2024, 61 since wound down; 51 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

208
102

Total granted

$74M
$12M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+16%

Still filing today

67%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.6M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesHealthPublic Safety & DisasterCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • MCMURRY UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.1M · revenue +82%
  • HG
    Houston Grand Opera Association Inc
    4× · 2020–2024 · $4.6M · revenue +42%
  • AY
    ABILENE YOUTH SPORTS AUTHORITY
    3× · 2022–2024 · $2.5M · revenue +54% · 98% of their budget

Funded once

  • CO
    CITY OF ABILENE
    one grant, 2021 · $6.1M
  • SU
    SCHREINER UNIVERSITY TEXAS CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $750k
  • TG
    THE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $625k · revenue -15%
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
Texas Tribune Inc

The texas tribune promotes civic engagement and public education across the state by producing and sharing for free public data interactives, statewide events and intensive and daily reporting on texas public policy, politics and current…

Education
2
Texas a&M Research Foundation

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

Education
3
Texas College

To ensure that the student body experiences balanced intellectual, psychological, social and spiritual development, aimed at enabling them to become active productive members of society where they live and work.

Education
4
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
5
Glasstire

Glasstire is a website about visual art in Texas. Our mission is to expand the conversation about visual art in Texas.

Arts & Culture
6
Witte Museum

The witte museum inspires people to shape the future of texas through transformative and relevant experiences in nature, science and culture.

Arts & Culture
7
Texas Government Accountability Foundation Inc

To foster transparency and uphold ethical standards across all levels of government in texas and empower citizens to hold their government accountable.

Public Benefit
8
Historic Waco Foundation Inc

To collect, maintain, preserve, publish and interpret the heritage and history of waco, mclennan county, texas

Arts & Culture
9
Capital of Texas Public Telecommunications Council

Klru is a leader in public media, distinguished by its energetic engagement with the community and for the quality and creativity of content. klru illuminates the wider world of knowledge; the importance of discourse; and the many…

Arts & Culture
10
Dallas International University

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

Education
11
Aclu Foundation of Texas Inc

The ACLU Foundation of Texas is the unyielding guardian and promoter of freedom, justice, equality and dignity of all people, particularly for those who are still fighting to secure the full exercise of their civil rights and liberties.…

Civil Rights
12
Austin Public Library Friends Foundation

Support and strengthen austin public libraries

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Meals On Wheels. 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

229 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. 229 of the 367 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.

22
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
51
Early backer (in before they grew)
226/229
Grantees still filing
140/229
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ABILENE HERITAGE SQUARE INC: $19,001,500 · Arts & CultureABILENE HERITAGE SQUARE INCHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $4,620,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Grand Opera Association I…+25 more: $5,954,164 · Arts & Culture+25 moreCITY OF ABILENE: $6,086,481 · OtherCITY OF ABILENEWEST TEXAS REHAB CENTER: $2,537,500 · OtherWEST TEXAS REHAB CENTERUNITED WAY OF ABILENE INC: $1,534,359 · OtherABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $1,530,000 · OtherSerenity Foundation of Texas: $1,500,000 · OtherABILENE IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION: $2,022,653 · OtherABILENE IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION+113 more: $20,604,859 · Other+113 moreMCMURRY UNIVERSITY: $5,117,000 · EducationMCMURRY UNIVER…HARDIN-SIMMONS UNIVERSITY: $2,418,167 · EducationHARDIN-SIMMONS…SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,125,000 · EducationSOUTH DAKOTA S…THE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION: $625,000 · EducationTEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC: $600,000 · EducationAbilene Education Foundation: $483,550 · EducationPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $450,000 · Education+18 more: $2,120,750 · Education+18 moreCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ABILENE: $10,961,200 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOU…WACO FOUNDATION: $400,000 · Philanthropy+6 more: $443,500 · PhilanthropyABILENE YOUTH SPORTS AUTHORITY: $2,544,006 · Youth DevelopmentFREDERICKSBURG TENNIS CENTER FOUNDATION: $625,000 · Youth DevelopmentBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS LONE STAR: $305,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTH VOICE INC: $300,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentGROVER NELSON PARK ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $2,296,000 · AnimalsAll Kind Animal Initiative: $366,667 · Animals+2 more: $108,500 · AnimalsRegional Crime Victim Crisis Center: $750,000 · Human ServicesLITTLE HEARTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $500,000 · Human ServicesMEALS ON WHEELS: $418,500 · Human ServicesHEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF MINISTRY: $190,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $165,000 · Human ServicesScala Foundation A NJ Nonprofit Corporation: $145,000 · Human ServicesChristian Homes of Abilene Inc: $110,000 · Human ServicesABODE CONTEMPLATIVE CARE: $110,000 · Human ServicesGILLESPIE COUNTY COMMITTEE ON AGING iNC: $100,500 · Human Services+3 more: $131,000 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$29,575,664Other$35,815,852Education$12,939,467Philanthropy$11,804,700Youth Development$3,824,006Animals$2,771,167Human Services$2,620,000

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%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetABILENE HERITAGE SQUARE INC: $19,001,500 over 5y, 65% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ABILENE: $10,961,200 over 5y, 12% of budgetMCMURRY UNIVERSITY: $5,117,000 over 5y, 3.6% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $4,620,000 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetABILENE YOUTH SPORTS AUTHORITY: $2,544,006 over 3y, 98% of budgetHARDIN-SIMMONS UNIVERSITY: $2,418,167 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetGROVER NELSON PARK ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $2,296,000 over 3y, 29% of budgetABILENE IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION: $2,022,653 over 4y, 28% of budgetUNITED WAY OF ABILENE INC: $1,534,359 over 5y, 16% of budgetABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $1,530,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetSerenity Foundation of Texas: $1,500,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetLEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: $1,150,000 over 4y, 96% of budgetSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,125,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetFRONTIER TEXAS INC: $894,500 over 5y, 32% of budgetRegional Crime Victim Crisis Center: $750,000 over 3y, 27% of budgetADMIRAL NIMITZ FOUNDATION: $721,700 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetGoodwill Industries of Dallas Inc: $700,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetDISCIPLESHIP NETWORK OF AMERICA: $670,000 over 4y, 32% of budgetFREDERICKSBURG TENNIS CENTER FOUNDATION: $625,000 over 1y, 98% of budgetTHE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION: $625,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCreate Healthy Management: $601,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC: $600,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetAbilene Philharmonic Association: $564,610 over 5y, 19% of budgetFood Bank of West Central Texas: $533,334 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetGRACE MUSEUM INC: $523,200 over 5y, 9.2% of budgetBill of Rights Institute: $500,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MASON COUNTY COURTHOUSE: $500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetHILL COUNTRY COMMUNITY NEEDS COUNCIL: $487,500 over 5y, 8.3% of budgetAbilene Education Foundation: $483,550 over 5y, 31% of budgetAbilene Chamber of Commerce Foundation: $479,500 over 4y, 55% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $450,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS: $418,500 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetFREDERICKSBURG THEATER COMPANY: $405,000 over 4y, 51% of budgetENCOUNTER FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION: $400,000 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetNOAH PROJECT INC: $400,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetWACO FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetABILENE ARTS ALLIANCE: $375,550 over 5y, 11% of budgetSTONE OWL INSTITUTE INC: $375,514 over 5y, 100% of budgetAll Kind Animal Initiative: $366,667 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE TSTC FOUNDATION: $360,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $360,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS LONE STAR: $305,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $300,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetINTERCOLLEGIATE STUDIES INSTITUTE INC: $300,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetDO NO HARM: $300,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetYOUTH VOICE INC: $300,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetMEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: $275,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBIG COUNTRY ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME: $268,700 over 5y, 9.8% 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.

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.

The Legett FoundationCommunity Foundation …Shelton Family Founda…Kickapoo Springs Foun…The Karakin FoundationBarber FoundationGreathouse FoundationThe Massey Family Cha…The Community Foundat…The Robison Excelsior…Still Water FoundationMoss Adamson Spalding…
The Legett FoundationTX151.5× affinity75 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Legett Foundation · Community Foundation of Abilene · Shelton Family Foundation · Kickapoo Springs Foundation · The Karakin Foundation · Barber Foundation · Greathouse Foundation · The Massey Family Charitable Trust · The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country Inc · The Robison Excelsior Foundation · Still Water Foundation · Moss Adamson Spalding Charities

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 Dian Graves Owen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dian Graves Owen Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    37report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Dian Graves Owen Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Dian Graves Owen 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 367 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 Dian Graves Owen’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