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Franci Neely Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Franci Neely Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$876k
Granted FY2023
36
Grants FY2023
4
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.1MEducation$113kHealth$71kScience & Tech$53kRecreation & Sports$45kInternational$43kSocial Science$35kEnvironment$15kOther$0
02FY2023 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 36 grants below total $770,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $875,500 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $105,000 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 · FY2023

  • Under $10k22 grants · $66k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $155k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $300k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Metropolitan Opera$250,000
Project Row Houses$100,000
Houston Grand Opera$50,000
The Museum of Fine Arts$50,000
Houston Cinema Arts Society$50,000
Nantucket Historical Association$50,000
Foreign Policy Association$25,000
Rice University Baker Institute$25,000
Houston Cinema Arts Society$25,000
White Heron Theatre Company$25,000
Central Park Conservancy$25,000
Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc$10,000
Museum of Fine Arts Houston$10,000
Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc$10,000
The Museum of Fine Arts$6,500
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 (FY18–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 6%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 6%SEE ATTACHED LIST: $810k → 7%William Jewell College: $100k → 8%SEE ATTACHED LIST: $277k → 7%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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 13 repeat orgs$560k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +65% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2023, 0 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
23

Total granted

$1.1M
$336k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+65%
+18%

Still filing today

69%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $224k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’21’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentHealthRecreation & SportsSocial ScienceOther
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

  • WH
    WHITE HERON THEATER COMPANY
    2× · 2019–2023 · $75k · revenue +11%
  • NH
    NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $70k · revenue +88%
  • CP
    CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC
    3× · 2019–2023 · $55k · revenue +163%

Funded once

  • WJ
    William Jewell College
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -3%
  • MF
    Menil Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2019 · $95k · revenue +0%
  • NH
    Nantucket Historical Society
    one grant, 2019 · $51k
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
National Academy of Design

The mission of the national academy of design is to promote the fine arts in america through exhibition and education.

Education
2
Houston Botanic Garden

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

Environment
3
Natural History Institute

Natural History Institute is organized to provide leadership and resources for a revitalized practice of natural history that integrates art, science, and humanities to promote the health and well-being of humans and the rest of the…

Arts & Culture
4
New Orleans Museum of Art

The mission of the new orleans museum of art is to inspire the love of art; to collect, preserve, exhibit and present excellence in the visual arts; to educate, challenge and engage a diverse public.

Arts & Culture
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
Performing Arts Houston

We connect audiences with exceptional artists through diverse performances and learning experiences. we ignite and cultivate passion for the performing arts to create community, inspire dialogue and enrich our world.

Arts & Culture
7
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
8
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
9
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

CAMH presents extraordinary and thought-provoking arts programming and exhibitions.

Arts & Culture
10
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
11
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
12
Houston Center for Photography Inc

Houston Center for Photography (HCP) strives to encourage artists, build audiences, stimulate dialogue, and promote inquiry about photography and related media through education, exhibitions, publications, fellowship programs, and…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Houston Cinema Arts Society; the most unlike its peers is Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago. 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

33 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. 33 of the 53 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
23/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY: $273,806 · Arts & CultureHOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETYProject Row Houses: $100,000 · Arts & CultureProject Row HousesMenil Foundation Inc: $95,000 · Arts & CultureMenil Foundation IncWHITE HERON THEATER COMPANY: $75,000 · Arts & CultureWHITE HERON THEATER COMPANYNANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: $69,735 · Arts & CultureNANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $50,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Grand Opera Association Inc+13 more: $64,600 · Arts & Culture+13 moreThe Metropolitan Opera: $320,801 · OtherThe Metropolitan OperaThe Museum of Fine Arts: $88,500 · OtherThe Museum of Fine ArtsRice University - Baker Institute: $75,000 · OtherRice University - Baker InstituteNantucket Cottage Hospital: $65,000 · OtherNantucket Cottage HospitalNantucket Historical Society: $51,000 · OtherNantucket Historical Society+21 more: $87,320 · Other+21 moreWilliam Jewell College: $100,000 · EducationWESTMINSTER UNIVERSITY: $5,000 · Education+1 more: $2,500 · EducationCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $55,000 · Recreation & SportsFOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION INC: $25,000 · InternationalNANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentNANTUCKET LAND & WATER COUNCIL INC: $5,000 · EnvironmentINNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $15,000 · Social Science
Arts & Culture$728,141Other$687,621Education$107,500Recreation & Sports$55,000International$25,000Environment$25,000Social Science$15,000

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 budgetHOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY: $273,806 over 3y, 29% of budgetWilliam Jewell College: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetProject Row Houses: $100,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetMenil Foundation Inc: $95,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWHITE HERON THEATER COMPANY: $75,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetNANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: $69,735 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $55,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $16,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCollaborative Arts Institute of Chicago: $10,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetNANTUCKET FILM FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCommunity Foundation for Nantucket Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT: $9,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNANTUCKET LAND & WATER COUNCIL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWimbum Cultural and Development Association-USA Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetWESTMINSTER UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINPRINT INC: $4,810 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetALLEY THEATRE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTexas Defender Service: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Museum of Natural Science: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEED GLOBAL HEALTH: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJames Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts: $2,400 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOFICINA LEGAL DEL PUEBLO UNIDO INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Arts Alliance: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNANTUCKET TIPPING POINT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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…The Brown Foundation …Houston Endowment IncShell USA Company Fou…Oshman FoundationKinder FoundationMechia FoundationAlice Kleberg Reynold…Silicon Valley Commun…National Philanthropi…Jewish Communal FundVanguard Charitable E…
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX18.9× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Houston Endowment Inc · Shell USA Company Foundation · Oshman Foundation · Kinder Foundation · Mechia Foundation · Alice Kleberg Reynolds Meyer Foundat A0479800 · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Jewish Communal Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 53 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $757k of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Franci Neely’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