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Houston in Action at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Houston in Action

Provide support for 501(c)(3) organizations

$14M
Granted FY2022
14
Grants FY2022
5
States reached
$5.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2022.

Public Benefit$6.5MHuman Services$423kCrime & Legal$422kReligion$341kCommunity Improvement$275kHealth$231kArts & Culture$217kEducation$160kOther$0
02FY2022 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 14 grants below total $6,669,853, the rows itemized in this filing. The $13,783,353 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $7,113,500 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 · FY2022

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $94k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $729k
  • $250k+1 grant · $5.8M
$65,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOUSTON IN ACTION NETWORK$5,846,853
BONDING AGAINST ADVERSITY INC$100,000
GULF COAST LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC$100,000
WEST STREET RECOVERY$90,000
YOUNG INVINCIBLES$78,000
BACK TO EDEN FELLOW PROGRAM$70,000
THE MAHOGANY PROJECT$65,000
MI FAMILIA VOTA EDUCATION FUND$60,000
CRISTINA PROJECT$60,000
URBAN COMMUNITY NETWORK$55,000
W HAYWOOD BURNS INSTITUTE$51,000
ALIANZA AMERICAS$45,000
GREENHOUSE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH$29,000
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND COUNSELING THROUGH THE ARTS$20,000
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 (FY18–22, $403k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BACK TO EDEN FELLOW PROGRAM: $70k → 16%WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20k → 16%BACK TO EDEN FELLOW PROGRAM: $40k → 16%BOAT PEOPLE SOS INC: $20k → 16%Boat People SOS Inc: $10k → 16%URBAN COMMUNITY NETWORK: $170k → 16%URBAN COMMUNITY NETWORK: $55k → 16%NORTHEAST HOUSTON REDEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $10k → 16%Chinese Community Center Inc: $8k → 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.

25%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 21 repeat orgs$6.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +42% for those funded once.

21 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2022, 11 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
24

Total granted

$2.3M
$618k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+42%

Still filing today

95%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 9% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6.1M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’20’21’22
Civil RightsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEducationHealthYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • GC
    GULF COAST LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $210k · revenue +30%
  • PJ
    Pure Justice
    2× · 2020–2021 · $201k · revenue +105%
  • MF
    MI FAMILIA EN ACCION
    3× · 2020–2022 · $154k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • IC
    INTERCULTURAL CENTER FOR HEALTH RESEARCH AND WELLNESS
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -53% · 55% of their budget
  • TM
    The Montrose Center
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -2%
  • JI
    JOLT INITIATIVEgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +63%
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 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
2
Houston Hispanic Forum

Empower and inspire the success of the large and fast-growing hispanic community in the greater houston area thereby strengthening the entire community.

—
3
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
4
Redeeming Justice Network

Houston Legal Aid Center protects and advances the rights of the poor through the poor through the provision of pro bono or reduced cost legal services while also addressing the underlying spiritual and relational issues affecting…

Civil Rights
5
Project Grad Houston

Improving low-income communities by helping individuals get into and through college/career training.

—
6
Fam Intentional Community

To work for justice by building empowered community with refugees, immigrants, and local Houstonians. FAM builds and strengthens diverse communities in Houston through our cornerstone practices of hospitality, mutuality, storytelling, and…

Human Services
7
South Central Houston Action Council Inc

The organization provides medical services in the form of primary and preventive care to underserved and underinsured residents of harris county.

—
8
Every Voice Texas dba Asian Texans for Justice

Asian Texans for Justice connects Asian and Pacific Islander Texans with civic action to build personal and political power.

Civil Rights
9
Houston Immigration Legal ServicesCollab

The mission of the Collaborative is to create a coordinated network of effective and efficient services to assist low-income immigrants access to the information and legal representation that allows them to make choices in their own best…

Philanthropy
10
Houston Voting Initiative

Providing accurate, accessible, and comprehensive voter information and resources to empower informed participation. Actively involving communities in voter registration drives and educational events to foster a culture of civic…

Civil Rights
11
Urban Research and Resource Center Inc

Research and Community Support

Education
12
Justice for All Immigrants

The mission of Justice for All Immigrants is to provide low-income individuals and families with affordable, high quality immigration legal services, and to engage in immigration education and advocacy.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tejano Center for Community Concerns Inc; the most unlike its peers is Back to Eden Fellow Program. 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

47 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. 47 of the 49 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.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/47
Grantees still filing
32/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Houston in Action Network: $5,846,853 · Civil RightsHouston in Action Network+7 more: $422,939 · Civil Rights+7 morePure Justice: $201,100 · Community ImprovementEAST HARRIS COUNTY EMPOWERMENT COUNCIL: $142,540 · Community ImprovementBONDING AGAINST ADVERSITY INC: $100,000 · Community ImprovementCULTURE OF HEALTH - ADVANCING TOGETHER: $57,300 · Community ImprovementMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $45,000 · Community ImprovementGULF COAST LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $210,000 · OtherGULF COAST LE…GREENHOUSE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH: $141,460 · OtherGREENHOUSE IN…GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP INC: $40,000 · OtherASIAN COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES CENTER: $40,000 · OtherAlianza Americas: $106,700 · OtherAlianza Ameri…W HAYWOOD BURNS INSTITUTE: $51,000 · OtherBoys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston Inc: $45,000 · OtherEmgage Foundation Inc: $86,584 · OtherEmgage Founda…Avenue Community Development Corporation: $113,592 · OtherAvenue Commun…West Street Recovery: $110,000 · OtherWest Street R…+7 more: $106,492 · Other+7 moreURBAN COMMUNITY NETWORK: $225,000 · Human ServicesBACK TO EDEN FELLOW PROGRAM: $110,000 · Human ServicesBakerRipley: $50,000 · Human ServicesBOAT PEOPLE SOS INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesWESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER INC OF HOUSTON TEXAS: $20,000 · Human Services+3 more: $27,700 · Human ServicesTHE PROVIDENCE ON SOUTHMORE: $120,000 · EducationThe Cristina Project: $60,000 · EducationHOUSTON WHITE ROSE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $21,000 · EducationWORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT: $20,000 · EducationTHE MAHOGANY PROJECT: $145,000 · Arts & CultureMulticultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts: $31,200 · Arts & CultureVietnamese Culture & Science Association: $20,000 · Arts & CultureINTERCULTURAL CENTER FOR HEALTH RESEARCH AND WELLNESS: $100,000 · HealthThe Montrose Center: $50,000 · HealthASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA: $25,000 · HealthPROSALUD INC: $16,300 · Health
Civil Rights$6,269,792Community Improvement$545,940Other$1,050,828Human Services$452,700Education$221,000Arts & Culture$196,200Health$191,300

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 budgetURBAN COMMUNITY NETWORK: $225,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetGULF COAST LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $210,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetPure Justice: $201,100 over 2y, 20% of budgetMI FAMILIA EN ACCION: $153,972 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetTHE MAHOGANY PROJECT: $145,000 over 2y, 55% of budgetEAST HARRIS COUNTY EMPOWERMENT COUNCIL: $142,540 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetTHE PROVIDENCE ON SOUTHMORE: $120,000 over 2y, 78% of budgetAvenue Community Development Corporation: $113,592 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetBACK TO EDEN FELLOW PROGRAM: $110,000 over 2y, 80% of budgetWest Street Recovery: $110,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetAlianza Americas: $106,700 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetINTERCULTURAL CENTER FOR HEALTH RESEARCH AND WELLNESS: $100,000 over 1y, 55% of budgetYOUNG INVINCIBLES: $98,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetEmgage Foundation Inc: $86,584 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetPOLICHIC ENGAGEMENT FUND: $60,360 over 2y, 45% of budgetThe Cristina Project: $60,000 over 1y, 66% of budgetCULTURE OF HEALTH - ADVANCING TOGETHER: $57,300 over 2y, 19% of budgetW HAYWOOD BURNS INSTITUTE: $51,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetThe Montrose Center: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJOLT INITIATIVE: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetBakerRipley: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $45,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBoys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston Inc: $45,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP INC: $40,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMulticultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts: $31,200 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetLINK HOUSTON: $30,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK EDUCATION FUND: $28,007 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF HOUSTON: $27,600 over 2y, 30% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON WHITE ROSE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $21,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetTEJANO CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CONCERNS INC: $20,892 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOAT PEOPLE SOS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetALLIANCE FOR MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY SERVICES: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER INC OF HOUSTON TEXAS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPROSALUD INC: $16,300 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHURCH WORLD SERVICE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOAT PEOPLE S O S INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNortheast Houston Redevelopment Council: $10,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetCHINESE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $7,700 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMAANAH REFUGEE SERVICE: $5,600 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUNITED WE DREAM NETWORK INC: $5,000 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.

Houston in Action Net…Houston Endowment IncGreater Houston Commu…United Way of Greater…NEO Philanthropy IncThe Methodist HospitalTides FoundationRockwell Fund IncTexas Organizing Proj…The Simmons FoundationEpiscopal Health Foun…The Houston Fund for …
Houston in Action NetworkTX64.2× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Houston in Action Network · Houston Endowment Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · United Way of Greater Houston · NEO Philanthropy Inc · The Methodist Hospital · Tides Foundation · Rockwell Fund Inc · Texas Organizing Project · The Simmons Foundation · Episcopal Health Foundation · The Houston Fund for Social Justice and Economic Equity

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 Houston in Action funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Houston in Action. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%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
    2get no government money at all
    12report 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 Houston in Action?

    Find your warmest path to Houston in Action 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 49 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 2022, released 2022. 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 no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Houston in Action’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