· Private foundation
John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k15 grants · $64k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $11k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| TEXAS EQUUSE SEARCH | $11,110 |
| CHRISTIAN YOUTH THEATER SAN ANT | $8,000 |
| SAMARITANS PURSE | $7,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $6,000 |
| JAMES DICK FOUNDATION FOR THE PE | $6,000 |
| University of Houston Foundation | $5,000 |
| A MOMENT OF HOPE | $5,000 |
| MIDSHIPMANS FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE | $5,000 |
| BACH SOCIETY HOUSTON | $4,000 |
| MAGNOLIA CITY BRASS BAND | $3,500 |
| GERMAN TEXAN HERITAGE SOCIETY | $2,500 |
| MAIN STREET THEATER | $2,500 |
| BUGLE BOY FOUNDATION | $1,500 |
| Revels Houston | $1,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–23, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.
29 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MSMain Street Theater Houston8× · 2017–2025 · $33k · revenue +19%
- TETEXAS EQUUSEARCH MOUNTED SEARCH AND RECOVERY7× · 2017–2025 · $30k · revenue +90%
- SPSAMARITAN'S PURSE4× · 2022–2025 · $30k · revenue +40%
Funded once
- MOMosbacher Odyssey Academyone grant, 2020 · $7k
- TWTHE WOMEN'S HOMEone grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -6%
- MAMD Anderson Centerone grant, 2017 · $5k
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.
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.
Harmonia Stellarum is an ensemble of professional vocalists and instrumentalists specialized in historically informed performance practice who seek to inspire, entertain, and enlighten audiences with meaningful, historically informed…
The mission of the Houston Museum of Natural Science shall be to preserve and advance the general knowledge of natural science; to enhance in individuals the knowledge of and delight in natural science and related subjects; and to maintain…
To support the operations of the Houston Symphony Society.
The mission of Houston Youth Symphony (HYS) is to nurture personal growth through exceptional music education. HYS envisions a world where exceptional music education is accessible to all.
Founded in 1993, American Festival for the Arts (AFA) provides high quality community-based music education programs and performance opportunities designed primarily for youth and, through its concert series and outreach, seeks to broaden…
The mission of the Houston Symphony is to inspire and engage a large and diverse audience in Greater Houston and beyond through exceptional orchestral performances, educational programs and community activities.
Hopera's mission is to produce live musical performances in unique Houston Area spaces that focus on and empower Houston Area artists. Our Pint-Sized Performance concert series empowers local musicians to create original programs that are…
The mission of HGO is to enrich our diverse community through the art of opera. We will do so by creating, curating, exploring, and producing outstanding experiences centered around the human voice.(Continued on Schedule O)
The mission of International Voiches Houston is to create global harmony by celebrating and giving voice to human difference. More specifically, it is to build cultural bridges across Houston's diverse population by exploring and…
Providing paid opportunities for Houston based singers.
The Houston Local Information Initiative, Inc. provides public service journalism that reflects the civic needs of the diverse communities comprising Greater Houston.
How this is measured
23 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. 23 of the 50 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Main Street Theater Houston ↗
- Who funds TEXAS EQUUSEARCH MOUNTED SEARCH AND RECOVERY ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds Bach Society Houston ↗
- Who funds Camp For All Foundation ↗
- Who funds University of Houston Foundation ↗
- Who funds German-Texan Heritage Society ↗
- Who funds BUGLE BOY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Writers in the Schools ↗
- Who funds Houston Early Music Inc ↗
- Who funds HOUSTON BRASS BAND ↗
- Who funds A Moment of Hope ↗
- Who funds THE WOMEN'S HOME ↗
- Who funds Midshipmans Foundation ↗
- Who funds MOUNT SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds Freewheels Houston ↗
- Who funds TEXAS ADAPTIVE AQUATICS INC ↗
- Who funds HEARING HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Alice Taylor Gray Foundation Acct #G02992 · Shell USA Company Foundation · Houston Arts Alliance · The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn. Bigger dots raise more.
- Best Buddies International Inc: 4% of income from government
- Mount Saint Mary's University Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn?
Find your warmest path to John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn 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.
Play a game based on John and Allie Lea Orton Fdn’s filings →