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Kinder Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Kinder 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.

$67M
Granted FY2025still arriving
78
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$19M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$83MRecreation & Sports$80MCommunity Improvement$72MArts & Culture$36MPublic Benefit$25MEnvironment$16MPhilanthropy$8.0MHuman Services$4.6MOther$0
02FY2025 · 78 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $41k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $420k
  • $50k–250k24 grants · $2.8M
  • $250k+24 grants · $64M
$98,762
Median grant
3
States reached
$213M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP$19,433,012
RICE UNIVERSITY$11,869,293
MEMORIAL PARK CONSERVANCY$5,416,557
HOUSTON PARKS BOARD$5,207,549
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI$4,732,150
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA$2,377,494
EMANCIPATION PARK CONSERVANCY$2,371,957
COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS OF HOUSTONHARRIS COUNTY$1,425,933
DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER$1,421,290
CRISTO REY JESUIT$1,420,839
HARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND$1,000,000
EMANCIPATION PARK CONSERVANCY$1,000,000
UNITED WAY$1,000,000
DISCOVERY GREEN CONSERVANCY$938,233
BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP$695,053
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 (FY20–25, $3.1M) 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%BAKER RIPLEY: $922k → 16%BAKER RIPLEY: $72k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1.4M → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $54k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$295M · 40 repeat orgs$41M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
37

Total granted

$295M
$35M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
0%

Still filing today

75%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6.8M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BB
    Buffalo Bayou Partnership Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $71M · revenue +35% · 53% of their budget
  • WM
    William Marsh Rice University
    6× · 2020–2025 · $58M · revenue +68%
  • GR
    Good Reason Houston Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $17M · revenue +16% · 78% of their budget

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $14M
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
    one grant, 2020 · $14M
  • CC
    CATHOLIC CHARITIES INC
    one grant, 2021 · $1.5M · revenue -4% · 49% 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 Freedmen's Town Conservancy Inc

To completely restore Houston Freedmen's Town as a heritage district that provides America with its only Freedmen's Town.

Community Improvement
2
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
3
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…

—
4
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…

—
5
American Leadership Forum Houston Gulf Coast Chapter

American Leadership Forum (ALF) brings together, in classes, leaders with diverse perspectives so they can build relationships, learn to dialogue and respectfully differ, and work together for the good of our community.

—
6
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…

—
7
Houston MediaSource

Houston MediaSource aspires to be the community media center for the City of Houston. HMS provides public access to media platforms that promote citizen engagement, protect the right to free expression, and provide opportunities to advance…

Arts & Culture
8
John P McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science

The Health Museum is an innovative science center that provides an interactive and entertaining experience for all ages, promotes understanding and appreciation of the human body, mind, and spirit, and inspires a lifelong commitment to…

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
Hermann Park Conservancy

Hermann Park Conservancy is a citizens organization dedicated to the stewardship and improvement of Hermann Park - today and for generations to come.

Environment
11
The Houston Parks Board Foundation

The Houston Parks Board Foundation provides the Houston Parks Board with financial assistance to support operations and park projects.

Environment
12
Arts Connect Houston

Arts Connect Houston unites with the greater Houston community to ensure access to high-quality arts education in creative writing, dance, music, theater, and the visual arts for every student, beginning with Houston ISD.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Blue Triangle Multicultural. 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

53 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. 53 of the 85 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.

11
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/53
Grantees still filing
30/53
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Buffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $70,628,534 · EnvironmentBuffalo Bayou Partnership IncMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $40,231,074 · EnvironmentMemorial Park Conservancy Inc+2 more: $115,640 · EnvironmentUNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI: $25,245,619 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MISSOURIIndividual grant recipient: $14,085,631 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $14,016,715 · OtherMUSEUM OF FINE ARTSTHE UNITED WAY INC: $6,123,381 · OtherTHE UNITED WAY INCIndividual grant recipient: $5,725,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $4,000,000 · OtherBUFFALO SOLDIERS MUSEUM: $3,647,744 · OtherTrees For Houston: $3,575,000 · Other+47 more: $25,167,343 · Other+47 moreWilliam Marsh Rice University: $58,376,950 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice Univers…Good Reason Houston Inc: $16,631,635 · EducationGood Reason Houston Inc+4 more: $3,086,542 · EducationHouston Local Information Initiative Inc: $7,500,000 · Arts & CultureProject Row Houses: $4,810,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $3,048,323 · Arts & CultureHouston Arts Alliance: $1,000,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $916,000 · Arts & CultureDiscovery Green Conservancy: $8,645,672 · Recreation & SportsEmancipation Park Conservancy: $5,387,611 · Recreation & SportsHouston Parks Board: $11,008,560 · PhilanthropyGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,764,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $130,000 · PhilanthropyDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $2,075,621 · Human ServicesBakerRipley: $994,391 · Human Services
Environment$110,975,248Other$101,586,433Education$78,095,127Arts & Culture$17,274,323Recreation & Sports$14,033,283Philanthropy$12,902,560Human Services$3,070,012

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 budgetBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $70,628,534 over 6y, 53% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $58,376,950 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $40,231,074 over 5y, 81% of budgetGood Reason Houston Inc: $16,631,635 over 6y, 78% of budgetHouston Parks Board: $11,008,560 over 6y, 15% of budgetDiscovery Green Conservancy: $8,645,672 over 5y, 35% of budgetHouston Local Information Initiative Inc: $7,500,000 over 3y, 77% of budgetTHE UNITED WAY INC: $6,123,381 over 6y, 23% of budgetEmancipation Park Conservancy: $5,387,611 over 5y, 72% of budgetProject Row Houses: $4,810,000 over 6y, 25% of budgetTrees For Houston: $3,575,000 over 5y, 42% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $3,048,323 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetYES Prep Public Schools Inc: $2,438,706 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $2,075,621 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $2,000,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,764,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCoalition for the Homeless of Houston Harris County: $1,524,695 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES INC: $1,500,000 over 1y, 49% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,039,999 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetHouston Arts Alliance: $1,000,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetHARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetBakerRipley: $994,391 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPRH Preservation Inc: $750,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $517,836 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Montrose Center: $500,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetPROUNITAS INC: $500,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetContemporary Arts Museum Houston: $351,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetEMANCIPATION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $350,000 over 2y, 65% of budgetHOUSTON CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT: $330,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetBLUE TRIANGLE MULTICULTURAL: $300,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetLEADERSHIP ISD INC: $250,000 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetHSPVA Friends: $150,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetCENTRAL HOUSTON CIVIC IMPROVEMENT INC: $120,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCAREERSPRING FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetHouston Botanic Garden: $75,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHOUSTON AREA URBAN LEAGUE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMenil Foundation Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY: $50,000 over 5y, 3.6% of budgetUrban Harvest Inc: $40,640 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetAldine Education Foundation: $30,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetBARBARA BUSH HOUSTON LITERACY FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetWILLIAM A LAWSON INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND PROSPERITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetJewish Federation of Greater Houston: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON CHILDREN'S CHORUS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetCENTRAL HOUSTON INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTEXAS MISSIONS OF MERCY: $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% 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 Buffalo Bayou Partnership Inc ↗
  • Who funds William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds Memorial Park Conservancy Inc ↗
  • Who funds Good Reason Houston Inc ↗
  • Who funds Houston Parks Board ↗
  • Who funds Discovery Green Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds Houston Local Information Initiative Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE UNITED WAY INC ↗
  • Who funds Emancipation Park Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds Project Row Houses ↗
  • Who funds Trees For Houston ↗
  • Who funds THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON ↗
  • Who funds YES Prep Public Schools Inc ↗
  • Who funds DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER ↗
  • Who funds The Houston Food Bank ↗
  • Who funds GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Coalition for the Homeless of Houston Harris County ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES INC ↗
  • Who funds THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Houston Arts Alliance ↗
  • Who funds HARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND ↗
  • Who funds BakerRipley ↗
  • Who funds PRH Preservation Inc ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds The Montrose 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.

Houston Endowment IncThe Brown Foundation …Greater Houston Commu…Centerpoint Energy Fo…Shell USA Company Fou…MD Anderson FoundationThe Powell FoundationJohn P McGovern Found…Baker Hughes Foundati…The Sarofim FoundationVivian L Smith Founda…The Elkins Foundation
Houston Endowment IncTX46× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Houston Endowment Inc · The Brown Foundation Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · Shell USA Company Foundation · MD Anderson Foundation · The Powell Foundation · John P McGovern Foundation · Baker Hughes Foundation · The Sarofim Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · The Elkins Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 Kinder Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Kinder 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 85 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Kinder’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