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Laurie and Reed Morian Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Laurie and Reed Morian 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$775k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Science & Tech$3.4MArts & Culture$953kRecreation & Sports$534kEnvironment$301kEducation$162kHealth$82kAnimals$80kHuman Services$71kOther$0
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k13 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $125k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $165k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.1M
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$152M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOUSTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE$775,000
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON$295,000
HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW & RODEO$115,000
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION$50,000
EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL$30,000
BOYS AND GIRLS COUNTRY$30,000
THE PEREGRINE FUND$25,000
CITY BALLET OF HOUSTON$20,000
ST AMBROSE UNIVERSITY$10,000
HOPE AND HEALING CENTER AND INSTITUTE$10,000
CORRIDOR RESCUE$5,000
COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS$5,000
TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION$5,000
SAN JACINTO MUSEUM AND BATTLEFIELD ASSOCIATION$5,000
LIFEHOUSE$3,000
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 (FY19–23, $48k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 7% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ARMS OF HOPE: $750 → 12%SALESMANSHIP CLUB CHARITABLE GOLF OF DALLAS INC: $3k → 14%THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $27k → 6%THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $10k → 6%THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $8k → 6%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

ID
NY
IA
VA
MD
TN
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 14% of Laurie and Reed Morian Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 96% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 83%.

Laurie and Reed Morian Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.5M · 25 repeat orgs$151k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +32% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
17

Total granted

$5.5M
$83k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
+32%

Still filing today

92%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $69k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureHealthAnimalsHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON
    6× · 2019–2024 · $873k · revenue +33%
  • HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC
    5× · 2019–2024 · $453k · revenue +53%
  • PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS
    4× · 2019–2024 · $131k · revenue +113%

Funded once

  • TH
    Texas Heart Institute
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue -51%
  • HC
    Harris County Hospital District Foundation
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue -78%
  • RO
    RIVER OAKS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +33%
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
Trees for Houston

Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.

—
2
The Houston Audubon Society

To advance the conservation of birds and their habitats in the Greater Houston Gulf Coast region by acquiring and maintaining critical habitat as bird sanctuaries, providing education programs and nature experiences, and advocating policy…

Environment
3
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
4
Houston Geological Society Foundation
—
5
Houston Zoo Inc

Mission: Connect communities with animals, inspiring action to save wildlife. Vision: Be a leader in the global movement to save wildlife. (Continued on Schedule O) Houston Zoo, Inc. (HZI) strives to be a zoo that practices exemplary…

Animals
6
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
7
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…

—
8
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
9
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…

—
10
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
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 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…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Methodist Hospital Foundation; the most unlike its peers is City Ballet of Houston. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the 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 55 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
33/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Houston Museum of Natural Science: $3,405,900 · Arts & CultureHouston Museum of Natural ScienceTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $872,680 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON+5 more: $70,000 · Arts & CultureHOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC: $453,440 · Recreation & SportsHOUSTON L…+1 more: $3,000 · Recreation & SportsEPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL: $130,000 · OtherTHE PEREGRINE FUND INC: $125,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $35,000 · OtherSt John's School: $15,000 · OtherTexas Heart Institute: $25,000 · Other+22 more: $111,850 · OtherPARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $130,500 · EnvironmentTexas Agricultural Land Trust: $17,500 · EnvironmentHouston Botanic Garden: $7,500 · EnvironmentHermann Park Conservancy: $6,000 · Environment+4 more: $9,500 · EnvironmentHouston Parks Board: $78,000 · PhilanthropySouth Texas Charity Weekend Inc: $10,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $2,500 · PhilanthropyHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $62,500 · AnimalsBORDERLANDS RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $7,000 · AnimalsTHE IVAN CARTER WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE INC: $5,000 · AnimalsCORRIDOR RESCUE INC: $5,000 · AnimalsTHIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $45,124 · Human ServicesLife House: $25,000 · Human ServicesSalesmanship Club Charitable Golf of Dallas Inc: $2,500 · Human Services+1 more: $750 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$4,348,580Recreation & Sports$456,440Other$441,850Environment$171,000Philanthropy$90,500Animals$79,500Human Services$73,374

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 Museum of Natural Science: $3,405,900 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $872,680 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC: $453,440 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $130,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTHE PEREGRINE FUND INC: $125,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Parks Board: $78,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $62,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $45,124 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTexas Heart Institute: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSan Jacinto Museum and Battlefield Association: $25,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetLife House: $25,000 over 6y, 7.1% of budgetCITY BALLET OF HOUSTON: $20,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetTexas Agricultural Land Trust: $17,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSt John's School: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Hospice: $13,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHarris County Hospital District Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSouth Texas Charity Weekend Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetHope and Healing Center & Institute: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKick Drugs Out of America Foundation: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetST AMBROSE UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOSTEOGENESIS IMPERFECTA FOUNDATION: $9,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetHouston Botanic Garden: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBORDERLANDS RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetHermann Park Conservancy: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRIVER OAKS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetLone Star Flight Museum: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBAYOU PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetThe Texas State Historical Association: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCORRIDOR RESCUE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $4,600 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Arboretum & Nature Center: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSpringSpirit Inc: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSalesmanship Club Charitable Golf of Dallas Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROSE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOASTAL BEND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCoastal Prairie Conservancy: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEALTHCORPS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSmall Steps Nurturing Center: $2,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDucks Unlimited Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEAST SPRING BRANCH FOOD PANTRY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGarden Club of Houston: $1,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMANNED SPACE FLIGHT EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARMS OF HOPE: $750 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 …Strake FoundationAlbert & Ethel Herzst…Shell USA Company Fou…The Elkins FoundationSterling-Turner Found…Centerpoint Energy Fo…Alvin & Lucy Owsley F…The John M O'Quinn Fo…The William Stamps Fa…Houston Endowment Inc
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX40.3× affinity21 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 · Strake Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · Sterling-Turner Foundation · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · Alvin & Lucy Owsley Foundation · The John M O'Quinn Foundation · The William Stamps Farish Fund · Houston Endowment Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Laurie and Reed Morian Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Laurie and Reed Morian 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 55 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 Laurie and Reed Morian’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