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Pierce Runnells Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Pierce Runnells 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.

$260k
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$70k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$461kEnvironment$330kAnimals$220kArts & Culture$185kYouth Development$90kHuman Services$80kHousing & Shelter$53kEducation$45kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $185k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $70k
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UT HEALTH HOUSTON$70,000
TEXAS SCIENCE AND HISTORY MUSEUM$20,000
DEPELCHIN CHILDRENS CENTER$20,000
HOPE HOUSE$15,000
HOUSTON SYMPHONY$15,000
HORSELINK$15,000
PEASE PARK CONSERVANCY$15,000
TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL$15,000
THE BROOKWOOD COMMUNITY$10,000
TREEFOLKS$10,000
HELPING HAND HOME FOR CHILDREN$10,000
PX PROJECT$10,000
ICFC$10,000
HOUSTON AUDOBON SOCIETY$10,000
ZACH THEATER$10,000
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 (FY23–24, $80k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%HELPING HAND HOME FOR CHILDREN: $10k → 10%DEPELCHIN CHILDRENS CENTER: $50k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDRENS CENTER: $20k → 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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 18 repeat orgs$195k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
9

Total granted

$1.3M
$140k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+13%

Still filing today

83%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $55k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureRecreation & SportsEducationHuman ServicesAnimalsOther
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

  • H
    HORSELINK
    8× · 2017–2024 · $160k · revenue +115% · 25% of their budget
  • PP
    PX Project Inc
    4× · 2021–2024 · $90k · revenue +70%
  • TI
    TreeFolks Inc
    5× · 2020–2024 · $85k · revenue +152%

Funded once

  • TN
    THE NATURE CONSERVANCY INC
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN DELL MEDICAL
    one grant, 2019 · $25k
  • HA
    Houston Arboretum & Nature Center
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +13%
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
Houston Botanic Garden

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

Environment
3
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
4
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
5
Houston Museum of Natural Science

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…

Arts & Culture
6
Houston Parks Board

The Houston Parks Board mission is to expand, improve, and protect parks and greenspace in the Houston region.

Philanthropy
7
Texas Land Conservancy

To conserve natural areas in Texas and to protect the physical and ecological integrity of their wildlife habitat, native plant communities, and scenic landscapes for the benefit of present and future generations.

Environment
8
Trinity Park Conservancy

Trinity Park Conservancy champions the transformation of the Trinity River to become the heart of Dallas. With the community, the Conservancy will design public spaces that unite us, enrich people's lives through access to nature, create…

Community Improvement
9
Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy

The Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy ("Willow Waterhole") serves as the leading advocate for public greenspace improvements and nature preservation at the 291-acre Willow Waterhole Greenway. (See Schedule O)Willow Waterhole partners…

Environment
10
Coastal Prairie Conservancy

The Coastal Prairie Conservancy (CPC) works to sustain a resilient Texas by preserving coastal prairies, wetlands, farms, and ranches to benefit people and wildlife forever. Continued on Schedule OCPC conserves land, restores and enhances…

Environment
11
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
12
Big Thicket Natural Heritage Trust

We acquire properties to be donated to the National Park Service and state entities and advocate for protection of Big Thicket natural resources.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Memorial Park Conservancy Inc; the most unlike its peers is Hope House Inc. 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

22 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. 22 of the 31 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
14/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UT HEALTH HOUSTON: $310,000 · OtherUT HEALTH HOUSTONTreeFolks Inc: $85,000 · OtherTreeFolks IncUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $65,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXASZACH THEATER: $60,000 · OtherZACH THEATERProject Transitions Inc: $52,500 · OtherProject Transitions IncHAWLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION: $30,000 · OtherHOPE HOUSE INC: $61,000 · OtherHOPE HOUSE INCThe Brookwood Community Inc: $35,000 · Other+8 more: $130,000 · Other+8 moreTHE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT): $45,000 · EnvironmentTHE GREAT SP…The Houston Audubon Society: $35,000 · EnvironmentThe Houston …Memorial Park Conservancy Inc: $25,000 · EnvironmentMemorial Par…Houston Arboretum & Nature Center: $25,000 · EnvironmentHouston Arbo…HOUSTON WILDERNESS INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentHOUSTON WILD…Texas Agricultural Land Trust: $15,000 · EnvironmentTexas Agricu…HORSELINK: $160,000 · AnimalsHORSELINKPease Park Conservancy: $115,000 · Recreation & SportsPease Par…Texas Book Festival: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsTexas Boo…PX Project Inc: $90,000 · EmploymentHouston Symphony Society: $65,000 · Arts & CultureMenil Foundation Inc: $15,000 · Arts & CultureZACHARY SCOTT THEATRE CENTER: $10,000 · Arts & CultureDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $70,000 · Human ServicesHELPING HAND HOME FOR CHILDREN INC: $10,000 · Human Services
Other$828,500Environment$165,000Animals$160,000Recreation & Sports$130,000Employment$90,000Arts & Culture$90,000Human Services$80,000

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 budgetHORSELINK: $160,000 over 8y, 25% of budgetPease Park Conservancy: $115,000 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetPX Project Inc: $90,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetTreeFolks Inc: $85,000 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $70,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHouston Symphony Society: $65,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetProject Transitions Inc: $52,500 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTHE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT): $45,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetThe Brookwood Community Inc: $35,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Houston Audubon Society: $35,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetHAWLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION: $30,000 over 6y, 9.4% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Arboretum & Nature Center: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE WILDLIFE CENTER OF TEXAS INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHOUSTON WILDERNESS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetTexas Book Festival: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTexas Agricultural Land Trust: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMenil Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHELPING HAND HOME FOR CHILDREN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetZACHARY SCOTT THEATRE CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $10,000 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.

  • Who funds HORSELINK ↗
  • Who funds Pease Park Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds PX Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds TreeFolks Inc ↗
  • Who funds DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Houston Symphony Society ↗
  • Who funds HOPE HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds Project Transitions Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) ↗
  • Who funds The Brookwood Community Inc ↗
  • Who funds The Houston Audubon Society ↗
  • Who funds HAWLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Memorial Park Conservancy Inc ↗
  • Who funds Houston Arboretum & Nature Center ↗
  • Who funds THE WILDLIFE CENTER OF TEXAS INC ↗
  • Who funds HOUSTON WILDERNESS INC ↗
  • Who funds Texas Book Festival ↗
  • Who funds Texas Agricultural Land Trust ↗
  • Who funds Menil Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds HELPING HAND HOME FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
  • Who funds ZACHARY SCOTT THEATRE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ST PAUL'S SCHOOL ↗

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.

Jacob and Terese Hers…Austin Community Foun…Shield-Ayres Foundati…Alice Kleberg Reynold…Greater Houston Commu…The Nancy and Clive R…The Brown Foundation …Shell USA Company Fou…The Elizabeth Crook &…The Bill M and Cecile…The Knobloch Family F…Still Water Foundation
Jacob and Terese Hershey FoundationTX19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation · Austin Community Foundation Inc · Shield-Ayres Foundation · Alice Kleberg Reynolds Meyer Foundat A0479800 · Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Nancy and Clive Runnells Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Elizabeth Crook & Marc Lewis Foundation · The Bill M and Cecile Autrey Ham Charitable Foundation · The Knobloch Family Foundation · Still Water 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 Pierce Runnells Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pierce Runnells Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%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 · 0–40%
    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 Pierce Runnells Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Pierce Runnells 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 31 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 Pierce Runnells’ 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