· Private foundation
Saunders 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k15 grants · $30k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $92k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $241k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HERITAGE ED | $241,000 |
| CHI OMEGA FOUDNATON | $27,000 |
| CHRIST THE KING CHURCH | $20,000 |
| PRAGER UNIVERSITY | $15,000 |
| ALZHEIMERS ASSOCIATION HOUSTON CHAP | $10,000 |
| PINE COVE | $10,000 |
| YOUNG LIFE | $10,000 |
| HOSPICE AUSTIN | $8,500 |
| TEXAS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL | $5,100 |
| CODY STEPHENS GO BIG OR GO HOME | $5,000 |
| NORTH SHORE ROTARY FOUNDATION | $3,000 |
| WOMENS STORYBOOK PROJECT OF TEXAS | $2,833 |
| HOUSTON ALUMNAE PANHELLENIC FOUNDAT | $2,000 |
| LIGHTHOUSE OF HOUSTON | $1,000 |
| COLEL CHABAD | $1,000 |
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 (FY17–24, $88k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 27% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-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 +38% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.
41 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- HEHERITAGE ED6× · 2019–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +414% · 70% of their budget
- HAHOSPICE AUSTIN7× · 2017–2024 · $58k · revenue +72%
CHI OMEGA FOUNDATION7× · 2017–2024 · $54k · revenue +163%
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2017 · $15k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2017 · $11k
- IOINSTITUTE OF SHIPBOARD EDUCATIONone grant, 2017 · $10k
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.
To enrich life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.
Family, School, and Church united in the education and support of each child - this is the founding premise upon which Presbyterian School nurtures and challenges its students. The school provides an educational program of the highest…
The mission of houston christian university is to provide a learning experience that instills in students a passion for academic, spiritual, and professional excellence as a result of our central confession, "jesus christ is lord."
Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.
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…
Hospice care of terminally ill patients
South texas college of law houston provides a diverse body of students the opportunity to obtain an exceptional legal education, preparing graduates to serve their community and profession with distinction.
See Schedule OSt. John's School is an independent, co-educational day school presenting a 13-year sequence of college preparatory training. A non-profit institution, it was founded in 1946 to provide the community with a school of exacting…
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.
Uatx is a nonprofit dedicated to building a liberal arts university committed to freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience, and civil discourse. to maintain these principles, the university will be fiercely independent financially,…
See schedule ocentral houston champions a thriving downtown by connecting influential leaders through initiatives that advance the future of business and community for all.
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
How this is measured
57 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 57 of the 128 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 HERITAGE ED ↗
- Who funds HOSPICE AUSTIN ↗
- Who funds CHI OMEGA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds YOUNG LIFE ↗
- Who funds Lighthouse For The Blind Of Houston Inc ↗
- Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds FAMILIES EMPOWERED ↗
- Who funds PRISON ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds INSTITUTE FOR SHIPBOARD EDUCATION ↗
- Who funds The Kinkaid School Inc ↗
- Who funds ST VINCENTS HOUSE ↗
- Who funds Texas Children's Hospital ↗
- Who funds PURSUIT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds RESCUED PETS MOVEMENT INC ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
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: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Strake Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Baker Hughes Foundation · The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation · Austin Community Foundation Inc · The Jbd Foundation · Midway Foundation · MD Anderson Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Saunders Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Saunders Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Hht Foundation: 30% of income from government
- Learning Ally Inc: 4% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Saunders Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Saunders 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.
Play a game based on Saunders’ filings →