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The Butcher Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Butcher Fund

Its FY2020 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$159k
Granted FY2019
21
Grants FY2019
6
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of The Butcher Fund’s FY2020 grant dollars went to Greater Houston Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2020 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year The Butcher Fund named its own grantees at scale: 18 organizations, $159k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

15
’17
15
’18
18
’19
0
’20

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Philanthropy$3.0MEducation$81kReligion$70kAnimals$51kArts & Culture$50kHuman Services$40kScience & Tech$40kInternational$30kOther$0
02FY2019 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k13 grants · $69k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $90k
$5,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAN MARCOS BAPTIST ACADEMY$15,000
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION$15,000
TEAM RUBICON INC$10,000
STEVENS & PRUETT FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN & ANIMALS$10,000
HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA FOUNDATION - HOUSTON PBS$10,000
BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP$10,000
HOUSTON'S FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH$10,000
TAO FELLOWSHIP$10,000
MEADOW WOOD ELEMENTARY PTA$9,005
BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC$5,000
THE BEACON$5,000
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY$5,000
PATHWAYS TO LITTLE FEET$5,000
LONE STAR FLIGHT MUSEUM$5,000
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO$5,000
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 (FY17–19, $35k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 57% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%STEVENS & PRUETT FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN & ANIMALS: $10k → 10%STEVENS & PRUETT FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN & ANIMALS: $5k → 10%HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: $5k → 16%PATHWAYS TO LITTLE FEET: $5k → 16%PATHWAYS TO LITTLE FEET: $5k → 16%PATHWAYS TO LITTLE FEET: $5k → 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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$393k · 19 repeat orgs$69k to everyone else

19 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2019, 2 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
6

Total granted

$393k
$35k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+110%

Still filing today

63%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $34k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
Human ServicesAnimalsEnvironmentScience & TechReligionPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • EA
    EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $40k · revenue +35%
  • TF
    Tao Fellowship
    3× · 2017–2019 · $30k · revenue +62%
  • TR
    TEAM RUBICON INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $30k · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
  • SA
    SALVATION ARMY
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • SO
    STAR OF HOPE MISSION
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue -60%
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 Botanic Garden

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

Environment
2
Trees for Houston

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

—
3
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
4
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
5
Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization thatadvances Texas proud outdoor traditions through meaningful, high-impact programs,partnerships, and a wide range of projects that conserve and enhance our…

Environment
6
Houston Bar Foundation

The Houston Bar Foundation supports programs that help provide legal representation to the indigent, promote community understanding of our legal system, and foster the administration of justice.

Crime & Legal
7
Tucson Audubon Society

Inspire people to enjoy and protect birds through recreation, education, conservation, and restoration of the environment, upon which we all depend.

Animals
8
Houston Habitat for Humanity Inc

Seeking to put God's love into action, Houston Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope to provide a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Housing & Shelter
9
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
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
Texas a&M Research Foundation

To facilitate research and development within the texas a&m university system and selected other entities.

Education
12
Camp Aranzazu Inc

Camp Aranzazu cultivates belonging for campers of all ages and abilities by creating accessible, empowering and intentional camp experiences.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Stevens & Pruett Foundation for Children & Animals. 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

19 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. 19 of the 30 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
15/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,011,903 · PhilanthropyGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONHOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA FOUNDATION - HOUSTON PBS: $30,000 · OtherHOUSTON P…FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HOUSTON: $30,000 · OtherFIRST BAP…SAN MARCOS ACADEMY: $27,000 · OtherSAN MARCO…SAN MARCOS BAPTIST ACADEMY: $15,000 · OtherSAN MARCO…FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: $15,000 · OtherFOCUS ON …ARCHDIOCESE OF GALVESTON-HOUSTON: $15,000 · OtherARCHDIOCE…Individual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherCRISTO REY JESUIT: $10,000 · OtherZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $16,000 · OtherZOOLOGICA…Birmingham Zoo Inc: $10,000 · OtherPTSD FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $24,113 · OtherPTSD FOUN…Strake Jesuit Foundation: $15,000 · OtherStrake Je…Lone Star Flight Museum: $15,000 · OtherLone Star…THE BEACON OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON: $10,000 · Other+7 more: $39,005 · Other+7 moreSTEVENS & PRUETT FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN & ANIMALS: $25,000 · Human ServicesPathways for Little Feet: $15,000 · Human ServicesHouston Area Women's Center: $5,000 · Human ServicesEXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INC: $40,000 · Science & TechBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $20,000 · EnvironmentTHE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC: $16,000 · EnvironmentTao Fellowship: $30,000 · ReligionTEAM RUBICON INC: $30,000 · Public Safety & Disaster
Philanthropy$3,011,903Other$281,118Human Services$45,000Science & Tech$40,000Environment$36,000Religion$30,000Public Safety & Disaster$30,000

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 budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,011,903 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetEXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM RUBICON INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSTEVENS & PRUETT FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN & ANIMALS: $25,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetPTSD FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $24,113 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $16,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC: $16,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetLone Star Flight Museum: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPathways for Little Feet: $15,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetBirmingham Zoo Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BEACON OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPTA Texas Congress - MWE: $9,005 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCamp For All Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHouston Area Women's Center: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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…Shell USA Company Fou…Morgan Stanley Global…Natl Christian Charit…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX21.6× affinity9 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 The Butcher Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Butcher Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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.

    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 30 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Butcher’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