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Plinth

· Public charity

The Children's Fund Inc

The children's fund, inc.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$225k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Human Services$2.1MHealth$1.6MEducation$1.6MYouth Development$1.1MFood & Nutrition$808kArts & Culture$453kCrime & Legal$299kEmployment$166kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k9 grants · $252k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.1M
$55,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$577k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PROJECT ONE DAY$225,000
ALL EARS LISTENING AND LANGUAGE CENTER$220,000
THE HARRIS SCHOOL INC$145,000
LETTING EVERYONE ACHIEVE DREAMS$130,000
SANDAL GAP STUDIO$105,000
NEHEMIAH CENTER INC$100,000
J'S HOUSE INC$73,000
WONDERS & WORRIES INC$72,000
THE FARIS FOUNDATION$55,000
CHINQUAPIN PREPARATORY SCHOOL$45,000
OAK FOREST FOSTER CLOSET$37,000
MISSION SQUASH OF HOUSTON$30,000
ONPURPOSE ENRICHMENT INC$25,000
OPEN DANCE PROJECT INC$25,000
HYPE FREEDOM SCHOOL INC$25,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $3.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FAMILY TO FAMILY ADOPTIONS SERVICES: $20k → 8%HUNT WITH HEART: $35k → 10%WONDERS & WORRIES INC: $72k → 10%NEHEMIAH CENTER INC: $100k → 16%HUNT WITH HEART: $35k → 10%WONDERS & WORRIES INC: $20k → 10%HUNT WITH HEART: $25k → 10%BRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN: $128k → 10%NEHEMIAH CENTER INC: $25k → 16%BRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN: $35k → 10%PROJECT ONE DAY: $225k → 16%PROJECT ONE DAY: $46k → 16%PROJECT ONE DAY: $30k → 16%FOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTER: $150k → 16%FOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTER: $100k → 16%PURPLE SONGS CAN FLY: $60k → 16%FOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTER: $49k → 16%A CHILDREN'S HOUSE FOR THE SOUL: $80k → 16%A CHILDREN'S HOUSE FOR THE SOUL INC: $30k → 16%HARRISON'S HEROES: $175k → 16%BAYOU CITY BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK: $150k → 16%BAYOU CITY BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK: $62k → 16%BAYOU CITY BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK: $30k → 16%HARRISON'S HEROES: $26k → 16%HARRISON'S HEROES: $18k → 16%ENTRUSTED HOUSTON: $100k → 16%ENTRUSTED HOUSTON: $50k → 16%BRIDGEYEAR: $88k → 16%BRIDGEYEAR: $53k → 16%J'S HOUSE INC: $73k → 16%J'S HOUSE INC: $43k → 16%BRIDGEYEAR: $27k → 16%HOMEMADE HOPE: $72k → 16%HOMEMADE HOPE: $59k → 16%CLOTHED BY FAITH: $175k → 16%HOMEMADE HOPE: $27k → 16%CLOTHED BY FAITH INC: $90k → 16%ENTRUSTED HOUSTON: $215k → 16%CLOTHED BY FAITH INC: $35k → 16%MAKING IT BETTER AKA LITERACY NOW: $100k → 16%MAKING IT BETTER: $30k → 16%LOCAL INFANT FORMULA FOR EMERGENCIES (HOUSTON): $97k → 16%LOCAL INFANT FORMULA FOR EMERGENCIES (HOUSTON): $40k → 16%LOCAL INFANT FORMULA FOR EMERGENCIES (HOUSTON): $33k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 17% of The Children's Fund Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in TX; read by stated purpose it is 94% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

The Children's Fund Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$7.5M · 40 repeat orgs$746k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +45% since the first grant, against +28% for the ones you funded once.

40 repeat relationships — 11 still active in FY2025, 29 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
17

Total granted

$7.5M
$569k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+28%

Still filing today

98%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $177k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • PF
    Partnership For The Advancement And Immersion Of Refugees
    4× · 2020–2024 · $431k · revenue +64% · 28% of their budget
  • SF
    San Francisco Nativity Academy
    3× · 2021–2023 · $402k · revenue +33%
  • EH
    Entrusted Houston
    3× · 2022–2024 · $365k · revenue +32% · 73% of their budget

Funded once

  • TA
    THE ARBOR SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $98k · revenue +158%
  • PS
    Purple Songs Can Fly
    one grant, 2017 · $60k · revenue -13%
  • BB
    BOOKS BETWEEN KIDS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +35%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Made Houston

MADE Houston was formed to create a school community focused on nurturing and developing the unique academic and social needs of students with learning differences and to successfully transition students into mainstream schools.

Education
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 Greatest School in West Houston

Christian pre-school from age 3-months to school-age, and school from

—
4
Presbyterian School

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…

Education
5
Wonderworks

Wonderworks educates students to become better-qualified college applicants and better equipped to succeed in undergraduate studies by exploring challenging subject matter and techniques in a college setting.

Education
6
Space Family Education Inc

Childcare Provide childcare services to employees of he NASA Johnson Space Center located in Houston TX

Human Services
7
The Fay School

See Schedule O. The Fay School ("the School") is a nonsectarian, not-for-profit, co-educational school in which children of diverse talents and backgrounds with strong academic abilities are offered a high-quality education in a secure,…

—
8
Special Reach Inc

To provide dynamic enrichment programs for children with special needs and respite for their families.

Human Services
9
Central Texas Children's Home

To provide family services and to provide residential child care for dependent children where there is a need to assist children and families disrupted by problems.

Human Services
10
Houston Strong Children Services

To provide direct care services to the underserved communities. We aim to provide wraparound support for foster youth & young adults & their families.

Human Services
11
St Stephen's Episcopal School

St. Stephen's Episcopal School - Houston ("St. Stephen's", "the School") nurtures each child's academic, creative, and spiritual potential.

Education
12
The Brenda & John H Duncan Rise School of Houston

The mission of The Rise School of Houston is to provide the highest quality of early education services to children with developmental disabilities and those without disabilities.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Camp Blessing Texas Inc and the most unlike its peers is Reining Strength Therapeutic Horsemanship. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 14 years old; the field is 10. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number31%4%<5yr18%19%5–10yr20%40%10–20yr17%29%20–35yr7%6%35–55yr8%2%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value31%2%<5yr18%26%5–10yr20%46%10–20yr17%17%20–35yr7%7%35–55yr8%1%55yr+

The field is 31% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 19% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%1/64
the rest of the field
19%
4,661/24,672

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

63 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 63 of the 64 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
28
Early backer (in before they grew)
60/63
Grantees still filing
50/63
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Entrusted Houston — $365,000 · Human ServicesEntrusted HoustonPROJECT ONE DAY — $300,500 · Human ServicesPROJECT ONE DAYCLOTHED BY FAITH INC — $300,000 · Human ServicesCLOTHED BY FAITH INCFOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTER — $299,000 · Human ServicesFOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTERBLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK INC — $242,471 · Human ServicesBLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK INCHARRISON'S HEROES — $218,910 · Human ServicesHARRISON'S HEROESLOCAL INFANT FORMULA FOR EMERGENCIES — $170,210 · Human ServicesBRIDGEYEAR — $168,110 · Human ServicesBRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN INC — $163,410 · Human ServicesHomemade Hope for Homeless Children — $158,219 · Human ServicesPROJECT JOY & HOPE FOR TEXAS — $139,385 · Human ServicesMaking It Better dba Literacy Now — $130,000 · Human ServicesNehemiah Center Inc — $125,000 · Human ServicesJS HOUSE INC — $115,500 · Human Services+6 more — $407,000 · Human Services+6 moreSan Francisco Nativity Academy — $402,125 · EducationSan Francisco Nativity Ac…Harbor Christian Academy — $359,454 · EducationHarbor Christian AcademyAll Ears Listening and Language Center — $345,000 · EducationAll Ears Listening and La…LETTING EVERYONE ACHIEVE DREAMS — $230,000 · EducationLETTING EVERYONE ACHIEVE …THE HARRIS SCHOOL INC — $220,000 · EducationTHE HARRIS SCHOOL INCTHE ARBOR SCHOOL — $98,000 · EducationTHE ARBOR SCHOOLCOMP-U-DOPT INC — $80,000 · Education+3 more — $100,000 · Education+3 morePartnership For The Advancement And Immersion Of Refugees — $430,960 · OtherPartnership For T…SECOND SERVINGS OF HOUSTON — $237,363 · OtherSECOND SERVINGS O…Social Motion Inc — $200,000 · OtherSocial Motion IncCHINQUAPIN PREPARATORY SCHOOL — $85,000 · OtherCHINQUAPIN PREPAR…+10 more — $303,615 · Other+10 moreCHAMPIONS INSTITUTE — $279,000 · Youth DevelopmentCHAMPIONS I…Iconoclast Artists — $247,500 · Youth DevelopmentIconoclast …MISSION SQUASH OF HOUSTON — $193,410 · Youth DevelopmentMISSION SQU…SPECIAL CHEERS — $103,410 · Youth DevelopmentSPECIAL CHE…CAMP BLESSING TEXAS INC — $35,329 · Youth Development+1 more — $17,500 · Youth DevelopmentFOSTERING FAMILY — $235,000 · Community ImprovementARROW CHILD & FAMILY MINISTRIES (CENTRAL ORGANIZATION) — $138,410 · Community ImprovementARROW CHILD & FAMILY MINISTRIES COMBINED AFFILIATE GROUP — $30,000 · Community ImprovementONPURPOSE ENRICHMENT INC — $25,000 · Community ImprovementPRELUDE MUSIC FOUNDATION — $180,158 · Arts & CultureSANDAL GAP STUDIO — $180,000 · Arts & CultureOpen Dance Project Inc — $25,000 · Arts & CultureEZ KIDS CREATIVITY SHELL — $20,000 · Arts & CultureFARIS FOUNDATION — $80,000 · HealthBlessed Be Hope for Three Inc — $40,000 · HealthJOHN T FONTAINE JR CHARITY INC — $25,000 · HealthNick Finnegan Counseling Center Foundation — $18,410 · HealthTHE HUB HOUSTON INC — $16,989 · HealthTexas Children's Hospital — $10,000 · Health
Human Services$3,302,715Education$1,834,579Other$1,256,938Youth Development$876,149Community Improvement$428,410Arts & Culture$405,158Health$190,399

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetPartnership For The Advancement And Immersion Of Refugees — $430,960 over 4y, 28% of budgetSan Francisco Nativity Academy — $402,125 over 3y, 11% of budgetEntrusted Houston — $365,000 over 3y, 73% of budgetHarbor Christian Academy — $359,454 over 4y, 18% of budgetAll Ears Listening and Language Center — $345,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetPROJECT ONE DAY — $300,500 over 3y, 9.3% of budgetCLOTHED BY FAITH INC — $300,000 over 3y, 30% of budgetFOSTER CARE ADVOCACY CENTER — $299,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetCHAMPIONS INSTITUTE — $279,000 over 3y, 70% of budgetIconoclast Artists — $247,500 over 5y, 23% of budgetBLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK INC — $242,471 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetSECOND SERVINGS OF HOUSTON — $237,363 over 3y, 11% of budgetFOSTERING FAMILY — $235,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetLETTING EVERYONE ACHIEVE DREAMS — $230,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetTHE HARRIS SCHOOL INC — $220,000 over 3y, 7.7% of budgetHARRISON'S HEROES — $218,910 over 3y, 54% of budgetSocial Motion Inc — $200,000 over 3y, 8.1% of budgetMISSION SQUASH OF HOUSTON — $193,410 over 4y, 14% of budgetPRELUDE MUSIC FOUNDATION — $180,158 over 3y, 20% of budgetSANDAL GAP STUDIO — $180,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetLOCAL INFANT FORMULA FOR EMERGENCIES — $170,210 over 3y, 13% of budgetBRIDGEYEAR — $168,110 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetBRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN INC — $163,410 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetHomemade Hope for Homeless Children — $158,219 over 3y, 30% of budgetPROJECT JOY & HOPE FOR TEXAS — $139,385 over 3y, 6.4% of budgetARROW CHILD & FAMILY MINISTRIES (CENTRAL ORGANIZATION) — $138,410 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMaking It Better dba Literacy Now — $130,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetNehemiah Center Inc — $125,000 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetJS HOUSE INC — $115,500 over 2y, 12% of budgetMADE A MASTERPIECE — $110,000 over 2y, 72% of budgetSPECIAL CHEERS — $103,410 over 2y, 12% of budgetTHE ARBOR SCHOOL — $98,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetHUNT WITH HEART INCORPORATED — $95,000 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetWonders & Worries Inc — $92,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetCHINQUAPIN PREPARATORY SCHOOL — $85,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetFARIS FOUNDATION — $80,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetCOMP-U-DOPT INC — $80,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetPurple Songs Can Fly — $60,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetBOOKS BETWEEN KIDS INC — $50,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetUndies for Everyone — $40,500 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetBlessed Be Hope for Three Inc — $40,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetCAMP BLESSING TEXAS INC — $35,329 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetCandlelighters Childhood Cancer Family Alliance — $30,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetOPHEART — $30,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetARROW CHILD & FAMILY MINISTRIES COMBINED AFFILIATE GROUP — $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE DIAPER FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetTHE FORGE FOR FAMILIES — $28,410 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBE AN ANGEL FUND INC — $28,410 over 2y, 1.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Greater Houston Commu…Albert & Ethel Herzst…Charity Guild of Cath…Shell USA Company Fou…Baxter Trust Co Priva…The Junior League of …The Brown Foundation …Strake FoundationHarry S & Isabel C Ca…Texas Children's Hosp…Centerpoint Energy Fo…Houston Junior Forum …
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX53.2× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Charity Guild of Catholic Women of Harris County Inc · Shell USA Company Foundation · Baxter Trust Co Private Foundation Services · The Junior League of Houston Inc · The Brown Foundation Inc · Strake Foundation · Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation Sentinel Trust Company · Texas Children's Hospital · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · Houston Junior Forum Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Children's Fund Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 64 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines