· Private foundation
The Cockrell Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
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 $10k3 grants · $9k
- $10k–50k11 grants · $214k
- $250k+4 grants · $11M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| University of Texas Foundation | $4,016,163 |
| MD Anderson Cancer Center | $3,193,232 |
| Methodist Hospital Foundation | $1,693,232 |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | $1,683,232 |
| Kids' Meals Inc | $30,000 |
| University of Texas Foundation | $23,764 |
| Kinkaid School Inc | $20,000 |
| Houston's Amazing Place Inc | $20,000 |
| The WorkFaith Connection | $20,000 |
| The Brookwood Community Inc | $20,000 |
| Second Baptist Church | $20,000 |
| Hermann Park Conservancy | $20,000 |
| Grace Bible Church | $20,000 |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | $10,000 |
| The Philanthropy Roundtable Inc | $10,000 |
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, $685k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 21% of The Cockrell Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 69%.
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 +42% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.
42 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 28 since wound down.
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, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC8× · 2017–2024 · $29M · revenue +213%
Houston Museum of Natural Science8× · 2017–2024 · $12M · revenue +33%- IPIDEA Public Schools2× · 2020–2021 · $2.0M · revenue +78%
Funded once
- BSBoy Scouts of Americaone grant, 2017 · $275k
- BBakerRipleygraduatedone grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +89%
- HMHOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTONone grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue -55%
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.
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.
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…
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.
The Houston Local Information Initiative, Inc. provides public service journalism that reflects the civic needs of the diverse communities comprising Greater 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…
The mission of Collaborative for Children is to meaningfully improve the quality of early childhood education and care for Greater Houston's children through those most influential in their lives.
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.
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…
See Schedule OThe Women's Resource of Greater Houston helps women and girls make choices toward becoming independent, productive, and financially stable. We fulfill our mission by recruiting volunteer instructors to deliver our programs in…
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…
As the Houston affiliate of the National Christian Foundation (NCF), our mission is to serve and encourage givers to grow as faithful stewards who give wisely to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How this is measured
57 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. 57 of the 68 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 THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Houston Museum of Natural Science ↗
- Who funds IDEA Public Schools ↗
- Who funds GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds REASONING MIND INC ↗
- Who funds KIDS' MEALS INC ↗
- Who funds Free Enterprise Institute ↗
- Who funds Youth Entrepreneurs Inc ↗
- Who funds The Kinkaid School Inc ↗
- Who funds THE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE ↗
- Who funds THE WORKFAITH CONNECTION ↗
- Who funds SIRE INC ↗
- Who funds The Brookwood Community Inc ↗
- Who funds THE CENTER FOR PURSUIT ↗
- Who funds HABITAT FOR HORSES INC ↗
- Who funds Houston's Amazing Place Inc ↗
- Who funds BakerRipley ↗
- Who funds Hermann Park Conservancy ↗
- Who funds Texas A&M Foundation ↗
- Who funds Joy Development School ↗
- Who funds Menil Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds LILY'S TOY BOX ↗
- Who funds HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON ↗
- Who funds Contemporary Arts Museum Houston ↗
- Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
- Who funds Agape Development Ministries ↗
- Who funds THE SUNSHINE KIDS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MARCH OF DIMES INC ↗
- Who funds SECOND BAPTIST SCHOOL FOUNDATION 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 · The Elkins Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Strake Foundation · Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation Sentinel Trust Company · The William Stamps Farish Fund · Jack H & William M Light Charitable Trust · MD Anderson Foundation · Houston Endowment Inc · The John M O'Quinn Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Cockrell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cockrell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Cockrell Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Cockrell 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.
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