How much does The Cullen Foundation give?

The Cullen Foundation reported 33 grants totaling $17,910,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 27 and 42 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2023.

What does The Cullen Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2024, its largest causes are Health (22%), Education (15%), Arts & Culture (12%).

Who are The Cullen Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2018 to FY2024: Baylor College of Medicine ($17M), Houston Museum of Natural Science ($6.1M), Harris Health Strategic Fund ($5.0M).

Does The Cullen Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does The Cullen Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.

Which funders back the same organizations as The Cullen Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Brown Foundation Inc, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc.

Where is The Cullen Foundation based?

The Cullen Foundation is based in TX.

Foundation Dossiers

Texas · Private foundation

The Cullen Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$18M
Granted FY2024(still arriving): 33
Grants FY2024: 34
Organizations funded FY2023: 35%
First-time grantees FY2023

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2024: $250,000
Largest grant, FY2024: $3,000,000
Organizations funded a year: 27 to 42; FY2018 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024: 1
Total assets, FY2024: $272M
Applications: Takes unsolicited applications; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations The Cullen Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 39% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6.7M went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureEnvironmentHealthHousing & ShelterOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2024still arriving	32	$17M	19%
FY2023	34	$17M	35%
FY2022	35	$18M	37%
FY2021	42	$19M	52%
FY2019	38	$14M	58%
FY2018	27	$12M	n/a

98% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$29MEducation$19MArts & Culture$15MScience & Tech$6.1MHousing & Shelter$5.2MEnvironment$4.6MHuman Services$3.8MRecreation & Sports$3.1MOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Baylor College of Medicine	$17,000,000	3	0%
Houston Museum of Natural Science	$6,100,000	6	6%
Harris Health Strategic Fund	$5,000,000	2	26%
University of Houston	$3,860,000	5	n/a
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston	$3,700,000	6	2%
Alley Theatre	$2,925,000	6	6%
Texas Children's Hospital	$2,700,000	4	0%
Good Reason Houston Inc	$2,400,000	3	9%
New Hope Housing Inc	$2,000,000	2	8%
YES Prep Public Schools Inc	$2,000,000	1	1%

Show all 99 grantees

All grantees of The Cullen Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Baylor College of Medicine	$17,000,000	3	0%
Houston Museum of Natural Science	$6,100,000	6	6%
Harris Health Strategic Fund	$5,000,000	2	26%
University of Houston	$3,860,000	5	n/a
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston	$3,700,000	6	2%
Alley Theatre	$2,925,000	6	6%
Texas Children's Hospital	$2,700,000	4	0%
Good Reason Houston Inc	$2,400,000	3	9%
New Hope Housing Inc	$2,000,000	2	8%
YES Prep Public Schools Inc	$2,000,000	1	1%
United Way of Greater Houston	$1,600,000	6	0%
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc	$1,525,000	6	1%
Memorial Park Conservancy Inc	$1,500,000	1	17%
Armand Bayou Nature Center Inc	$1,500,000	1	19%
IDEA Public Schools	$1,500,000	1	0%
Buffalo Bayou Partnership Inc	$1,500,000	1	13%
Houston Habitat for Humanity Inc	$1,500,000	2	6%
Houston Symphony Society	$1,325,000	6	2%
The Houston Food Bank	$1,250,000	2	0%
Houston Ballet Foundation	$1,195,000	6	1%
EMERGE Fellowship	$1,150,000	2	13%
Spark	$1,100,000	2	23%
William Marsh Rice University	$1,075,000	2	0%
Kids' Meals Inc	$1,060,000	3	6%
Asian American Health Coalition of the Greater Houston Area	$1,000,000	1	4%
The Foundation for Jones Hall	$1,000,000	1	9%
Hermann Park Conservancy	$1,000,000	1	6%
Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy	$1,000,000	1	19%
Harris County Hospital District Foundation	$1,000,000	1	22%
Depelchin Children's Center	$1,000,000	1	3%
Houston Public Media Foundation	$950,000	6	2%
Bridgeyear	$950,000	2	23%
Teach for America Inc	$900,000	2	0%
The Kinkaid School Inc	$865,000	6	0%
Prounitas Inc	$850,000	2	17%
Harmony Public Schools	$750,000	1	0%
Menil Foundation Inc	$750,000	6	1%
Houston Area Women's Center	$750,000	1	4%
Avenue Community Development Corporation	$700,000	2	5%
Wonderland Educational Estate Dba Beatrice Mayes Institute	$550,000	2	4%
Rebuilding Together Houston	$500,000	1	13%
Rothko Chapel	$500,000	1	8%
Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council	$500,000	1	2%
Houston Zoo Inc	$500,000	1	0%
Houston Classical Inc	$500,000	1	8%
Galveston Bay Foundation Inc	$500,000	2	3%
The Center for Hearing and Speech	$500,000	1	3%
Yellowstone Academy Inc Dba Yellowstone Schools	$500,000	1	3%
My Connect Community	$500,000	1	11%
Memorial Assistance Ministries	$500,000	1	3%
Houston's Amazing Place Inc	$500,000	1	8%
Da Camera Society of Texas	$445,000	6	5%
Children's Museum Inc	$375,000	6	1%
The Brookwood Community Inc	$350,000	1	2%
The W Oscar Neuhaus Memorial Foundation	$345,000	6	1%
Central Houston Civic Improvement Inc	$300,000	1	23%
Project Row Houses	$300,000	1	3%
Emancipation Park Conservancy	$300,000	1	14%
Houston Botanic Garden	$300,000	2	4%
A D Players	$255,000	2	3%
Harmony House Inc	$250,000	1	6%
Houston Hospice	$250,000	1	1%
Covenant House Texas	$250,000	1	2%
Center for African American Militar History	$250,000	1	6%
The Garden Foundation (fka Transform Houston Foundation)	$250,000	1	100%
Boy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council	$250,000	1	2%
Target Hunger Inc	$250,000	1	4%
Houston Arboretum & Nature Center	$225,000	6	1%
The Council on Recovery	$210,000	5	1%
Star of Hope Mission	$200,000	1	1%
Houston Arts Alliance	$200,000	1	1%
Small Places	$200,000	1	21%
Chinquapin Preparatory School	$200,000	2	5%
Small Steps Nurturing Center	$200,000	1	4%
Pro-Vision Inc	$200,000	1	3%
Lawndale Art & Performance Center	$150,000	1	10%
Wesley Community Center Inc of Houston Texas	$150,000	1	2%
Making It Better dba Literacy Now	$125,000	1	5%
Ser-Jobs for Progress of the Texas Gulf Coast Inc	$125,000	1	2%
Breakthrough Houston	$100,000	1	7%
Performing Arts Houston	$100,000	1	n/a
Just Community Inc	$100,000	1	2%
Lone Star Flight Museum	$100,000	1	2%
Evelyn's Park Conservancy	$100,000	1	3%
Nature Discovery Center	$100,000	1	12%
Friends of Pumpkin Park	$100,000	1	1%
Holocaust Museum Houston	$80,000	1	1%
Communities in Schools of Houston Inc	$75,000	1	0%
The Mens Center Incorporated	$75,000	1	1%
The Brenda & John H Duncan Rise School of Houston	$50,000	1	1%
Houston Area Parkinson Society	$50,000	1	4%
The Society of St Vincent de Paul Diocesan Council of Austin	$50,000	1	0%
Neighbors In Action Inc	$50,000	1	7%
Dress for Success Houston	$50,000	1	2%
The Workfaith Connection	$50,000	1	1%
Local Initiatives Support Corporation	$50,000	1	0%
Westchase District Community Fund	$50,000	1	3%
NextOp Inc	$25,000	1	3%
Interfaith Carepartners Inc	$10,000	1	1%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 3 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.3M), not named here.

The Cullen Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 97 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 97.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

The Brown Foundation IncTX89.8× affinity43 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Brown Foundation Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Houston Endowment Inc · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The Powell Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · MD Anderson Foundation · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · The William Stamps Farish Fund · Strake Foundation · Shell USA Company 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.

Compare The Cullen Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Cullen Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Cullen 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.

About The Cullen Foundation

How much does The Cullen Foundation give?: The Cullen Foundation reported 33 grants totaling $17,910,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 27 and 42 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2023.
What does The Cullen Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2024, its largest causes are Health (22%), Education (15%), Arts & Culture (12%).
Who are The Cullen Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2018 to FY2024: Baylor College of Medicine ($17M), Houston Museum of Natural Science ($6.1M), Harris Health Strategic Fund ($5.0M).
Does The Cullen Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Cullen Foundation accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Cullen Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Brown Foundation Inc, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc.
Where is The Cullen Foundation based?: The Cullen Foundation is based in TX.