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The Cullen Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cullen Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$18M
Granted FY2024still arriving
33
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$3.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2024.

Health$29MEducation$19MArts & Culture$15MScience & Tech$6.1MHousing & Shelter$5.2MEnvironment$4.6MHuman Services$3.8MRecreation & Sports$3.1MOther$0
02FY2024 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k14 grants · $1.6M
  • $250k+17 grants · $16M
$250,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$272M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Baylor College of Medicine$3,000,000
University of Houston System$2,500,000
Armand Bayou Nature Center$1,500,000
Houston Habitat for Humanity Inc$1,000,000
Good Reason Houston Inc$1,000,000
Harris Health Strategic Fund$1,000,000
DePelchin Children's Center$1,000,000
EMERGE Fellowship$750,000
BridgeYear$750,000
My Connect Community$500,000
Teach For America Inc - Houston$500,000
Greater Houston Community Foundation$500,000
Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council$500,000
Beta Foundation dba Beta Academy$500,000
Rebuilding Together Houston$500,000
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 (FY21–24, $5.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%Transform Houston Foundation: $250k → 16%Wesley Community Center Inc: $150k → 16%Covenant House: $250k → 16%Houston Area Women's Center Inc: $750k → 16%Target Hunger: $250k → 16%Memorial Assistance Ministries Inc: $500k → 16%DePelchin Children's Center: $1.0M → 16%Making It Better dba Literacy Now: $125k → 16%Kids' Meals Inc: $1.0M → 16%My Connect Community: $500k → 16%BridgeYear: $750k → 16%BridgeYear: $200k → 16%Dress for Success Houston: $50k → 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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$69M · 37 repeat orgs$27M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against -2% for those funded once.

37 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
59

Total granted

$69M
$23M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
-2%

Still filing today

95%
97%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.1M went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentHealthHousing & 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.

Backed again, and grew

  • BC
    Baylor College of Medicine
    3× · 2021–2024 · $17M · revenue +32%
  • Houston Museum of Natural Science
    6× · 2018–2024 · $6.1M · revenue +17%
  • HH
    HARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND
    2× · 2023–2024 · $5.0M · revenue +93% · 26% of their budget

Funded once

  • YP
    YES Prep Public Schools Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $2.0M · revenue +93%
  • MP
    Memorial Park Conservancy Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1.5M · revenue +146%
  • IP
    IDEA Public Schoolsgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1.5M · revenue +123%
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
Trees for Houston

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

—
2
Houston Local Information Initiative Inc

The Houston Local Information Initiative, Inc. provides public service journalism that reflects the civic needs of the diverse communities comprising Greater Houston.

Arts & Culture
3
The Heritage Society

The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other…

—
4
Houston Independent School District Foundation

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…

—
5
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
6
Harris County Medical Society

Our mission is to be the leading advocate for our member physicians, their patients and our community, in promoting the highest standards of ethical medical practice, access to quality medical care, medical education, research, and…

—
7
Houston MediaSource

Houston MediaSource aspires to be the community media center for the City of Houston. HMS provides public access to media platforms that promote citizen engagement, protect the right to free expression, and provide opportunities to advance…

Arts & Culture
8
John P McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science

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…

Arts & Culture
9
The Houston Audubon Society

To advance the conservation of birds and their habitats in the Greater Houston Gulf Coast region by acquiring and maintaining critical habitat as bird sanctuaries, providing education programs and nature experiences, and advocating policy…

Environment
10
The Women's Resource of Greater Houston

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…

Philanthropy
11
Houston Parks Board

The Houston Parks Board mission is to expand, improve, and protect parks and greenspace in the Houston region.

Philanthropy
12
Collaborative for Children

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.

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 Center for African American Militar History. 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

99 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. 99 of the 103 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
99/99
Grantees still filing
55/99
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Baylor College of Medicine: $17,000,000 · EducationBaylor College of MedicineGood Reason Houston Inc: $2,400,000 · EducationGood Reason Houston IncYES Prep Public Schools Inc: $2,000,000 · EducationYES Prep Public Schools IncIDEA Public Schools: $1,500,000 · EducationEMERGE Fellowship: $1,150,000 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice University: $1,075,000 · Education+11 more: $4,790,000 · Education+11 moreHouston Museum of Natural Science: $6,100,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Museum of Natura…THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $3,700,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS …ALLEY THEATRE: $2,925,000 · Arts & CultureALLEY THEATREHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $1,525,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Grand Opera Asso…Houston Symphony Society: $1,325,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Symphony SocietyHouston Ballet Foundation: $1,195,000 · Arts & CultureHouston Ballet Foundatio…Houston Public Media Foundation: $950,000 · Arts & CultureMenil Foundation Inc: $750,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $2,255,000 · Arts & Culture+10 moreUNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON: $3,860,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF HOUSTO…Beta Foundation dba Beta Academy: $1,525,000 · OtherBeta Foundation dba …The Houston Food Bank: $1,250,000 · OtherThe Houston Food Ban…THE FOUNDATION FOR JONES HALL: $1,000,000 · OtherTHE FOUNDATION FOR J…United Way of Greater Houston: $1,600,000 · OtherUnited Way of Greate…GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $800,000 · OtherPROUNITAS INC: $850,000 · OtherSPARK: $1,100,000 · OtherSPARK+26 more: $5,805,000 · Other+26 moreHARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND: $5,000,000 · HealthHARRIS HEAL…Texas Children's Hospital: $2,700,000 · HealthTexas Child…ASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA: $1,000,000 · HealthASIAN AMERI…Harris County Hospital District Foundation: $1,000,000 · HealthHarris Coun…+2 more: $285,000 · HealthMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentArmand Bayou Nature Center Inc: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentHermann Park Conservancy: $1,000,000 · EnvironmentWillow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy: $1,000,000 · EnvironmentGalveston Bay Foundation Inc: $500,000 · EnvironmentHouston Botanic Garden: $300,000 · Environment+2 more: $325,000 · EnvironmentKIDS' MEALS INC: $1,060,000 · Human ServicesDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1,000,000 · Human ServicesBRIDGEYEAR: $950,000 · Human ServicesHouston Area Women's Center: $750,000 · Human ServicesMy Connect Community: $500,000 · Human ServicesMemorial Assistance Ministries: $500,000 · Human ServicesHouston's Amazing Place Inc: $500,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $250,000 · Human ServicesThe Garden Foundation (fka Transform Houston Foundation): $250,000 · Human ServicesTarget Hunger Inc: $250,000 · Human Services+4 more: $375,000 · Human ServicesNew Hope Housing Inc: $2,000,000 · Housing & ShelterHouston Habitat for Humanity Inc: $1,500,000 · Housing & ShelterAvenue Community Development Corporation: $700,000 · Housing & ShelterRebuilding Together Houston: $500,000 · Housing & ShelterSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $200,000 · Housing & Shelter
Education$29,915,000Arts & Culture$20,725,000Other$17,790,000Health$9,985,000Environment$7,625,000Human Services$6,385,000Housing & Shelter$4,900,000

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 budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $17,000,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHouston Museum of Natural Science: $6,100,000 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetHARRIS HEALTH STRATEGIC FUND: $5,000,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: $3,700,000 over 6y, 1.8% of budgetALLEY THEATRE: $2,925,000 over 6y, 6.4% of budgetTexas Children's Hospital: $2,700,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGood Reason Houston Inc: $2,400,000 over 3y, 8.8% of budgetNew Hope Housing Inc: $2,000,000 over 2y, 8.0% of budgetYES Prep Public Schools Inc: $2,000,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Houston: $1,600,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $1,525,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $1,500,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetArmand Bayou Nature Center Inc: $1,500,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetIDEA Public Schools: $1,500,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $1,500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetHouston Habitat for Humanity Inc: $1,500,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetHouston Symphony Society: $1,325,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $1,250,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Ballet Foundation: $1,195,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetEMERGE Fellowship: $1,150,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetSPARK: $1,100,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $1,075,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKIDS' MEALS INC: $1,060,000 over 3y, 6.1% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA: $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetTHE FOUNDATION FOR JONES HALL: $1,000,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetHermann Park Conservancy: $1,000,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetWillow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy: $1,000,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetHarris County Hospital District Foundation: $1,000,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetHouston Public Media Foundation: $950,000 over 6y, 2.0% of budgetBRIDGEYEAR: $950,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $900,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetThe Kinkaid School Inc: $865,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetPROUNITAS INC: $850,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $800,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHARMONY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $750,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMenil Foundation Inc: $750,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetHouston Area Women's Center: $750,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetAvenue Community Development Corporation: $700,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetWONDERLAND EDUCATIONAL ESTATE DBA BEATRICE MAYES INSTITUTE: $550,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetRebuilding Together Houston: $500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetRothko Chapel: $500,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetGirl Scouts of San Jacinto Council: $500,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetHouston Zoo Inc: $500,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHOUSTON CLASSICAL INC: $500,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetGalveston Bay Foundation Inc: $500,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH: $500,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $500,000 over 1y, 3.0% 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.

The Brown Foundation …Greater Houston Commu…Houston Endowment IncAlbert & Ethel Herzst…The Powell FoundationVivian L Smith Founda…The Elkins FoundationMD Anderson FoundationCenterpoint Energy Fo…The William Stamps Fa…Strake FoundationShell USA Company Fou…
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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Cullen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cullen Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    29report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    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.

    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 103 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cullen’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