Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Deason Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What you fund
0186% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Education$11MPublic Benefit$8.5MHealth$1.4MSocial Science$1.1MArts & Culture$800kCivil Rights$700kHuman Services$220kEmployment$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $105k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $280k
  • $250k+4 grants · $2.4M
$25,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$43M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY$1,000,000
STAND TOGETHER FOUNDATION$900,000
TURNING POINT USA$290,000
NATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM$250,000
UT SOUTHWESTERN$100,000
AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE$100,000
BLEXIT FOUNDATION INC$80,000
SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION$25,000
SOUTHWESTERN DIABETIC FOUNDATION INC$25,000
FIRST LIBERTY$20,000
REMEMBER THE ALAMO FOUNDATION$15,000
PARK CITIES QUAIL COALITION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
THE STEAMBOAT INSTITUTE$5,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
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 (FY17–24, $220k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%SM WRIGHT FOUNDATION: $15k → 14%COUNCIL FOR LIFE: $5k → 14%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.

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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$24M · 21 repeat orgs$248k to everyone else

21 repeat relationships — 13 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
14

Total granted

$24M
$216k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
+78%

Still filing today

57%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $33k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationPublic BenefitHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsCivil RightsCrime & LegalOther

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

  • Southern Methodist University
    7× · 2017–2024 · $9.9M · revenue +57%
  • TP
    TURNING POINT USA INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $2.0M · revenue ×14
  • TP
    TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2017–2019 · $902k · revenue +137%

Funded once

  • IL
    I LOVE MY ISLAND DOG
    one grant, 2017 · $36k
  • MG
    MOVIE GUIDE AWARDS GALA
    one grant, 2023 · $35k
  • US
    UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +78%

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
Aclu Foundation of Texas Inc

The ACLU Foundation of Texas is the unyielding guardian and promoter of freedom, justice, equality and dignity of all people, particularly for those who are still fighting to secure the full exercise of their civil rights and liberties.…

Civil Rights
2
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
3
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Inc

The ACLU of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions.

4
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
5
Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation

To recognize the accomplishments and contributions of our outstanding Texas business leaders and to perpetuate and inspire the values of entrepreneurial spirit, personal integrity, and community leadership in all generations of Texans.

Community Improvement
6
Forty First Foundation

The forty first foundation supports and advances the university of texas at austin in its pursuit of excellence. we work closely with the office of the president to identify, fund, and implement strategic initiatives that enhance the…

Education
7
Texas Tribune Inc

The texas tribune promotes civic engagement and public education across the state by producing and sharing for free public data interactives, statewide events and intensive and daily reporting on texas public policy, politics and current…

Education
8
Uatx

Uatx is a nonprofit dedicated to building a liberal arts university committed to freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience, and civil discourse. to maintain these principles, the university will be fiercely independent financially,…

Education
9
Texans for Lawsuit Reform

See Schedule OTLR works to shape policy primarily in the Texas civil justice and court system through public education, legislative advocacy and building broad public support for a fair, competent and honest judiciary as well as a fair,…

Crime & Legal
10
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
11
Texas a&M Research Foundation

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

Education
12
Dallas International University

As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Texas Public Policy Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Texas Conservative Coalition. 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

23 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 23 of the 39 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/23
Grantees still filing
17/23
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Southern Methodist University — $9,922,223 · EducationSouthern Methodist UniversityAMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE INC — $400,000 · Education+4 more — $69,500 · EducationTURNING POINT USA INC — $2,050,000 · OtherTURNING POINT USA INCMD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER — $1,250,000 · OtherMD ANDERSON CANCER CENTERTHE SEMINAR NETWORK TRUST — $1,102,134 · OtherTHE SEMINAR NETWORK TRUSTNATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM — $750,000 · OtherNATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUMTHE BLEXIT FOUNDATION INC — $630,000 · OtherTHE BLEXIT FOUNDATION INCUT SOUTHWESTERN — $350,000 · Other+19 more — $515,000 · Other+19 moreStand Together Foundation — $5,400,000 · Public BenefitStand Together FoundationTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION — $901,833 · Public BenefitTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATIO…SM Wright Foundation — $215,000 · Human Services+1 more — $5,000 · Human ServicesGoodwill Industries of Dallas Inc — $100,000 · EmploymentAmericans for Prosperity Foundation — $100,000 · Social ScienceSOUTHWESTERN DIABETIC FOUNDATION INC — $75,000 · Recreation & SportsWoodall Rodgers Park Foundation — $3,750 · Recreation & Sports
Education$10,391,723Other$6,647,134Public Benefit$6,301,833Human Services$220,000Employment$100,000Social Science$100,000Recreation & Sports$78,750

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSouthern Methodist University — $9,922,223 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetStand Together Foundation — $5,400,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC — $2,050,000 over 8y, 3.0% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION — $901,833 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetTHE BLEXIT FOUNDATION INC — $630,000 over 5y, 44% of budgetAMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE INC — $400,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetSM Wright Foundation — $215,000 over 8y, 5.6% of budgetGoodwill Industries of Dallas Inc — $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAmericans for Prosperity Foundation — $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTHWESTERN DIABETIC FOUNDATION INC — $75,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetFIRST LIBERTY INSTITUTE — $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOOD FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetArena Hall — $25,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetRemember the Alamo Foundation — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE STEAMBOAT INSTITUTE — $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF DALLAS/FORT WORTH — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR LIFE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCONSTITUTING AMERICA INC — $4,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWoodall Rodgers Park Foundation — $3,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUnlocking Doors Inc — $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

  • Who funds Southern Methodist University
  • Who funds Stand Together Foundation
  • Who funds TURNING POINT USA INC
  • Who funds TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION
  • Who funds THE BLEXIT FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE INC
  • Who funds SM Wright Foundation
  • Who funds Goodwill Industries of Dallas Inc
  • Who funds Americans for Prosperity Foundation
  • Who funds SOUTHWESTERN DIABETIC FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds FIRST LIBERTY INSTITUTE
  • Who funds UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION
  • Who funds THE FOOD FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Arena Hall
  • Who funds Remember the Alamo Foundation
  • Who funds THE STEAMBOAT INSTITUTE
  • Who funds WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF DALLAS/FORT WORTH
  • Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
  • Who funds COUNCIL FOR LIFE
  • Who funds CONSTITUTING AMERICA INC
  • Who funds Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation
  • Who funds Unlocking Doors Inc
  • Who funds Texas Conservative Coalition

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.

Communities Foundation of Texas IncTX19.2× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Donors Trust Inc · The Dallas Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Christian Community Foundation Inc · Texas Instruments Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Renaissance Charitable Foundation 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 Deason Foundation 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 39 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph