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Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Fondren Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$14M
Granted FY2021
74
Grants FY2021
3
States reached
$2.6M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02Your edgeRead
03Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0195% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2025.

Health$7.6MEducation$4.4MArts & Culture$2.7MHuman Services$1.6MRecreation & Sports$1.2MAnimals$609kHousing & Shelter$571kReligion$409kOther$0
02FY2021 · 74 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 74 grants below total $12,559,361 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $13,630,193 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $1,070,832 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2021

  • $10k–50k15 grants · $503k
  • $50k–250k49 grants · $5.3M
  • $250k+10 grants · $6.8M
$100,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$217M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$2,600,000
THE CENTER FOR PURSUIT$750,000
ST. FRANCIS EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL$650,000
YELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC.$500,000
ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS CENTER$500,000
NEW HOPE HOUSING, INC.$458,334
THE COUNCIL ON RECOVERY$375,000
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON$350,000
CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON$300,000
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON$270,000
TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$200,000
THE MEMORIAL PARK CONSERVANCY, INC$200,000
HOUSTON ZOO, INC$200,000
KIPP TEXAS, INC$200,000
MEMORIAL HERMANN HEALTH SYSTEM$200,000
02Your 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.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$14M · 40 repeat orgs$6.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +47% since the first grant, against +45% for the ones you funded once.

40 repeat relationships — 40 still active in FY2021, 0 since wound down; 33 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
29

Total granted

$14M
$2.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+45%

Still filing today

80%
79%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.3M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureHealthEnvironmentHousing & ShelterOther

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

  • TM
    THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $4.1M · revenue +129%
  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON
    2× · 2020–2021 · $890k · revenue +51%
  • NH
    New Hope Housing Inc
    2× · 2020–2021 · $500k · revenue +23%

Funded once

  • RO
    RIVER OAKS BAPTIST SCHOOL
    one grant, 2020 · $250k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON - DOWNTOWN
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • KI
    KIPP, INC.
    one grant, 2020 · $200k

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

03Your 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
Trees for Houston

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

—
2
St John's School

See Schedule OSt. John's School is an independent, co-educational day school presenting a 13-year sequence of college preparatory training. A non-profit institution, it was founded in 1946 to provide the community with a school of exacting…

—
3
The Awty International School

See Schedule OThe purpose of Awty International School (Awty) is to create an environment where students experience excellence every day to make their mark on the world alongside their community, in a spirit of curiosity, courage and…

—
4
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
5
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…

—
6
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
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
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…

—
9
The Woodlands Christian Academy

TWCA is an independent, Christ-centered college preparatory school that integrates learning with biblical faith and challenges our students to reach their highest potential - intellectually, creatively, physically, and socially - for the…

—
10
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
11
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
12
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…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Houston Achievement Place and the most unlike its peers is Fort Bend Ramps Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyDevelopmental Disabilities …Charter and Independent Sch…Faith-Based Homeless Servic…Addiction & Mental Health T…Local History MuseumsJewish Community FederationsEducation Equity InitiativesEarly Childhood Care CentersChristian Outreach Ministri…Domestic Violence and Sexua…Animal Rescue and ShelterAffordable Housing Developm…Professional Dance CompaniesYmca Community CentersChristian Youth CampsVolunteer Fire & RescueCommunity Theater CompaniesChild Abuse Advocacy Servic…Community Hospital SystemsFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Environmental Advocacy and …
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 35 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number26%0%<5yr16%12%5–10yr20%11%10–20yr16%27%20–35yr10%23%35–55yr13%28%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value26%0%<5yr16%6%5–10yr20%29%10–20yr16%25%20–35yr10%15%35–55yr13%24%55yr+

The field is 26% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/93
the rest of the field
15%
20,233/136,711

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.

03the grantee network

89 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. 89 of the 102 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
86/89
Grantees still filing
60/89
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $4,100,000 · HealthTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATI…Texas Children's Hospital — $400,000 · HealthTexas Children's HospitalThe Council on Recovery — $375,000 · HealthThe Council on RecoveryMemorial Hermann Health System — $350,000 · HealthMemorial Hermann Health SystemASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA — $218,750 · Health+5 more — $287,500 · HealthST FRANCIS EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL — $900,000 · OtherST FRANCIS EPISCOPAL DAY SCH…ST MARTINS EPISCOPAL PRESCHOOL — $318,184 · OtherST MARTINS EPISCOPAL PRESCHO…RIVER OAKS BAPTIST SCHOOL — $250,000 · OtherUPBRING — $233,336 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON - DOWNTOWN — $200,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH — $200,000 · OtherKIPP, INC. — $200,000 · OtherHouston Zoo Inc — $400,000 · OtherHouston Zoo IncASTROS GOLF FOUNDATION — $333,328 · OtherASTROS GOLF FOUNDATIONCENTRAL HOUSTON CIVIC IMPROVEMENT INC — $175,000 · OtherSTONEY CREEK FOUNDATION — $187,500 · Other+22 more — $1,847,329 · Other+22 moreYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS — $500,000 · EducationYELLOWSTONE ACAD…IDEA Public Schools — $333,328 · EducationIDEA Public Scho…THE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH — $266,668 · EducationTHE CENTER FOR H…KIPP Texas Inc — $200,000 · EducationKIPP Texas IncYES Prep Public Schools Inc — $170,835 · EducationYES Prep Public …Joy Development School — $150,000 · EducationSmall Steps Nurturing Center — $150,000 · EducationGulf Offshore Research Institute — $125,000 · EducationTHE BETA FOUNDATION — $116,664 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice University — $108,000 · EducationAgape Development Ministries — $100,000 · EducationThe Kinkaid School Inc — $100,000 · EducationWashington and Lee University — $100,000 · Education+8 more — $532,497 · Education+8 moreTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON — $890,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF F…ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS CENTER — $500,000 · Arts & CultureASIA SOCIETY TE…GLENWOOD CEMETERY HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION — $333,328 · Arts & CultureGLENWOOD CEMETE…ALLEY THEATRE — $318,184 · Arts & CultureALLEY THEATREContemporary Arts Museum Houston — $300,000 · Arts & CultureContemporary Ar…Houston Museum of Natural Science — $100,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more — $364,964 · Arts & Culture+6 moreTHE CENTER FOR PURSUIT — $750,000 · Human ServicesTHE CENTER FOR…Christian Community Service Center Inc — $320,000 · Human ServicesChristian Comm…Young Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area — $320,000 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Ch…Houston's Amazing Place Inc — $200,000 · Human ServicesHouston's Amaz…INSPIRATION RANCH INC — $150,000 · Human ServicesINSPIRATION RA…COVENANT HOUSE TEXAS — $150,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE…The Sanctuary Foster Care Services — $100,000 · Human ServicesDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER — $100,000 · Human ServicesWonders & Worries Inc — $87,500 · Human Services+8 more — $384,169 · Human Services+8 moreMemorial Park Conservancy Inc — $400,000 · EnvironmentHouston Botanic Garden — $141,672 · EnvironmentSWITCH ENERGY ALLIANCE — $100,000 · EnvironmentGalveston Bay Foundation Inc — $100,000 · EnvironmentThe Houston Audubon Society — $42,000 · Environment+1 more — $10,000 · EnvironmentNew Hope Housing Inc — $500,000 · Housing & ShelterAvenue Community Development Corporation — $41,670 · Housing & ShelterFORT BEND RAMPS INC — $25,000 · Housing & Shelter
Health$5,731,250Other$5,244,677Education$2,952,992Arts & Culture$2,806,476Human Services$2,561,669Environment$793,672Housing & Shelter$566,670

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 budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $4,100,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON — $890,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR PURSUIT — $750,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetASIA SOCIETY TEXAS CENTER — $500,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetNew Hope Housing Inc — $500,000 over 2y, 6.8% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS — $500,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetTexas Children's Hospital — $400,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc — $400,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetHouston Zoo Inc — $400,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Council on Recovery — $375,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetMemorial Hermann Health System — $350,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIDEA Public Schools — $333,328 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLENWOOD CEMETERY HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION — $333,328 over 2y, 11% of budgetASTROS GOLF FOUNDATION — $333,328 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetChristian Community Service Center Inc — $320,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area — $320,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALLEY THEATRE — $318,184 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetContemporary Arts Museum Houston — $300,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH — $266,668 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA — $218,750 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetKIPP Texas Inc — $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHouston's Amazing Place Inc — $200,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetSTONEY CREEK FOUNDATION — $187,500 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetCENTRAL HOUSTON CIVIC IMPROVEMENT INC — $175,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetYES Prep Public Schools Inc — $170,835 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $166,664 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetJoy Development School — $150,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetINSPIRATION RANCH INC — $150,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetSmall Steps Nurturing Center — $150,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS — $150,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetHouston Botanic Garden — $141,672 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetGulf Offshore Research Institute — $125,000 over 2y, 28% of budgetHouston Golf Association Inc — $125,000 over 2y, 56% of budgetCamp Allen Camp & Conference Center — $125,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetFt Bend County Child Advocates Inc — $125,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetEvelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston — $125,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE BETA FOUNDATION — $116,664 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSER-JOBS FOR PROGRESS OF THE TEXAS GULF COAST INC — $112,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University — $108,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAgape Development Ministries — $100,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetHouston Museum of Natural Science — $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Kinkaid School Inc — $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWashington and Lee University — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Sanctuary Foster Care Services — $100,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetSWITCH ENERGY ALLIANCE — $100,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER — $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGalveston Bay Foundation Inc — $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetLEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES INC — $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% 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…The Brown Foundation …Houston Endowment IncMD Anderson FoundationStrake FoundationVivian L Smith Founda…The Elkins FoundationThe William Stamps Fa…Shell USA Company Fou…The Methodist HospitalThe Powell Foundation
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX77.8× affinity57 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 · The Brown Foundation Inc · Houston Endowment Inc · MD Anderson Foundation · Strake Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · The William Stamps Farish Fund · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Methodist Hospital · The Powell Foundation

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.

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 102 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $13M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2021, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

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