Skip to content
The Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
49
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$783k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$8.5MEducation$3.5MRecreation & Sports$2.4MAnimals$1.7MPhilanthropy$540kArts & Culture$355kScience & Tech$170kHousing & Shelter$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 49 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $38k
  • $10k–50k31 grants · $714k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $866k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.1M
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Memorial Park Conservancy$782,500
Childrens Medical Center Foundation$300,000
The UT MD Anderson Cancer Center$200,000
UT Southwestern Health Systems$165,000
Houston Methodist Hospital$100,000
Texas Health Resources Foundation$100,000
Eastwood Ranch Foundation$100,000
New Mexico Community Trust$75,000
Sherman ISD Education Foundation$65,000
UT Southwestern Health Systems$60,500
Gainesville ISD Education Foundation$45,000
Sanger Education Foundation Inc$45,000
Krum ISD Education Foundation$40,000
UT Southwestern Health Systems$35,000
Aubrey Education Foundation$35,000
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 (FY22–25, $135k) 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.

area typical 11%Friends of Down Syndrome: $100k → 16%National Young Mens Service League: $5k → 11%Friends of Down Syndrome: $15k → 16%National Young Mens Service League: $5k → 11%YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas: $5k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas: $5k → 14%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 6% of The Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 86% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 83%.

The Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 52 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

52 repeat relationships: 35 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
16

Total granted

$14M
$2.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+76%

Still filing today

75%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $110k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationAnimalsHealthHuman ServicesArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther
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

  • MP
    Memorial Park Conservancy Inc
    3× · 2023–2025 · $2.3M · revenue +112%
  • CM
    CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION
    8× · 2018–2025 · $2.0M · revenue +236%
  • THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2018–2021 · $900k · revenue +80%

Funded once

  • US
    UT Southwestern Medical Center
    one grant, 2020 · $865k
  • UO
    University of Texas Austin
    one grant, 2017 · $250k
  • CH
    CHILDREN'S HEALTH SYSTEM OF TEXASgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $250k · revenue +106%
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
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…

—
2
Dallas Seminary Foundation

To support the mission of Dallas Theological Seminary by offering charitable planned giving and other related services to friends of the Seminary.

Education
3
The University of Texas Foundation No 1

To support the university of texas system

—
4
Texas a&M Research Foundation

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

Education
5
Texas State University Development Foundation

To support and further the mission of texas state university through the acceptance and investment of gifts established as endowments benefiting the students, faculty and staff.

Education
6
Texas Trees Foundation

The mission of texas trees foundation is to improve the health of cities and people through the transformative power of trees.

—
7
The University of TexasTexas a&M Investment Management Company

To generate superior long-term investment returns to support The University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems as they provide world-class teaching, push the boundaries of discovery, and achieve excellence in patient healthcare for…

Education
8
Scott & White Healthcare Foundation

To foster and support the activities and purposes of Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH), to encourage broad-based public support of the healthcare system and its affiliated institutions, and to advance the medical objectives, including…

Health
9
The University of Texas Foundation No 2

To support the university of texas system

—
10
Texas State University System Foundation

Public charitable uses and purposes for the benefit of the texas state university system and its components by providing, directly or indirectly, assistance and benefits to the system and/ or the systems components.

Education
11
Texas Bar Foundation

The Foundation solicits charitable contributions and provides funding to enhance the rule of law and the system of justice in Texas, especially for programs that relate to the administration of justice; ethics in the legal profession;…

Crime & Legal
12
Irving Healthcare Foundation

To foster and support the activities and purposes of Baylor Medical Center at Irving, to encourage broad-based public support, and to advance its medical objectives including sponsorship of patient care, research, and educational and…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Dallas Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Slb Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

51 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 51 of the 76 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/51
Grantees still filing
41/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $2,050,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATIONUT SOUTHWESTERN HEALTH SYSTEMS: $1,546,500 · HealthUT SOUTHWESTERN HEALTH SYSTEMSTexas Health Resources Foundation: $805,000 · HealthTexas Health Resources FoundationTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $570,000 · HealthTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONMAYO CLINIC: $285,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S HEALTH SYSTEM OF TEXAS: $250,000 · Health+2 more: $95,000 · HealthTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $900,000 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATIO…UT Southwestern Medical Center: $865,000 · OtherUT Southwestern Medical CenterThe UT MD Anderson Cancer Center: $600,000 · OtherThe UT MD Anderson Cancer CenterHouston Methodist Hospital: $500,000 · OtherHouston Methodist HospitalHouston Methodist Hospital Foundati: $450,000 · OtherHouston Methodist Hospital Founda…University of Texas Austin: $250,000 · Other+34 more: $1,600,000 · Other+34 moreMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $2,282,500 · EnvironmentMemorial Park …Eastwood Ranch Foundation: $775,000 · AnimalsEastwood R…INSYNC EXOTIC INC: $536,000 · AnimalsINSYNC EXO…PATTY BAKER HUMANE SOCIETY NAPLES INC: $100,000 · AnimalsPATTY BAKE…+5 more: $133,000 · Animals+5 moreUNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $500,000 · PhilanthropyUNIVERSIT…SANTA FE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $365,000 · PhilanthropySANTA FE …SHERMAN ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $235,000 · PhilanthropySHERMAN I…LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: $165,000 · PhilanthropyLENSIC PE…Lake Cities Education Foundation INC: $135,000 · PhilanthropyLake Citi…+1 more: $25,000 · PhilanthropyThe University of Texas Law School Foundation: $200,000 · EducationKRUM ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $125,000 · EducationGAINESVILLE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $115,000 · EducationSanger Education Foundation Inc: $115,000 · EducationAubrey Education Foundation Inc: $105,000 · EducationCALLISBURG ISD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $90,000 · EducationWYLIE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 · EducationVALLEY VIEW EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $60,000 · EducationEDUCATIONAL FIRST STEPS: $50,000 · EducationTHE SEEING EYE INC: $175,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF DOWN SYNDROME: $115,000 · Human Services+2 more: $20,000 · Human Services
Health$5,601,500Other$5,165,000Environment$2,282,500Animals$1,544,000Philanthropy$1,425,000Education$935,000Human Services$310,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $2,282,500 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $2,050,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetUT SOUTHWESTERN HEALTH SYSTEMS: $1,546,500 over 7y, 16% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $900,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetTexas Health Resources Foundation: $805,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetEastwood Ranch Foundation: $775,000 over 9y, 15% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $570,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetINSYNC EXOTIC INC: $536,000 over 5y, 22% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $500,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSANTA FE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $365,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $285,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HEALTH SYSTEM OF TEXAS: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHERMAN ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $235,000 over 4y, 31% of budgetThe University of Texas Law School Foundation: $200,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE SEEING EYE INC: $175,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetLENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: $165,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetLake Cities Education Foundation INC: $135,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetKRUM ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $125,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetFRIENDS OF DOWN SYNDROME: $115,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetGAINESVILLE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $115,000 over 3y, 45% of budgetSanger Education Foundation Inc: $115,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetAubrey Education Foundation Inc: $105,000 over 3y, 38% of budgetNEW MEXICO WILDLIFE CENTER INC: $105,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetPATTY BAKER HUMANE SOCIETY NAPLES INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF DALLAS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSLB FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 4y, 68% of budgetBaylor Health Care System Foundation: $90,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCALLISBURG ISD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 3y, 34% of budgetWYLIE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetDALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $75,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetERA EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 over 3y, 30% of budgetVALLEY VIEW EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 3y, 39% of budgetSEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDALLAS SYMPHONY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetEDUCATIONAL FIRST STEPS: $50,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetThe Frank Buck Zoological Society: $40,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetHOUSE OF ELI INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTHE DALLAS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA FE RAPTOR CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF DALLAS COUNTY: $25,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetTHE COOPER INSTITUTE: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBRUCE WOOD DANCE CO INC: $20,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF DALLAS: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBroadway Dallas Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYMCA OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEASY STREET ANIMAL SHELTER: $10,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetNATIONAL YOUNG MENS SERVICE LEAGUE: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTake Me Home Pet Rescue Inc: $8,000 over 3y, 1.1% 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.

Communities Foundatio…The Dallas FoundationTexas Instruments Fou…Community Foundation …The Rosewood Foundati…Coserv Charitable Fou…Celanese FoundationDallas Jewish Communi…United Way WorldwideThe US Charitable Gif…The Ayco Charitable F…National Philanthropi…
Communities Foundation of Texas IncTX28.6× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · The Dallas Foundation · Texas Instruments Foundation · Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · The Rosewood Foundation · Coserv Charitable Foundation · Celanese Foundation · Dallas Jewish Community Foundation · United Way Worldwide · The US Charitable Gift Trust · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust

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 Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Josephine Hughes Sterling 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 76 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Josephine Hughes Sterling’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