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The Lyons Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Lyons 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.

$32k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$32k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$1.5MHealth$1.4MHuman Services$1.0MFood & Nutrition$710kHousing & Shelter$390kCrime & Legal$300kEnvironment$250kYouth Development$250kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$32,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOPE & HEALING CENTER AND INSTITUTE$32,000
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 (FY21–22, $900k) 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%COVENANT HOUSE: $100k → 17%BOYS & GIRLS COUNTRY HOUSTON: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $100k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $50k → 16%KIDS MEAL INC: $500k → 16%KIDS MEALS INC: $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.

25%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 6 repeat orgs$4.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +13% since the first grant, against -2% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
35

Total granted

$1.7M
$4.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
-2%

Still filing today

83%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationHealthCrime & LegalArts & CultureReligionOther
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

  • KM
    KIDS' MEALS INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $550k · revenue +38%
  • DC
    DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER
    2× · 2021–2022 · $150k · revenue +13%
  • HA
    Hope and Healing Center & Institute
    2× · 2022–2024 · $137k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • CS
    Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth
    one grant, 2021 · $1.0M
  • TR
    THE RISE SCHOOL OF HOUSTON
    one grant, 2021 · $400k
  • CA
    CHILD ADVOCATES INC
    one grant, 2022 · $300k · revenue -6%
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
Family Service Center of Houston and Harris County

The mission of Family Service Center of Houston and Harris County (Family Houston) is to create a stronger community for tomorrow by helping individuals and families meet the challenges they face today. We help others help themselves.

Human Services
2
Trees for Houston

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

—
3
Houston Botanic Garden

To enrich life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.

Environment
4
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston Inc

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston's mission is to inspire and enable all youth, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

Youth Development
5
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
6
Houston Christian Foundation dba National Christian Foundation Houston

As the Houston affiliate of the National Christian Foundation (NCF), our mission is to serve and encourage givers to grow as faithful stewards who give wisely to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

—
7
LifeHouse of Houston Inc

LifeHouse is a Christ-centered ministry ensuring life for unborn children by providing opportunities for housing, help, and hope for young women during their pregnancies and beyond.

—
8
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
9
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…

—
10
The Beacon of Downtown Houston

To provide essential and next-step services to restore hope and help end homelessness in houston.

Health
11
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
12
Children's Health System of Texas

With more than 1 million patient visits each year, Children's Health is North Texas' leading pediatric health system and among the largest in the nation. For more than a century, our mission has been clear: make life better for children.…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Houston Community Health Centers Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Garden Foundation (fka Transform Houston Foundation). 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

19 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. 19 of the 41 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
9/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth: $1,000,000 · OtherCizik School of Nursing at UTHealthTHE RISE SCHOOL OF HOUSTON: $400,000 · OtherTHE RISE SCHOOL OF HOUSTONSEARCH HOMELESS SERVICES: $250,000 · OtherSEARCH HOMELESS SERVICESFORGE FOR FAMILIES, INC (Formally Inner City Youth: $250,000 · OtherFORGE FOR FAMILIES, INC (Formally Inner City YouthHOUSTON ARBORETUM & NATURE CENTER: $250,000 · OtherHOUSTON ARBORETUM & NATURE CENTERCHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER: $250,000 · OtherCHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTERCamp Allen Camp & Conference Center: $150,000 · OtherThe Houston Food Bank: $140,000 · Other+17 more: $785,000 · Other+17 moreSmall Steps Nurturing Center: $600,000 · EducationSmall Steps Nurtu…YELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $300,000 · EducationYELLOWSTONE ACADE…Good Reason Houston Inc: $100,000 · EducationGood Reason Houst…KIDS' MEALS INC: $550,000 · Human ServicesKIDS' MEALS INCDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $150,000 · Human ServicesDEPELCHIN CHILDR…COVENANT HOUSE: $100,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSEBOYS AND GIRLS COUNTRY OF HOUSTON INC: $100,000 · Human ServicesBOYS AND GIRLS C…The Garden Foundation (fka Transform Houston Foundation): $50,000 · Human ServicesCHILD ADVOCATES INC: $300,000 · Crime & LegalCHILD ADV…THE FORGE FOR FAMILIES: $250,000 · Crime & LegalTHE FORGE…Texas Children's Hospital: $100,000 · HealthMemorial Hermann Foundation: $100,000 · HealthHOUSTON COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS INC: $80,000 · HealthHope and Healing Center & Institute: $136,540 · ReligionBo's Place: $100,000 · Arts & CultureNew Hope Housing Inc: $25,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$3,475,000Education$1,000,000Human Services$950,000Crime & Legal$550,000Health$280,000Religion$136,540Arts & Culture$100,000Housing & Shelter$25,000

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 budgetSmall Steps Nurturing Center: $600,000 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetKIDS' MEALS INC: $550,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetCHILD ADVOCATES INC: $300,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $300,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE FORGE FOR FAMILIES: $250,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetDEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $150,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCamp Allen Camp & Conference Center: $150,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $140,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHope and Healing Center & Institute: $136,540 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetTexas Children's Hospital: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS COUNTRY OF HOUSTON INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMemorial Hermann Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCASA DE ESPERANZA DE LOS NINOS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetBo's Place: $100,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetGood Reason Houston Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHOUSTON COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS INC: $80,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Garden Foundation (fka Transform Houston Foundation): $50,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetNew Hope Housing Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Greater Houston Commu…MD Anderson FoundationThe Brown Foundation …Florence and William …The Sarofim FoundationRobert W Knox & Pearl…Vivian L Smith Founda…The Methodist HospitalThe William Stamps Fa…The Powell FoundationStrake FoundationThe Zions Bancorporat…
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX20.4× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · MD Anderson Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Florence and William K McGee Jr Family Foundation · The Sarofim Foundation · Robert W Knox & Pearl Wallis Knox Charitable · Vivian L Smith Foundation · The Methodist Hospital · The William Stamps Farish Fund · The Powell Foundation · Strake Foundation · The Zions Bancorporation 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 Lyons Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Lyons Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 Lyons Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Lyons 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 41 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 Lyons’ 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