· Private foundation
The Marilyn and Sonny Oates 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
93% of The Marilyn and Sonny Oates Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Communities Foundation Of Texas Inc, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 10 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year The Marilyn and Sonny Oates Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $10M. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2020
- Under $10k1 grant · $5k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $115k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $450k
- $250k+3 grants · $9.1M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF DALLAS | $7,000,000 |
| MEDIALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL | $1,100,000 |
| MISSION DIGNITY | $1,000,000 |
| M D ANDERSON CANCER CENTER | $200,000 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION | $150,000 |
| CRYSTAL CHARITY BALL | $100,000 |
| COMMUNITY PARTNERS OF DALLAS | $25,000 |
| DABS - FRIENDS OF THE DALLAS ARBORETUM | $25,000 |
| STARS SCHOLARSHIP FUND | $25,000 |
| WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA | $20,000 |
| PSJA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| SUSAN G KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $275k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 82% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
16 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2020, 6 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $263k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TCTHE CRYSTAL CHARITY BALL2× · 2020–2021 · $200k · revenue +32%
- CPCHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMUNITY PARTNERS INC4× · 2018–2024 · $180k · revenue +25%
- SPSAMARITAN'S PURSE2× · 2023–2024 · $120k · revenue +53%
Funded once
- HEHEALTH-TEXAS EDUCATION FUNDBAYLOR FOUNDATIONone grant, 2017 · $100k
- USUT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTERone grant, 2017 · $50k
- MSMERCY STREETone grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue -10%
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.
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.
The mission of the dallas county medical society is to promote public health and advocate for physicians and their relationship with patients, while upholding professionalism in the practice of medicine.
The mission of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council is to drive evidence-based improvement in patient care and health equity throughout the region.
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
Memorial hermann health system is a nonprofit, values-driven, community-owned health system dedicated to improving health. our vision is to create healthier communities, now and for generations to come. our values are community,…
The dcms foundation's mission is to improve the quality and distribution of health services throughout dallas county.
Provide dental, general pediatric, and pediatric sub-specialty services, including, but not limited to emergency department coverage, inpatient coverage, orthopedic surgery, and craniofacial orthodontics regardless of payor source or…
Travis county medical society (tcms) represents the medical profession in matters of importance to the membership and the community it serves.
The association's purpose is to promote the role of the pharmacist and the practice of pharmacy in the state of texas.
The texas medical association (tma), the nation's largest and one of the oldest state medical societies, represents over 59,000 physicians and medical students dedicated to enhancing the health of all texans. in collaboration with 110…
To support the mission of Dallas Theological Seminary by offering charitable planned giving and other related services to friends of the Seminary.
Knowing that every child's life is sacred, our promise is to improve the health of every child in our region through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.
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…
How this is measured
25 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. 25 of the 46 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ↗
- Who funds MEDIALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds THE CRYSTAL CHARITY BALL ↗
- Who funds CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMUNITY PARTNERS INC ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S HEALTH SYSTEM OF TEXAS ↗
- Who funds STARS SCHOLARSHIP FUND ↗
- Who funds MERCY STREET ↗
- Who funds BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 571 CIRCLE TEN COUNCIL ↗
- Who funds PATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS ↗
- Who funds DALLAS FURNITURE BANK ↗
- Who funds FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds Wreaths Across America ↗
- Who funds CROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds WELL COMMUNITY ↗
- Who funds ABILITY CONNECTION TEXAS ↗
- Who funds MEN OF NEHEMIAH INC ↗
- Who funds KIDNEYTEXAS INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL PSORIASIS FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · The Dallas Foundation · Texas Instruments Foundation · Hoblitzelle Foundation · W P & Bulah Luse Foundation · The Moody Foundation · Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · Marilyn Augur Family Foundation · Arkay Foundation Inc · Hegi Family Foundation · The Bill & Katie Weaver Charitable Trust · The Rosewood Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Marilyn and Sonny Oates Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Marilyn and Sonny Oates Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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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.
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