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· Private foundation

John L Nau III 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.

$3.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$2.7M
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Education$32MEnvironment$11MHealth$750kArts & Culture$250kYouth Development$200kAnimals$100kHousing & Shelter$50k
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k2 grants · $350k
  • $250k+3 grants · $3.4M
$301,532
Median grant
3
States reached
$35M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION$2,666,668
THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA$401,492
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA$301,532
THE UT FOUNDATION$200,000
SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH$150,269
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 32% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $160k → 14%HAVEN FOR HOPE: $50k → 16%METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $375k → 16%NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $3.7M → 14%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $11.2M → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE UT FOUNDATION: $206k → 16%METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $375k → 16%NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $2.7M → 14%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $7.7M → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE UT FOUNDATION: $200k → 16%HOUSTON SPCA: $50k → 16%NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $2.7M → 14%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $5.2M → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE UT FOUNDATION: $200k → 16%HOUSTON SPCA: $50k → 16%NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $2.0M → 14%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $1.5M → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE UT FOUNDATION: $200k → 16%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $1.0M → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE UT FOUNDATION: $193k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $852k → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $150k → 14%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $545k → 8%SUL ROSS BORDERLAND RESEARCH: $140k → 14%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $465k → 8%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $401k → 8%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $384k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $302k → 8%COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $225k → 8%THE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA: $60k → 8%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.
$44M · 8 repeat orgs$350k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +88% since the first grant, against +38% for the ones you funded once.

8 repeat relationships — 5 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
3

Total granted

$44M
$350k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+88%
+38%

Still filing today

63%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
HealthArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentAnimalsHousing & ShelterEnvironmentOther

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

  • NP
    NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $11M · revenue +175%
  • THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $999k · revenue +88%
  • TM
    THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $750k · revenue +129%

Funded once

  • LS
    Lone Star Flight Museum
    one grant, 2017 · $250k · revenue -34%
  • GY
    GREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +60%
  • HF
    Haven for Hope of Bexar Countygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +38%

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
Houston Botanic Garden

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

Environment
2
Houston Museum of Natural Science

The mission of the Houston Museum of Natural Science shall be to preserve and advance the general knowledge of natural science; to enhance in individuals the knowledge of and delight in natural science and related subjects; and to maintain…

Arts & Culture
3
Trees for Houston

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

4
Witte Museum

The witte museum inspires people to shape the future of texas through transformative and relevant experiences in nature, science and culture.

Arts & Culture
5
The Houston Audubon Society

To advance the conservation of birds and their habitats in the Greater Houston Gulf Coast region by acquiring and maintaining critical habitat as bird sanctuaries, providing education programs and nature experiences, and advocating policy…

Environment
6
Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization thatadvances Texas proud outdoor traditions through meaningful, high-impact programs,partnerships, and a wide range of projects that conserve and enhance our…

Environment
7
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
8
Houston Parks Board

The Houston Parks Board mission is to expand, improve, and protect parks and greenspace in the Houston region.

Philanthropy
9
Glasstire

Glasstire is a website about visual art in Texas. Our mission is to expand the conversation about visual art in Texas.

Arts & Culture
10
Houston Zoo Inc

Mission: Connect communities with animals, inspiring action to save wildlife. Vision: Be a leader in the global movement to save wildlife. (Continued on Schedule O) Houston Zoo, Inc. (HZI) strives to be a zoo that practices exemplary…

Animals
11
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…

12
Texas Trees Foundation

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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Methodist Hospital Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Workshop Houston. 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

8 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. 8 of the 11 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA — $15,556,058 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIATHE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVA — $14,268,492 · OtherTHE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF UVANATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION — $11,000,001 · OtherNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION+2 more — $2,199,533 · OtherTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $750,000 · HealthLone Star Flight Museum — $250,000 · Arts & CultureWORKSHOP HOUSTON — $200,000 · Youth DevelopmentHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $100,000 · AnimalsGREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION — $50,000 · EnvironmentHaven for Hope of Bexar County — $50,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$43,024,084Health$750,000Arts & Culture$250,000Youth Development$200,000Animals$100,000Environment$50,000Housing & Shelter$50,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION — $11,000,001 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC — $999,264 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $750,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLone Star Flight Museum — $250,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION — $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetHaven for Hope of Bexar County — $50,000 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 NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Lone Star Flight Museum
  • Who funds WORKSHOP HOUSTON
  • Who funds HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
  • Who funds GREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION
  • Who funds Haven for Hope of Bexar County

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization John L Nau III 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%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to John L Nau III Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to John L Nau III 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 11 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

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