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The Onestar Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Onestar Foundation

Onestar strengthens texas communities by creating pathways for individuals and organizations to engage, connect, and accelerate their impact.

$152k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$92k
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 2024.

Public Safety & Disaster$96MCrime & Legal$10MHousing & Shelter$2.0MHealth$535kHuman Services$498kEducation$452kPhilanthropy$352kArts & Culture$303kOther$0
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$91,800
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CIS - SAN ANTONIO$91,800
CIS OF CENTRAL TEXAS$60,169
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 (FY17–22, $19.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 44% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA: $516k → 14%SHARING HANDS A RESPITE EXPERIENCE INC: $60k → 14%ON THE ROAD LENDING: $500k → 14%NATIONAL COMPASSION FUND LLC: $7.2M → 9%HAND TO HOLD: $25k → 10%FAMILY SERVICE CENTER OF GALVESTON COUNTY: $363k → 14%TEXAS CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES: $2.4M → 10%FAMILY SERVICE CENTER OF GALVESTON COUNTY: $287k → 14%ON THE ROAD LENDING: $50k → 14%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF HOUSTON: $69k → 16%FORT BEND COUNTY WOMEN'S CENTER: $25k → 8%FAMILY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS: $965k → 19%BUCKNER CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES: $321k → 14%BUCKNER CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES: $50k → 14%PORT ARANSAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FND: $927k → 17%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH: $21k → 10%CHILDREN'S COALITION OF ARANSAS COUNTY: $94k → 17%UPBRING: $15k → 10%TEXAS NETWORK OF YOUTH SERVICES: $1.0M → 10%HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: $50k → 16%FAMILY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS: $40k → 19%YMCA OF GREATER HOUSTON - COSSABOOM REBUILD: $1.2M → 16%COLLABORATIVE FOR CHILDREN: $1.5M → 16%TEXAS WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION: $33k → 16%TARGET HUNGER: $426k → 16%TARGET HUNGER: $15k → 16%NORTHWEST ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES: $85k → 16%KALEIDOSCOPE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: $500k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $295k → 16%DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER: $20k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

MN
IL
NY
PA
CT
VA
MD
NM
NC
DC
OK
LA
MS
GA
TX
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.

46%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$49M · 47 repeat orgs$57M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

47 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 47 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

47
169

Total granted

$49M
$57M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+14%

Still filing today

64%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $152k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’22’24
Human ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementPublic Safety & DisasterPhilanthropyHealthOther
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

  • D
    DONORSCHOOSEORG
    2× · 2017–2018 · $4.3M · revenue +24%
  • LI
    LIFTFUND INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $2.0M · revenue +88%
  • LU
    Learning Undefeated Inc
    2× · 2018–2019 · $1.8M · revenue +356% · 36% of their budget

Funded once

  • NC
    NATIONAL CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $7.2M · revenue +29%
  • TC
    TEXAS CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIESgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $2.4M · revenue ×437
  • LS
    LONE STAR LEGAL AIDgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $2.3M · revenue +43%
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
Raise Texas

RAISE Texas advances equitable policies and programs that foster financial security and economic mobility for low- and moderate-income Texans. We equip, innovate and advocate to reduce disparities, remove barriers and build opportunities…

Human Services
2
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
3
Homeless Network of Texas

To lead texas communities to make homelessness rare, brief, and non- curring; to help communities strategically plan to prevent and end homelessness.

Community Improvement
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
Community Action Corporation of South Texas

To continuously improve the lives of South Texans by providing high quality health care, education, housing and economic opportunities to reduce poverty through services and partnerships.

Human Services
7
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
8
Central Houston Civic Improvement Inc

Central houston civic improvement lnc.'s mission is to ensure the continued vitality and to support development of downtown and the central city that is critical to the continued health and growth of houston.

Community Improvement
9
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.

—
10
Central Houston Inc

See schedule ocentral houston champions a thriving downtown by connecting influential leaders through initiatives that advance the future of business and community for all.

—
11
Rebuilding Together Houston

Rebuilding Together Houston is the only organization in Houston and Harris County providing free home repairs to hundreds of families each year. We employ licensed contractors to restore homes to safe, livable conditions, extending each…

Housing & Shelter
12
Community Information Now

Community information now (cinow) provides data, tools, analysis, and training to inform decisions to improve texas communities. cinow's vision is improved lives and decreased disparities through democratized data.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Sandcastle Ministries Church. 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

144 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. 144 of the 222 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.

29
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
30
Early backer (in before they grew)
135/144
Grantees still filing
87/144
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER REGION 3: $3,508,284 · OtherEDUCATION SERVICE CENTER REGION 3REGION V EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER: $2,340,124 · OtherMENNONITE DISASTER SERVICE: $2,166,445 · OtherICONNECT OUTREACH INC: $2,163,000 · OtherLONE STAR LEGAL AID: $2,314,891 · Other+113 more: $38,514,682 · Other+113 moreNATIONAL CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME INC: $7,186,786 · Human ServicesNATIONAL CENTER FOR …TEXAS CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES: $2,370,000 · Human ServicesTEXAS CENTER FOR CHI…Collaborative for Children: $1,482,704 · Human ServicesCollaborative for Ch…FAMILY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS INC: $1,004,655 · Human ServicesTexas Network of Youth Services Inc: $1,000,000 · Human ServicesPORT ARANSAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION: $926,700 · Human ServicesNEHEMIAH'S VISION INC: $828,195 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area: $750,000 · Human Services+18 more: $4,228,035 · Human Services+18 moreDONORSCHOOSEORG: $4,300,000 · EducationDONORSCHOOS…ROCKPORT FULTON ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $1,009,658 · EducationROCKPORT FU…EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER REGION II: $1,008,504 · EducationEDUCATION S…COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS: $737,150 · EducationCOMMUNITIES…BUILDINGCOMMUNITYWORKSHOP: $670,148 · EducationBUILDINGCOM…PORT ARANSAS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $520,700 · EducationUniversity of Houston Foundation: $500,000 · EducationDIGITAL WORKFORCE ACADEMY: $450,000 · Education+13 more: $2,067,423 · Education+13 moreHouston Responds: $2,175,000 · Public Safety & DisasterHouston R…COASTAL BEND DISASTER RECOVERY GROUP: $2,104,353 · Public Safety & DisasterCOASTAL B…WHARTON RECOVERY TEAM: $1,588,985 · Public Safety & DisasterWHARTON R…THE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $1,008,878 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE ST BE…Missions on Wheels Inc: $667,000 · Public Safety & DisasterMissions …West Street Recovery: $439,230 · Public Safety & DisasterDISASTER SERVICES CORPORATION-SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL USA: $375,000 · Public Safety & Disaster+3 more: $542,952 · Public Safety & Disaster+3 moreLIFTFUND INC: $2,000,000 · Community ImprovementLearning Undefeated Inc: $1,847,025 · Community ImprovementVICTORIA ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $657,000 · Community ImprovementENTERPRISE COMMUNITY PARTNERS INC: $600,000 · Community ImprovementLOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION: $582,400 · Community ImprovementHOUSTON COMMUNITY TOOLBANK INC: $575,500 · Community ImprovementREFUGIO COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $321,383 · Community Improvement+5 more: $610,248 · Community ImprovementNATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC: $1,360,000 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Brazoria County: $1,265,859 · PhilanthropyDEL MAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,259,850 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF THE CROSSROADS: $559,243 · PhilanthropyFOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS INC: $250,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 · PhilanthropyVICTORIA COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $190,000 · Philanthropy+5 more: $479,325 · PhilanthropyKABOOM INC: $3,908,130 · Recreation & Sports
Other$51,007,426Human Services$19,777,075Education$11,263,583Public Safety & Disaster$8,901,398Community Improvement$7,193,556Philanthropy$5,614,277Recreation & Sports$3,908,130

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $4,300,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetKABOOM INC: $3,908,130 over 3y, 6.4% of budgetLONE STAR LEGAL AID: $2,314,891 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetICONNECT OUTREACH INC: $2,163,000 over 2y, 76% of budgetCOASTAL BEND DISASTER RECOVERY GROUP: $2,104,353 over 3y, 45% of budgetLIFTFUND INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetLearning Undefeated Inc: $1,847,025 over 2y, 36% of budgetGOLDEN CRESCENT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1,662,836 over 2y, 40% of budgetTEXAS STATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CORPORATION: $1,600,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetTexas Children's Hospital: $1,493,269 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCollaborative for Children: $1,482,704 over 1y, 12% of budgetNATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC: $1,360,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Way of Brazoria County: $1,265,859 over 2y, 38% of budgetDEL MAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,259,850 over 3y, 9.9% of budgetGOOD360: $1,250,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSER-JOBS FOR PROGRESS OF THE TEXAS GULF COAST INC: $1,111,880 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetROCKPORT FULTON ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $1,009,658 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetTHE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $1,008,878 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetEDUCATION SERVICE CENTER REGION II: $1,008,504 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetFAMILY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS INC: $1,004,655 over 2y, 36% of budgetTexas Network of Youth Services Inc: $1,000,000 over 1y, 79% of budgetNEHEMIAH'S VISION INC: $828,195 over 1y, 51% of budgetUNITED CORPUS CHRISTI CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $775,000 over 1y, 73% of budgetATTACK POVERTY: $750,000 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area: $750,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS: $737,150 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID INC: $708,267 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS IN TEXAS: $694,977 over 2y, 87% of budgetBUILDINGCOMMUNITYWORKSHOP: $670,148 over 1y, 41% of budgetMissions on Wheels Inc: $667,000 over 2y, 77% of budgetTHE WATER INSTITUTE OF THE GULF: $657,980 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetVICTORIA ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $657,000 over 1y, 83% of budgetFamily Service Center of Galveston County Texas: $650,151 over 2y, 12% of budgetENTERPRISE COMMUNITY PARTNERS INC: $600,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION: $582,400 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHOUSTON COMMUNITY TOOLBANK INC: $575,500 over 3y, 15% of budgetUNITED WAY OF THE CROSSROADS: $559,243 over 2y, 31% of budgetOTR RESOURCES: $550,000 over 2y, 9.7% of budgetPORT ARANSAS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $520,700 over 2y, 27% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA: $516,318 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEvelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston: $500,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetRockport Art Association Inc: $500,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetKALEIDOSCOPE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SERVICE INC: $500,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetUniversity of Houston Foundation: $500,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetDIGITAL WORKFORCE ACADEMY: $450,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetTarget Hunger Inc: $441,193 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetWest Street Recovery: $439,230 over 2y, 11% of budgetDISASTER SERVICES CORPORATION-SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL USA: $375,000 over 1y, 3.4% 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.

Center for Disaster P…Coastal Bend Communit…United Way of Greater…Houston Endowment IncCenterpoint Energy Fo…Greater Houston Commu…Save The Children Fed…Ed Rachal FoundationAlbert & Ethel Herzst…The Houston Food BankTexas Mutual Insuranc…The Brown Foundation …
Center for Disaster Philanthropy IncDC71.6× affinity36 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Center for Disaster Philanthropy Inc · Coastal Bend Community Foundation · United Way of Greater Houston · Houston Endowment Inc · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Save The Children Federation Inc · Ed Rachal Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The Houston Food Bank · Texas Mutual Insurance Company · The Brown Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 22%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Enterprise Community Partners Inc: 22% of income from government
  • National Center for Victims of Crime Inc: 10% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
43report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Onestar Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Onestar 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 222 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 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 Onestar’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