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The Simmons Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Simmons 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.

$1.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
41
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Human Services$2.0MRecreation & Sports$2.0MPhilanthropy$1.9MHealth$1.8MCrime & Legal$1.7MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.0MCivil Rights$830kEducation$625kOther$0
02FY2025 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $52k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $285k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $875k
  • $250k+2 grants · $500k
$25,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$5.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Kids' Meals Inc$250,000
Northwest Colorado Health$250,000
Lift Up Routt County$100,000
Yampa Valley Sustainability Council$100,000
Yampa Valley Autism Program$100,000
Camp for All Foundation$100,000
YMCA of Greater Houston$75,000
Lift Up Routt County$50,000
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps$50,000
Book Trails Inc$50,000
Northwest Colorado Health$50,000
Northwest Colorado Health$50,000
Steamboat Springs Discovery Learning Center$50,000
Yampa Valley Community Foundation$50,000
United Way of the Yampa Valley$50,000
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 (FY21–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 81% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Funders Together To End Homelessness: $25k → 16%Advocates-Crisis Trauma and Survivor Services: $10k → 10%Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: $35k → 14%Senior Citizens Action Group Inc: $5k → 10%Neighborhood Recovery Community Development Corporation: $25k → 16%Lift Up Routt County: $100k → 6%Covenant House Texas: $125k → 16%Montrose Grace Place INC: $40k → 16%YMCA of Greater Houston: $75k → 16%Lift Up Routt County: $50k → 6%Foster Care Advocacy Center: $50k → 16%LiftUp Routt County: $30k → 6%LiftUp Routt County: $25k → 6%Kids' Meals Inc: $250k → 16%Houston Area Women's Center: $125k → 16%Houston Area Women's Center: $125k → 16%Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
MA
CA
CO
DC
TX
FL
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 Simmons Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Simmons 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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.2M · 94 repeat orgs$4.6M to everyone else

94 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 82 since wound down; 18 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

94
134

Total granted

$9.2M
$4.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+25%

Still filing today

62%
39%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $640k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’21’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthCivil RightsEducationCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • NC
    NORTHWEST COLORADO VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2017–2025 · $410k · revenue +201%
  • HA
    Houston Area Women's Center
    2× · 2023–2024 · $250k · revenue +10%
  • LU
    Lift Up of Routt County
    3× · 2023–2025 · $205k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • HI
    Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative c/o Greater Houston Community Foundation
    one grant, 2017 · $140k
  • HI
    Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
    one grant, 2018 · $133k
  • CH
    COVENANT HOUSE TEXAS
    one grant, 2023 · $125k · revenue -25%
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
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
4
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Inc

The ACLU of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions.

—
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
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
7
South Central Houston Action Council Inc

The organization provides medical services in the form of primary and preventive care to underserved and underinsured residents of harris county.

—
8
Commission Shift

Commission Shift is reforming oil and gas oversight by building public support to hold the Railroad Commission of Texas accountable to its mission in a shifting energy landscape.

Environment
9
Aclu Foundation of Texas Inc

The ACLU Foundation of Texas is the unyielding guardian and promoter of freedom, justice, equality and dignity of all people, particularly for those who are still fighting to secure the full exercise of their civil rights and liberties.…

Civil Rights
10
Tarrant County Homeless Coalition

Tarrant County Homeless Coalition leads the community solution to homelessness in greater Tarrant and Parker counties by serving as a catalyst for community transformation.

Human Services
11
Texas Immigration Law Council

It is the mission of the Texas Immigration Law Council to protect and promote the basic rights of immigrants and refugees of all nationalities within Texas.

Civil Rights
12
Texas Legal Services Center Inc

Texas Legal Services Center is a nonprofit legal aid organization whose mission is to serve the undeserved by making civil justice accessible to every Texan--no matter their ability to earn. We're a coalition of attorneys, paralegals, pro…

Crime & Legal
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 Avow Inc. 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

135 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. 135 of the 249 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)
37
Early backer (in before they grew)
129/135
Grantees still filing
82/135
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Old Town Hot Springs: $2,027,100 · OtherOld Town Hot Springs+123 more: $6,280,220 · Other+123 moreKIDS' MEALS INC: $250,000 · Human ServicesKIDS' MEALS INCHouston Area Women's Center: $250,000 · Human ServicesHouston Area Wo…Lift Up of Routt County: $205,000 · Human ServicesLift Up of Rout…Yampa Valley Autism Program: $140,000 · Human ServicesYampa Valley Au…COVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $125,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE …AVDA: $109,250 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area: $105,000 · Human ServicesSTEAMBOAT SPRINGS DISCOVERY LEARNING CENTER: $90,000 · Human ServicesMONTGOMERY COUNTY YOUTH SERVICES: $75,000 · Human Services+18 more: $769,000 · Human Services+18 moreYAMPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,570,000 · PhilanthropyYAMPA VALLEY C…The Women's Resource of Greater Houston: $160,000 · PhilanthropyThe Women's Re…HEALTHY FUTURES OF TEXAS: $80,500 · Philanthropy+5 more: $165,000 · Philanthropy+5 moreNORTHWEST COLORADO VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION: $410,000 · HealthNORTHWEST…Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $170,000 · HealthPlanned P…LONE STAR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER: $100,000 · HealthLONE STAR…NATIONAL LATINA INSTITUTE FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: $100,000 · HealthNATIONAL …Mental Health America of Greater Houston Inc: $87,500 · HealthMental He…Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas dba Every Body TX: $80,500 · HealthWomen's H…THE BEACON OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON: $60,000 · HealthThe Montrose Center: $50,000 · HealthLiving Hope Wheelchair Association: $49,000 · Health+5 more: $164,000 · Health+5 moreALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE: $150,000 · Civil RightsUltraViolet Education Fund: $60,500 · Civil RightsLGBTQ Victory Institute Inc: $60,000 · Civil RightsTRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $54,000 · Civil RightsFE Y JUSTICIA WORKER CENTER: $50,000 · Civil RightsUNITED WE DREAM NETWORK INC: $40,000 · Civil RightsEqual Justice Center: $40,000 · Civil RightsGENDER INFINITY INC: $35,000 · Civil RightsJOLT INITIATIVE: $30,000 · Civil RightsCHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND: $25,000 · Civil RightsCHILDREN'S RIGHTS INC: $20,000 · Civil RightsTransgender Law Center: $20,000 · Civil RightsHYPE FREEDOM SCHOOL INC: $68,000 · EducationWriters in the Schools: $60,000 · EducationBOOK TRAILS INC: $55,000 · EducationCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS-BAY AREA INC: $50,000 · EducationPARTNERS IN ROUTT COUNTY: $50,000 · EducationSTEAMBOAT READING INC: $40,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $35,000 · EducationWORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT: $30,000 · EducationBaylor College of Medicine: $25,000 · EducationDaya Inc: $162,000 · Community ImprovementFIFTH WARD COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $80,000 · Community ImprovementBONDING AGAINST ADVERSITY INC: $70,000 · Community ImprovementEAST HARRIS COUNTY EMPOWERMENT COUNCIL: $35,000 · Community ImprovementTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $25,000 · Community ImprovementSAVE OUR SISTERS UNITED: $20,000 · Community Improvement
Other$8,307,320Human Services$2,118,250Philanthropy$1,975,500Health$1,271,000Civil Rights$584,500Education$413,000Community Improvement$392,000

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 budgetYAMPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,570,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetNORTHWEST COLORADO VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION: $410,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Area Women's Center: $250,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetLift Up of Routt County: $205,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetPlanned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $170,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetDaya Inc: $162,000 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetThe Women's Resource of Greater Houston: $160,000 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE: $150,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetYampa Valley Autism Program: $140,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetYAMPA VALLEY SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL: $135,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $125,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF THE YAMPA VALLEY: $110,000 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetAVDA: $109,250 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area: $105,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY AGRICULTURE ALLIANCE INC: $105,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetCamp For All Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLONE STAR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL LATINA INSTITUTE FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: $100,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetEL CENTRO DE CORAZON: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSTEAMBOAT SPRINGS DISCOVERY LEARNING CENTER: $90,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetMental Health America of Greater Houston Inc: $87,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetHEALTHY FUTURES OF TEXAS: $80,500 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetWomen's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas dba Every Body TX: $80,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetEARL CARL INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL AND SOCIAL POLICY INC: $80,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetFIFTH WARD COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $80,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetKIND INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTY YOUTH SERVICES: $75,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetTexas Low-Income Housing Information Service: $70,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetHYPE FREEDOM SCHOOL INC: $68,000 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetMONTROSE GRACE PLACE: $66,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTY WOMENS CENTER: $65,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetFIRST3YEARS: $62,500 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS LILITH FUND: $60,500 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetUltraViolet Education Fund: $60,500 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetLOVE146 INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE BEACON OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON: $60,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHARMONY HOUSE INC: $60,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetMemorial Assistance Ministries: $60,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLGBTQ Victory Institute Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetNORTHWEST ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES: $60,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN YOUTH CORPS: $60,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetWriters in the Schools: $60,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE: $55,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $54,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetHEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS-HOUSTON: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Montrose Center: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD RECOVERY COMMUNIT DEVELOPMENT CORP: $50,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetGRANTMAKERS CONCERNED WITH IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

United Way of Greater…Houston Endowment IncGreater Houston Commu…The Brown Foundation …Episcopal Health Foun…Rockwell Fund IncThe Methodist HospitalBaxter Trust Co Priva…Strake FoundationShell USA Company Fou…The Powell FoundationHouston Immigration L…
United Way of Greater HoustonTX81× affinity38 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Greater Houston · Houston Endowment Inc · Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Episcopal Health Foundation · Rockwell Fund Inc · The Methodist Hospital · Baxter Trust Co Private Foundation Services · Strake Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Powell Foundation · Houston Immigration Legal ServicesCollab

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    14report 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.

    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 249 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 Simmons’ 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