Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Tobin Endowment

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$1.8M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 FY2020–2024.

Arts & Culture$7.9MHealth$1.3MEnvironment$1.0MPublic Benefit$820kHuman Services$359kYouth Development$175kEducation$134kPhilanthropy$130kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $70k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $449k
  • $250k+3 grants · $2.6M
$60,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$149M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FOUNDATION$1,792,457
THE TOBIN THEATRE ARTS FUND$500,000
THE SANTA FE OPERA$277,364
MCNAY ART MUSEUM$135,000
CHRISTUS SANTA ROSA FRIENDS FOUNDATION$104,266
SAN ANTONIO REPORT$100,000
TEXAS TRIBUNE INC$60,000
MISSION ROAD MINISTRIES$50,000
GIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS$35,000
ELF LOUISE INC$15,000
MUSICAL BRIDGES AROUND THE WORLD INC$10,000
THE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTO$10,000
CLASSICAL MUSIC INSTITUTE$9,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–23, $273k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FRIENDS OF THE SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY: $1k → 16%THE CHILDRENS SHELTER: $136k → 16%THE CHILDRENS SHELTER: $136k → 16%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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 6% of The Tobin Endowment’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

The Tobin Endowmentlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$11M · 24 repeat orgs$513k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships — 12 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
13

Total granted

$11M
$463k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+35%

Still filing today

83%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyHealthRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • BC
    BEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART
    2× · 2023–2024 · $3.4M · revenue +15%
  • PH
    PHIL HARDBERGER PARK CONSERVANCY
    3× · 2020–2022 · $925k · revenue +694% · 50% of their budget
  • MA
    MCNAY ART MUSEUM
    5× · 2020–2024 · $846k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • Texas 2036graduated
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +33%
  • TG
    TEXAS GOVERNOR'S MANSION GREENHOUSE
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $50k

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
Kimbell Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
2
Texas Public Radio

The mission of Texas Public Radio is to engage, inspire and inform, bringing people together to better understand their community and world.

Arts & Culture
3
San Antonio Symphony League

Preserve, advance and cultivate classical music by supporting and promoting live performances, providing financial assistance and service, and supporting and creating educational efforts/programs of nonprofit classical music organizations…

Arts & Culture
4
Center for 20TH Century Texas Studies
—
5
San Antonio Automobile Dealers Association Foundation Inc
—
6
Tennis Officials of San Antonio Association
Recreation & Sports
7
San Anto Cultural Arts

To foster human and community development through community-based arts.

Arts & Culture
8
San Antonio Philharmonic

See attached statement

Arts & Culture
9
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts

The mission of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts shall be to establish and maintain a museum in order to house and exhibit a permanent collection of art as well as to provide space for traveling exhibitions, for the purpose of the…

Arts & Culture
10
San Antonio Museum of Art

The San Antonio Museum of Art brings people together with art by collecting, preserving, and presenting significant works of art representing a broad range of history and cultures, advancing human connection and understanding, and…

Arts & Culture
11
Capital of Texas Public Telecommunications Council

Klru is a leader in public media, distinguished by its energetic engagement with the community and for the quality and creativity of content. klru illuminates the wider world of knowledge; the importance of discourse; and the many…

Arts & Culture
12
Fiesta San Antonio CommissionInc

To plan,promote,and preserve Fiesta San Antonio through the support of non-profit, civic and patriotic participating member organization in presenting a safe educational, annual celebration of diverse heritage,culture and spirit of the San…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Antonio Area Foundation and the most unlike its peers is The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 27 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number26%0%<5yr16%7%5–10yr18%30%10–20yr15%20%20–35yr13%20%35–55yr13%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value26%0%<5yr16%1%5–10yr18%62%10–20yr15%21%20–35yr13%2%35–55yr13%14%55yr+

The field is 26% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/33
the rest of the field
14%
2,206/16,116

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

33 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 33 of the 39 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
28/33
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

BEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART — $3,442,457 · EducationBEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN …TEXAS TRIBUNE INC — $720,000 · EducationTEXAS TRIBUNE INC+2 more — $55,000 · EducationTHE TOBIN THEATRE ARTS FUND — $2,000,000 · Arts & CultureTHE TOBIN THEATRE ARTS FUNDMCNAY ART MUSEUM — $846,000 · Arts & CultureMCNAY ART MUSEUMTHE SANTA FE OPERA — $616,664 · Arts & CultureTHE SANTA FE OPERASan Antonio Report — $300,000 · Arts & CultureSan Antonio ReportTHE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN — $150,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more — $247,124 · Arts & Culture+10 moreCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF SAN ANTONIO — $300,000 · OtherCHILDREN'S H…CHRISTUS SANTA ROSA FRIENDS FOUNDATION — $208,532 · OtherCHRISTUS SAN…GIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS INC — $175,000 · OtherGIRL SCOUTS …BEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER — $158,150 · OtherBEXAR COUNTY…TEXAS GOVERNOR'S MANSION GREENHOUSE — $100,000 · OtherTEXAS GOVERN…ELF LOUISE INC — $87,276 · OtherELF LOUISE I…Classical Music Institute CMI — $59,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $50,000 · OtherTexas 2036 — $100,000 · OtherTexas 2036MISSION ROAD MINISTRIES — $50,000 · Other+2 more — $47,500 · OtherPHIL HARDBERGER PARK CONSERVANCY — $925,000 · Recreation & SportsBioBridge Global — $575,860 · HealthTEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $118,000 · HealthTHE CHILDREN'S SHELTER — $272,000 · Human Services+1 more — $1,230 · Human ServicesTexas Cultural Trust Council — $101,450 · PhilanthropySAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION — $100,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC — $50,000 · Philanthropy
Education$4,217,457Arts & Culture$4,159,788Other$1,335,458Recreation & Sports$925,000Health$693,860Human Services$273,230Philanthropy$251,450

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART — $3,442,457 over 2y, 10% of budgetTHE TOBIN THEATRE ARTS FUND — $2,000,000 over 4y, 91% of budgetPHIL HARDBERGER PARK CONSERVANCY — $925,000 over 3y, 50% of budgetMCNAY ART MUSEUM — $846,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetTEXAS TRIBUNE INC — $720,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetTHE SANTA FE OPERA — $616,664 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetBioBridge Global — $575,860 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetSan Antonio Report — $300,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S SHELTER — $272,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS INC — $175,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetTHE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN — $150,000 over 3y, 6.1% of budgetTEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $118,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTexas Cultural Trust Council — $101,450 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetTexas 2036 — $100,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSAN ANTONIO AREA FOUNDATION — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetELF LOUISE INC — $87,276 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetClassical Music Institute CMI — $59,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC — $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetNOTLEY IMPACT — $50,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetMISSION ROAD MINISTRIES — $50,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetHUMANITIES TEXAS — $42,900 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetAlamo Trust Inc — $42,084 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMetropolitan Opera Association Inc — $32,800 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHIDALGO FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetSAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetTEXAS HERITAGE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION — $25,000 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetALAMO PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL DOING BUSINESS AS KLRN — $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMusical Bridges Around the World Inc — $14,340 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSAN ANTONIO FOUNDATION FOR FREE ENTERPRI — $10,000 over 2y, 85% of budgetWitte Museum — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREY FEO SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $1,230 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

San Antonio Area Foun…Elizabeth Huth Coates…Muriel F Siebert Foun…80-20 FoundationPryor Myra Stafford C…Betty Stieren Kelso F…Nancy Smith Hurd Foun…The Brown Foundation …John R & Greli N Less…Charitable Foundation…Mays Family FoundationFaye L & William L Co…
San Antonio Area FoundationTX33.2× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: San Antonio Area Foundation · Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992 · Muriel F Siebert Foundation Inc · 80-20 Foundation · Pryor Myra Stafford Char Tr F0030100 · Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation · Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · John R & Greli N Less Charitable Trust #FE324 · Charitable Foundation Frost F0359600 · Mays Family Foundation · Faye L & William L Cowden Charitable Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Tobin Endowment 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report 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

    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 The Tobin Endowment?

    Find your warmest path to The Tobin Endowment 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 39 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

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines