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The Vanderhider Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Vanderhider 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.

$369k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$206k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Health$262kArts & Culture$231kRecreation & Sports$117kHuman Services$75kCommunity Improvement$59kPublic Safety & Disaster$50kEnvironment$8kCrime & Legal$3k
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $4k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $39k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $325k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$9.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MEMORIAL HERMANN FOUNDATION$205,600
HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO$69,867
MAKE A WISH$50,000
HOUSTON CHILDREN'S CHARITY$29,150
HOUSTON MUSUEM OF NATURAL SCIENCE$10,000
CANCARE INC$4,350
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY23–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 88% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%MAKE A WISH: $50k → 8%HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON: $47k → 16%MARCH OF DIMES HOUSTON: $25k → 7%MAKE A WISH: $25k → 8%HERMANN PARK CONSERVANCY: $8k → 16%HOUSTON CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $30k → 16%HOUSTON CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $29k → 16%HOUSTON PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%HOUSTON MUSUEM OF NATURAL SCIENCE: $10k → 16%MEMORIAL HERMANN FOUNDATION: $206k → 16%MEMORIAL HERMANN FOUNDATION: $52k → 16%CANCARE INC: $4k → 16%HOUSTON BALLET: $146k → 16%HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO: $70k → 16%HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO: $47k → 16%BO'S PLACE: $2k → 16%HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE FOUNDATION: $3k → 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.
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.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$510k · 4 repeat orgs$295k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
7

Total granted

$510k
$281k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+18%

Still filing today

75%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
Arts & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentCrime & LegalOther
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

  • MH
    Memorial Hermann Foundation
    2× · 2023–2024 · $258k · revenue +30%
  • HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $117k · revenue +20%
  • HC
    HOUSTON'S CHARITY FOR CHILDREN INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $59k · revenue +35%

Funded once

  • HB
    HOUSTON BALLET
    one grant, 2023 · $146k
  • HP
    HOUSTON PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • HM
    HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $47k · revenue +93%
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
Houston Botanic Garden

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

Environment
2
Harris County Medical Society

Our mission is to be the leading advocate for our member physicians, their patients and our community, in promoting the highest standards of ethical medical practice, access to quality medical care, medical education, research, and…

—
3
Trees for Houston

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

—
4
The Heritage Society

The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other…

—
5
John P McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science

The Health Museum is an innovative science center that provides an interactive and entertaining experience for all ages, promotes understanding and appreciation of the human body, mind, and spirit, and inspires a lifelong commitment to…

Arts & Culture
6
Memorial Hermann Medical Group

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,…

Health
7
Houston MediaSource

Houston MediaSource aspires to be the community media center for the City of Houston. HMS provides public access to media platforms that promote citizen engagement, protect the right to free expression, and provide opportunities to advance…

Arts & Culture
8
Holocaust Museum Houston Foundation

Support holocaust museum houston financially in educating people about the holocaust, remembering the 6 million jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors' legacy.

Philanthropy
9
Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy Inc

To completely restore Houston Freedmen's Town as a heritage district that provides America with its only Freedmen's Town.

Community Improvement
10
Houston Academy of Medicine

The mission of the Houston Academy of Medicine is to support the community service, education, scientific, and charitable programs for physicians, their patients, and the community at large in Harris County.

Education
11
The Hospice at the Texas Medical Center

The Hospice at the Texas Medical Center holds a freestanding 37 bed inpatient facility in the Texas Medical Center that is operated and managed by Houston Hospice.

Human Services
12
Mhs Physicians of Texas

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,…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Memorial Hermann Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Inc. 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

9 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. 9 of the 13 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOUSTON BALLET: $146,150 · OtherHOUSTON BALLETMAKE A WISH: $75,000 · OtherMAKE A WISHHOUSTON PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherHOUSTON PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS CHARITA…MARCH OF DIMES HOUSTON: $25,000 · OtherMARCH OF DIMES HOUSTONMemorial Hermann Foundation: $257,950 · HealthMemorial Hermann FoundationHOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC: $117,362 · Recreation & SportsHOUSTON LIVESTOC…HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON: $47,400 · Arts & CultureHouston Museum of Natural Science: $10,000 · Arts & CultureBo's Place: $2,000 · Arts & CultureHOUSTON'S CHARITY FOR CHILDREN INC: $59,350 · Community ImprovementHermann Park Conservancy: $7,973 · EnvironmentCANCARE INC: $4,350 · ReligionHARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 · Crime & Legal
Other$296,150Health$257,950Recreation & Sports$117,362Arts & Culture$59,400Community Improvement$59,350Environment$7,973Religion$4,350Crime & Legal$2,500

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 budgetMemorial Hermann Foundation: $257,950 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO INC: $117,362 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSTON'S CHARITY FOR CHILDREN INC: $59,350 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetHOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON: $47,400 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHouston Museum of Natural Science: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHermann Park Conservancy: $7,973 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANCARE INC: $4,350 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBo's Place: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Vanderhider Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Vanderhider Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%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 · 0–5%
    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 13 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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