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The Virginia & le Simmons Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Virginia & le Simmons 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.

$395k
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$180k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Health$1.6MEducation$1.5MScience & Tech$809kArts & Culture$731kPublic Benefit$634kYouth Development$503kReligion$314kSocial Science$283kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k13 grants · $45k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $120k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $230k
$5,220
Median grant
6
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$180,000
FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION$50,000
SAM HOUSTON AREA COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA$35,000
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL CLUB OF HOUSTON$30,000
TEXAS HEARING INSTITUTE$25,000
RICE UNIVERSITY - BAKER INSTITUTE$20,000
HOLDSWORTH CENTER$10,000
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION$9,800
Individual grant recipient$7,500
MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER$5,220
THE KINKAID SCHOOL$5,164
GEORGE & BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION$4,640
THE BROOKWOOD COMMUNITY$3,000
RIVER OAKS FOUNDATION$2,500
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT TYLER$2,280
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 (FY19–22, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COVENANT HOUSE: $1k → 16%THE CENTER FOR PURSUIT: $10k → 16%THE CENTER FOR PURSUIT: $3k → 16%THE CENTER FOUNDATION: $5k → 16%MAKING IT BETTER: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
WA
MI
NY
MA
WY
IA
PA
CA
UT
VA
MD
DC
LA
MS
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.
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 10% of The Virginia & le Simmons Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 68% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 61%.

The Virginia & le Simmons Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 8.4% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.9M · 33 repeat orgs$348k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2024, 20 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
43

Total granted

$5.9M
$273k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+28%

Still filing today

67%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthEducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesPhilanthropyEnvironmentOther
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

  • TC
    Texas Children's Hospital
    5× · 2019–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +71%
  • WM
    William Marsh Rice University
    3× · 2021–2023 · $566k · revenue +28%
  • TG
    THE GEORGE AND BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION
    6× · 2019–2024 · $534k · revenue +44%

Funded once

  • RU
    RICE UNIVERSITY - BROCKMAN MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
    one grant, 2020 · $88k
  • LF
    LSE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -10%
  • RU
    RICE UNIVERSITY - WILLIAM MARSH
    one grant, 2021 · $25k
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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
2
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The mission of the institute has remained constant since its founding in 1953. as its restated articles of incorporation state the primary purpose and objective of the howard hughes medical institute shall be the promotion of human…

Health
3
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
4
The University of TexasTexas a&M Investment Management Company

To generate superior long-term investment returns to support The University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems as they provide world-class teaching, push the boundaries of discovery, and achieve excellence in patient healthcare for…

Education
5
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
6
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
7
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
8
Texas Christian University

Texas christian university is an institution of higher education which includes nine major academic units: liberal arts, science and engineering, business, education, fine arts, communication, honors, nursing and health sciences, and the…

Education
9
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
10
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
11
Trinity University

Trinity university is an independent co-educational university whose mission is excellence in the interrelated areas of teaching, research and services.

Education
12
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Hugh M Hefner Foundation Co Amanda Warren. 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

54 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. 54 of the 87 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/54
Grantees still filing
41/54
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

William Marsh Rice University: $566,209 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityTHE GEORGE AND BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION: $534,410 · EducationTHE GEORGE AND BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATIONThe Kinkaid School Inc: $520,267 · EducationThe Kinkaid School IncPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $439,330 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $430,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYTHE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH: $274,562 · EducationTHE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH+6 more: $76,600 · EducationTHE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST: $532,565 · OtherTHE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRISTRICE UNIVERSITY - THE SHEPHERD SOCIETY SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $507,111 · OtherRICE UNIVERSITY - THE SHEPHERD SOCIET…SAM HOUSTON AREA COUNCIL: $388,358 · OtherSAM HOUSTON AREA COUNCILTHE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: $353,510 · OtherTHE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOLRICE UNIVERSITY - BROCKMAN MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: $88,089 · Other+44 more: $316,835 · Other+44 moreTexas Children's Hospital: $1,115,000 · HealthTexas Children's Hosp…ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $125,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE R…+8 more: $46,983 · HealthWILFORD WOODRUFF PAPERS FOUNDATION: $75,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $53,800 · Arts & CultureAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $1,400 · Arts & CultureBoy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council: $110,000 · Youth DevelopmentEDUCATION FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE: $50,000 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Greater Houston: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE HOLDSWORTH CENTER: $10,000 · Philanthropy+4 more: $4,800 · PhilanthropyLSE FOUNDATION: $25,000 · InternationalTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $15,000 · International
Education$2,841,378Other$2,186,468Health$1,286,983Arts & Culture$135,200Youth Development$110,000Philanthropy$89,800International$40,000

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 budgetTexas Children's Hospital: $1,115,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $566,209 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GEORGE AND BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION: $534,410 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetThe Kinkaid School Inc: $520,267 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $439,330 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $430,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH: $274,562 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetBoy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council: $110,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetWILFORD WOODRUFF PAPERS FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $53,800 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEDUCATION FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE: $50,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL CLUB OF HOUSTON: $45,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $33,033 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLSE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Houston: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBuffalo Bayou Partnership Inc: $20,001 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $13,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR PURSUIT: $12,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOLDSWORTH CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWyoming Pathways: $10,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetMARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ACADEMY INC DBA YELLOWSTONE SCHOOLS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUGH M HEFNER FOUNDATION CO AMANDA WARREN: $5,000 over 1y, 29% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInterfaith Ministries for Greater Houston: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPURSUIT FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLUPUS RESEARCH ALLIANCE INC: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRIVER OAKS FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe Brookwood Community Inc: $3,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSpringSpirit Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCamp Allen Camp & Conference Center: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMaking It Better dba Literacy Now: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMemorial Hermann Foundation: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOUNDATION FOR THE SCHOOL FOR YOUNG CHILDREN: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $1,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC BATTLESHIP CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM IMPACT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $550 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART OF THE UNITED STATES: $200 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Greater Houston Commu…The Brown Foundation …Albert & Ethel Herzst…The John M O'Quinn Fo…The Robert and Janice…Vivian L Smith Founda…The Methodist HospitalHouston Endowment IncThe Moody FoundationShell USA Company Fou…Morgan Stanley Global…Natl Christian Charit…
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX20.2× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The John M O'Quinn Foundation · The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · The Methodist Hospital · Houston Endowment Inc · The Moody Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn 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 Virginia & le Simmons Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Virginia & le Simmons Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
10report 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 Virginia & le Simmons Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Virginia & le Simmons 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 87 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