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Theater District Improvement Inc at a glance

· Public charity

Theater District Improvement Inc

Theater District Improvement exists solely to serve as the administrator of Hotel Occupancy Taxes.

$3.8M
Granted FY2019
8
Grants FY2019
1
States reached
$842k
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, FY2017 to 2019.

Arts & Culture$11M
02FY2019 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • $50k–250k3 grants · $433k
  • $250k+5 grants · $3.4M
$509,020
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Houston Symphony Society$842,467
Houston Ballet$781,582
Houston Grand Opera$724,592
Theatre Under The Stars$509,020
Alley Theatre$499,108
Houston Downtown Improvement$240,000
Society for Performing Arts$123,184
Da Camera Society of Texas$69,822
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 (FY17–19) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%Da Camera Society of Texas: $70k → 16%Da Camera Society of Texas: $69k → 16%Da Camera Society of Texas: $60k → 16%Houston Symphony Society: $842k → 16%Houston Symphony Society: $834k → 16%Houston Symphony Society: $813k → 16%Houston Ballet: $782k → 16%Houston Ballet: $745k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $735k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $726k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $725k → 16%Houston Ballet: $706k → 16%Theatre Under The Stars: $511k → 16%Theatre Under The Stars: $509k → 16%Alley Theatre: $499k → 16%Alley Theatre: $489k → 16%Theatre Under The Stars: $487k → 16%Alley Theatre: $469k → 16%Houston Downtown Improvement: $270k → 16%Houston Downtown Improvement: $240k → 16%Houston Downtown Improvement: $240k → 16%Society for Performing Arts: $131k → 16%Society for Performing Arts: $125k → 16%Society for Performing Arts: $123k → 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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 8 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

8 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2019, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
0

Total granted

$11M
$0

Still filing today

100%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • HS
    Houston Symphony Society
    3× · 2017–2019 · $2.5M · revenue +43%
  • HB
    Houston Ballet Foundation
    3× · 2017–2019 · $2.2M · revenue +21%
  • HG
    Houston Grand Opera Association Inc
    3× · 2017–2019 · $2.2M · revenue +28%

Funded once

    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
    Harmonia Stellarum Houston

    Harmonia Stellarum is an ensemble of professional vocalists and instrumentalists specialized in historically informed performance practice who seek to inspire, entertain, and enlighten audiences with meaningful, historically informed…

    Arts & Culture
    2
    Hopera

    Hopera's mission is to produce live musical performances in unique Houston Area spaces that focus on and empower Houston Area artists. Our Pint-Sized Performance concert series empowers local musicians to create original programs that are…

    Arts & Culture
    3
    Operativo Houston

    Providing paid opportunities for Houston based singers.

    Arts & Culture
    4
    River Oaks Chamber Orchestra

    To shape the future of classical music by energizing, modernizing, and personalizing the concert experience.

    Arts & Culture
    5
    The Hobby Center Foundation

    The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts deepens understanding of our shared humanity. We serve as a connector, convenor and incubator for all Houston audiences, artmakers and arts organizations. By presenting engaging performances and…

    Arts & Culture
    6
    Tx Performing Chinese Arts
    —
    7
    Main Street Theater Houston

    To create theater that challenges its audience to think and its artists to grow. We accomplish this by presenting an articulate and compelling product in an intimate setting, creating employment for Houston-based artists, and memorable…

    Arts & Culture
    8
    Allen Parkway Arts Center Inc

    APAC is a supporting organization to Stages, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization producing live theater.

    Arts & Culture
    9
    Catastrophic Theatre Inc

    The Catastrophic Theatre is an ensemble-based theatre company dedicated to creating a meaningful exchange between artists and audiences through the creation and performance of new works of all sorts.

    Arts & Culture
    10
    Nashville Symphony Association

    The Nashville Symphony inspires and engages a diverse and growing community with extraordinary live orchestral music experiences. As Middle Tennessee continues to grow and transform, the Nashville Symphony will be a financially robust,…

    Arts & Culture
    11
    San Francisco Opera Association

    We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

    Arts & Culture
    12
    Classical Arts Society of Houston

    Formed in 1993, the Classical Arts Society of Houston is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and maintaining the rich heritage of the classical performing arts of India. In particular, the organization presents South Indian…

    Arts & Culture
    How this is measured
    The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Performing Arts Houston; the most unlike its peers is Houston Downtown Improvement Inc dba Houston Theater District. 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

    8 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.

    Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

    1
    Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
    1
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    8/8
    Grantees still filing
    7/8
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    Houston Symphony Society: $2,488,958 · Arts & CultureHouston Symphony SocietyHouston Ballet Foundation: $2,232,383 · Arts & CultureHouston Ballet FoundationHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $2,185,882 · Arts & CultureHouston Grand Opera Association IncTheatre Under the Stars Inc: $1,507,007 · Arts & CultureTheatre Under the Stars IncALLEY THEATRE: $1,456,808 · Arts & CultureALLEY THEATREPERFORMING ARTS HOUSTON: $378,937 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $199,324 · Arts & CultureHouston Downtown Improvement Inc dba Houston Theater District: $749,920 · Community Improvement
    Arts & Culture$10,449,299Community Improvement$749,920

    Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

    25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHouston Symphony Society: $2,488,958 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetHouston Ballet Foundation: $2,232,383 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $2,185,882 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetTheatre Under the Stars Inc: $1,507,007 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetALLEY THEATRE: $1,456,808 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetHouston Downtown Improvement Inc dba Houston Theater District: $749,920 over 3y, 74% of budgetPERFORMING ARTS HOUSTON: $378,937 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetDa Camera Society of Texas: $199,324 over 3y, 3.7% 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 Cullen Trust for …Miller Theatre Adviso…Vivian L Smith Founda…Houston Arts AllianceAlbert & Ethel Herzst…Houston Endowment IncThe Brown Foundation …National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
    Greater Houston Community FoundationTX15× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

    Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts · Miller Theatre Advisory Board Inc · Vivian L Smith Foundation · Houston Arts Alliance · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Houston Endowment Inc · The Brown Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

    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 Theater District Improvement Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Theater District Improvement Inc. 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
      3report 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 8 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

      Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2020) is on record and reports $120 of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2019, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

      Source object · view filing

      Play a game based on Theater District Improvement’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