Skip to content
Trellis Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Trellis Foundation

We believe every texas student deserves the opportunity to earn a postsecondary credential or degree that helps them achieve the future they envision for themselves and their families.

$17M
Granted FY2025still arriving
83
Grants FY2025still arriving
12
States reached
$3.1M
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$23MEmployment$3.1MPhilanthropy$2.7MHuman Services$2.5MPublic Benefit$1.8MHealth$1.8MCommunity Improvement$1.6MCrime & Legal$1.0MOther$0
02FY2025 · 83 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k17 grants · $310k
  • $50k–250k45 grants · $5.4M
  • $250k+18 grants · $11M
$100,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$545M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$3,150,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN$1,296,486
BRANCHED$761,253
TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION$610,000
TEXAS 2036$600,000
COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC$503,125
SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA$450,000
AFTER VIOLENCE PROJECT$350,000
PARTNERS FOR RURAL IMPACT$337,952
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$334,426
TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES (TACC)$325,000
LAMAR STATE COLLEGE PORT ARTHUR$318,680
BUSINESS-HIGHER EDUCATION FORUM$300,000
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY - CENTRAL TEXAS$300,000
UP PARTNERSHIP$300,000
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 (FY23–25, $1.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 8% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH: $100k → 11%TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-KINGSVILLE: $45k → 27%CUMBERLAND YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES: $100k → 8%AMERICAN YOUTHWORKS: $50k → 10%ALLIANCE OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES: $100k → 16%THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $1.3M → 10%CAPITAL IDEA: $100k → 10%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

MN
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
CA
CO
KY
VA
MD
DC
LA
GA
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 54 repeat orgs$9.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

54 repeat relationships: 37 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

54
50

Total granted

$28M
$5.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+11%

Still filing today

85%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.8M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationCommunity ImprovementEmploymentHuman ServicesPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • B
    BREAKTHROUGH
    2× · 2023–2025 · $3.3M · revenue +34%
  • MM
    MEADOWS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE FOR TEXAS
    2× · 2022–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +46%
  • FA
    FOSTER ANGELS OF CENTRAL TEXAS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +56% · 59% of their budget

Funded once

  • ES
    EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER REGION I OF TEXAS
    one grant, 2024 · $300k
  • TC
    TEMPLE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $293k · revenue -28% · 46% of their budget
  • BC
    BLINN COLLEGE
    one grant, 2024 · $250k
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
Austin Partners in Education

Apie provides college and career readiness support through individualized academic and mentoring programs to prepare students for success.

Education
2
Tex-E Inc
Education
3
Texas International Education Consortium

A consortium of universities in texas, with affiliate universities overseas, dedicated to developing, coordinating and implementing educational capacity-building programs around the world, and increasing capacity for campus globalization…

International
4
Texas College

To ensure that the student body experiences balanced intellectual, psychological, social and spiritual development, aimed at enabling them to become active productive members of society where they live and work.

Education
5
American Association of State Colleges and Universities

Aascu is a washington, d.c. based higher education association that represents the sector of over 500 regional public colleges, universities, and systems whose members share a learning and teaching centered culture, a commitment to…

Education
6
Career Education Colleges and Universities

The career education colleges and universities (cecu) is the premier source of crucial information and public policy recommendations that promote access to career education and the importance of workforce development.

—
7
National Association for College Admission Counseling

Empowering college admission counseling professionals through education, advocacy, and community.

Education
8
National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering Inc

To provide leadership and support for the national effort to increase the representation of successful african american, native american and latinx women and men in engineering and technology, math, and science-based careers.

Civil Rights
9
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
10
American Academic Leadership Institute Inc

Services include, but are not limited to, identification and development of academic leadership talent and programs enabling them to be successful in their roles and to advance the institutions they serve; consultation to academic leaders…

Education
11
Aacsb International - the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

Aacsb international provides quality assurance of business school programs, the latest in business education intelligence, thought leadership, and learning and development services.

Education
12
AI4ALL

Ai4all's mission is to ensure that the next generation of ai leaders reflects humanity. ai4all is transforming the pipeline of ai practitioners who will shape ai for the benefit of humanity.

Youth Development
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Antonio Education Fund Dba San Antonio Education Partnership; the most unlike its peers is Cameron County Education Initiative. 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

105 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. 105 of the 134 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.

10
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
104/105
Grantees still filing
68/105
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BREAKTHROUGH: $3,250,000 · EducationBREAKTHROUGHNew York University: $1,861,253 · EducationNew York UniversityTEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INITIATIVE: $1,041,948 · EducationTEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INITIATIV…CITIZENS FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE INC: $946,644 · EducationCITIZENS FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE INCGRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION: $652,000 · EducationTEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $609,928 · EducationAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: $608,335 · EducationCatalyst Education Inc: $525,000 · Education+30 more: $6,089,275 · Education+30 moreUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $1,526,387 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXASUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO: $700,000 · OtherTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $802,042 · OtherTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INCJEREMIAH PROGRAM: $700,000 · OtherCenter for Public Policy Priorities: $702,654 · OtherLONE STAR JUSTICE ALLIANCE: $600,000 · Other+54 more: $9,796,543 · Other+54 moreCOMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC: $915,000 · PhilanthropyWACO FOUNDATION: $508,500 · PhilanthropyPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $500,000 · PhilanthropySAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $291,550 · PhilanthropyVICTORIA COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $199,995 · PhilanthropyCAMERON COUNTY EDUCATION INITIATIVE: $100,000 · PhilanthropyGRANTMAKERS FOR EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS: $100,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $20,000 · PhilanthropyFOSTER ANGELS OF CENTRAL TEXAS FOUNDATION: $1,396,486 · Human ServicesUnity Partners: $242,908 · Human ServicesALLIANCE OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES INC: $150,000 · Human ServicesCUMBERLAND YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES: $145,400 · Human ServicesCapital Investing in Development and Employment of Adults Inc: $100,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH: $100,000 · Human ServicesEL PASO COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PROJECT BRAVO INC: $710,000 · Community ImprovementGreater Houston Partnership Foundation: $248,741 · Community ImprovementGREATER WACO COLLECTIVE IMPACT INITIATIVE: $247,369 · Community ImprovementNPOWER INC: $200,000 · Community ImprovementVALLEY INITIATIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCEMENT: $100,000 · Community ImprovementAUSTIN TOGETHER FUND: $100,000 · Community ImprovementNATIONAL CENTER FOR CIVIC INNOVATION IN: $100,000 · Community ImprovementTexas Appleseed: $94,000 · Community Improvement+2 more: $35,000 · Community ImprovementMEADOWS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE FOR TEXAS: $1,650,000 · HealthUfcs: $100,000 · Health+2 more: $80,000 · HealthPROJECT ARRIBA: $348,597 · EmploymentJOBS FOR THE FUTURE INC: $296,240 · EmploymentWest Central Texas Workforce Development Board Inc: $247,077 · EmploymentHOUSTON'S CAPITAL INVESTING IN DEVELOP- MENT AND EMPLOYMENT OF ADULTS INC: $110,000 · EmploymentASSOCIATED BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS MERIT SHOP TRAINING PROGRAM INC: $100,000 · EmploymentPROJECT QUEST INC: $100,000 · EmploymentWORKSOURCE - GREATER AUSTIN AREA DBA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS - CAPITAL: $100,000 · Employment
Education$15,584,383Other$14,827,626Philanthropy$2,635,045Human Services$2,134,794Community Improvement$1,835,110Health$1,830,000Employment$1,301,914

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBREAKTHROUGH: $3,250,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetNew York University: $1,861,253 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEADOWS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE FOR TEXAS: $1,650,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetFOSTER ANGELS OF CENTRAL TEXAS FOUNDATION: $1,396,486 over 2y, 59% of budgetTEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INITIATIVE: $1,041,948 over 4y, 15% of budgetCITIZENS FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE INC: $946,644 over 3y, 51% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC: $915,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $802,042 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEL PASO COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PROJECT BRAVO INC: $710,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCenter for Public Policy Priorities: $702,654 over 3y, 15% of budgetJEREMIAH PROGRAM: $700,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetGRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION: $652,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $609,928 over 3y, 12% of budgetAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: $608,335 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetLONE STAR JUSTICE ALLIANCE: $600,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetCatalyst Education Inc: $525,000 over 3y, 6.8% of budgetWACO FOUNDATION: $508,500 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $500,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLEE COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $434,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetTEJANO CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CONCERNS INC: $425,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetPELOTONU INC: $401,363 over 4y, 5.7% of budgetCollegeCommunityCareer Inc: $400,000 over 2y, 65% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY BUSINESS OFFICERS: $398,114 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetEXCELENCIA IN EDUCATION INC: $371,765 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetINTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $349,571 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetPROJECT ARRIBA: $348,597 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetFOUNDATION COMMUNITIES GROUP RETURN: $347,260 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetSAN ANTONIO EDUCATION FUND DBA SAN ANTONIO EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP: $345,839 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetMEB ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATOR DIVERSITY INC: $334,426 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetTEXAS TRIBUNE INC: $329,742 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetThe Education Trust Inc: $325,713 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC: $299,914 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTEMPLE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $292,503 over 1y, 46% of budgetSAN JACINTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $291,550 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetYOUNG INVINCIBLES: $271,500 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEES: $260,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetGreater Houston Partnership Foundation: $248,741 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetGREATER WACO COLLECTIVE IMPACT INITIATIVE: $247,369 over 1y, 16% of budgetWest Central Texas Workforce Development Board Inc: $247,077 over 1y, 33% of budgetNATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK: $243,800 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetUnity Partners: $242,908 over 1y, 10% of budgetASSOCIATION OF BLACK FOUNDATION EXECUTIVES INC: $225,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetALAMO COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC: $209,255 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetTexas 2036: $206,800 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetNPOWER INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetVICTORIA COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $199,995 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetPaul Quinn College: $199,870 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $199,685 over 2y, 0.4% 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 Texas Foundat…Gates FoundationTexas Mutual Insuranc…Ecmc FoundationCommunities Foundatio…Austin Community Foun…Michael & Susan Dell …St David's FoundationTexas Higher Educatio…The Moody FoundationGreater Houston Commu…Ascendium Education S…
Greater Texas FoundationTX57.2× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Texas Foundation · Gates Foundation · Texas Mutual Insurance Company · Ecmc Foundation · Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Austin Community Foundation Inc · Michael & Susan Dell Foundation · St David's Foundation · Texas Higher Education Foundation · The Moody Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Ascendium Education Solutions 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 Trellis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Trellis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Jobs for the Future Inc: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
22report 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 134 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Trellis’ 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