Texas · Nonprofit
Assistance League of Houston
Assistance League of Houston (Texas) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $308,705 to it, the largest being John P McGovern Foundation ($150,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $685k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $309k
- Net assets
- $6.3M
What Assistance League of Houston does
Mission
Assistance League of Houston is a chartered chapter of the National Assistance League that provides various forms of assistance, including clothing, financial assistance, food and gifts primarily to children in need in schools and hospitals in the Houston Area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Operation School Bell is the signature philanthropic program of the National Assistance League and one of the oldest and largest of Assistance League of Houston's programs in which school uniforms and new school-appropriate clothing are provided to economically disadvantaged schoolchildren. New clothing makes it possible for students to attend school appropriately dressed and prepared, boosting each child's self-confidence, school attendance, and classroom performance. The program currently serves schools in the Spring Branch, Houston and Alief Independent School Districts, and Harris County Area I Head Start Schools. During the year ended May 31, 2025, 4,783 children received new school uniforms.
$109,937 spentof which $97,235 as grants38% of program spendingThe organization's scholarship program awards scholarships annually to students in participating schools who have financial need, including some with physical and learning disabilities, and who have demonstrated scholastic achievement. The scholarships are intended to encourage committed students to pursue their education through high school and beyond. During the year ended May 31, 2025, 41 students received approximately $127,000 in financial assistance.
$137,007 spentof which $127,000 as grants47% of program spendingThe annual holiday party was held at Texas Children's Hospital this year, where gift cards were presented for food, clothing and other items to patients and their families. Families are sponsored by organization members, local businesses and individual donors. In December 2024, 40 patients and their families received more than $21,000 in gift cards through this program.
$31,933 spentof which $21,542 as grants11% of program spendingAssistance League Reads (formerly Head Start Readers) encourages literacy through our reading to children. Assistance League of Houston volunteers provide a Literacy Enrichment Program to students at Harris County Head Start schools and Tiger Trail School where 2,000 books were given to students and volunteers read to the children.
$13,602 spent5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $292,479.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $1.5M to $5.6M (+279%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
20% of Assistance League of Houston’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $2k → $47k.
1 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Assistance League of Houston’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Assistance League of Houston leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 79% · 2019 74% · 2020 61% · 2021 36% · 2022 73% · 2023 64% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of Assistance League of Houston's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
92% of Assistance League of Houston's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $345 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Assistance League of Houston runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 7,175 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,175 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Assistance League of Houston
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Assistance League of Houston: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Assistance League of Houston?
- Assistance League of Houston (Texas) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $308,705 to it, the largest being John P McGovern Foundation ($150,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Assistance League of Houston have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $308,705 in grants to Assistance League of Houston, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Assistance League of Houston?
- John P McGovern Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Assistance League of Houston find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 17 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing