Texas · Nonprofit
Center for Houston's Future Inc
Center for Houston's Future Inc (Texas) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,825,292 to it, the largest being MAREK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($367,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $711k
What Center for Houston's Future Inc does
Mission
The center for houston's future works to address matters of highest importance to the long-term future of the greater houston region, by engaging diverse leaders, providing impactful research, and defining actionable strategies. We bring business, government, and community together to innovate for the future of the greater houston region. Chf is an organization devoted exclusively to thinking and acting strategically for the future of the region.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Program One: Strategic Initiatives (Planning, Research and Action) Center for Houston's Future looks over the horizon at global, national, and local trends that will shape our future, and brings business, government, and community stakeholders together to engage in fact-based strategic planning, collaboration, consensus building and action on issues of great importance to the future of the Houston region. In 2024, the Center worked as follows: Energy Transition Leadership: Our energy transition work focused on ensuring Houston remains the world's energy capital as the world moves toward a low-carbon future. Based on our research and collaboration with many partners, we identified multiple opportunities to build on Houston's infrastructure base, expertise of energy companies, skilled workforce, universities, and energy innovation ecosystem. For over five years, we've led regional efforts to develop and expand a regional and Gulf Coast clean hydrogen ecosystem. CHF has been a key driver, alongside GTI Energy, University of Texas, and other nonprofits, in creating the strategy and vision for the HyVelocity Hub. HyVelocity, which launched in November 2024 and was designated for a $1.2…
$732,635 spent$209,942 earned by the program65% of program spendingProgram Two: Leadership Business/Civic Leadership Forum: We are not just planning Houston's future; we're cultivating the leaders who will drive it forward. Our leadership development programs identify, train, and support emerging civic and professional leaders committed to Houston's growth. These are the innovators, problem-solvers, and visionaries who will transform our region. Center for Houston's Future's Business/Civic Leadership Forum has been central to our mission and to our strategy since our founding in 2000. We encourage strong civic leadership by bringing together diverse business and community leaders, informing them about regional issues, and giving them the tools and inspiration to get more involved in the community. About 1,400 Forum alumni have used the program to build social capital and become more informed about regional issues. Through the years we have created a network of community leaders interested in civic engagement: Our alumni have run for public office, served on nonprofit boards, and launched community projects and other initiatives. In 2024, we had 50 participants. Session program presenters came from across corporate, nonprofit, and political…
$290,051 spent$198,450 earned by the program26% of program spendingProgram Three: Community engagement: Community Engagement is the Center's third area of focus. Knowledge is power, and we are empowering Houstonians. 2024 Event Highlights: In 2024, we once again sponsored an energy conference with Greater Houston Partnership, offered a fall version of our Summer Salon programming, and hosted our signature fall Dinner and Conversation. Future of Global Energy: The 2024 Future of Global Energy Conference was cohosted by the Center for Houston's Future, the Greater Houston Partnership, and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative in October. It spanned three days and drew about 800 attendees. Summer Salon - Fall Edition: The Center offered a primer and discussion of Carbon Capture and Storage: A Critical Tool for a Low-Carbon Future. Presented by bp, the discussion featured a short presentation from bp's Chris Walker, followed by a panel discussion with Walker, Ken B. Medlock from Rice University's Baker Institute, Colin Young from DexMat, and John Hall of Houston Advanced Research Center. Signature Event: In November, the Center hosted our most successful Dinner and Conversation. Stan Marek was honored with the Eugene H. Vaughan Civic Leadership…
$105,998 spent$26,127 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,128,684.
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 2017 to 2018, from $70k to $321k (+356%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 9% · 2021 15% · 2022 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of Center for Houston's Future Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Cindy Yeilding
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $54k → $126k.
6 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.1M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Houston Partnership Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Center for Houston's Future Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Center for Houston's Future Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 funders by total. 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
Center for Houston's Future Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 32% · 2019 37% · 2020 46% · 2021 47% · 2022 47% · 2023 40% — diversifying over time.
“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
33% of Center for Houston's Future Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
73% of Center for Houston's Future Inc's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $394k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states 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
Center for Houston's Future Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,206 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,206 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Center for Houston's Future Inc
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
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 Center for Houston's Future Inc: 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 Center for Houston's Future Inc?
- Center for Houston's Future Inc (Texas) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,825,292 to it, the largest being MAREK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($367,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Center for Houston's Future Inc have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $1,825,292 in grants to Center for Houston's Future Inc, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Center for Houston's Future Inc?
- MAREK FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $367,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Center for Houston's Future Inc 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.
Play a game about who funds Center for Houston's Future →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 34 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing