Texas · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM
CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $777,500 to it, the largest being GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($360,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2021
- $311k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $778k
- Net assets
- $38k
What Center for Opportunity Urbanism does
Mission
Center for Opportunity Urbanism exists to promote approaches that enable cities to drive opportunities for the bulk of their citizens.
As stated on its FY2021 Form 990.
Program
The Center for Opportunity Urbanism (cou) examines issues of upward mobility, growth and prosperity for all citizens with particular interest in how planning and zoning decisions can hamper or spark economic growth. Cou's work focuses on key demographic concerns, notably around the critical issue of families, who generally seek out housing that is both affordable and spacious enough to raise children. And governance - the question of who makes decisions about the commons - will also be a key area of exploration. An approach that focuses on good schools, good parks, decent jobs and strong neighborhoods may not thrill many architects, pundits and planners - who almost invariably favor ever-denser development - but they do matter to most people who live in urban areas. In 2020, cou published major studies on "upward mobility in the united states and "the demographia international housing affordability index" sponsored virtual events on "opportunity and upward mobility for the middle class and produced commentaries on economic growth, gentrification, demographics. Upward mobility, and affordability.
$273,826 spentof which $15,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2021 Form 990. Program spending in total: $273,826.
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.
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 $154k to $12k (−92%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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.
Chief executive
Joel Kotkin
Executive director
Board chair
Tom Lile
Chairman
As listed on its FY2021 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $190k → $43k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM’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
CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
49% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 62% · 2021 50% · 2022 58% · 2023 82% — 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.
Where its funders are
CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $360k 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.
Organizations like CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
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 OPPORTUNITY URBANISM: 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 OPPORTUNITY URBANISM?
- CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $777,500 to it, the largest being GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($360,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $777,500 in grants to CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM?
- GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $360,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR OPPORTUNITY URBANISM 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 FY2021 (financials across 2017–2021), and the filings of 6 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