Texas · Nonprofit
Houston Arts Alliance
Houston Arts Alliance (Texas) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,937,498 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($6,765,700). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Houston Arts Alliance does
Mission
See Schedule OHouston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture organization whose principal work is implementing the City of Houston's vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA conducts work through contracts with the City of Houston, overseen by the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. HAA also executes privately funded special projects to meet the needs of the arts community and energize neighborhoods. In short, HAA helps artists and arts nonprofits be bold, productive, and strong.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
HAA manages the City of Houston's competitive Arts Grants Program, under a contract with the City, awarding grants totaling $14,403,710 through a peer review panel process which awards on key elements such as artistic/cultural merit, audience development & community outreach, cultural tourism impact, and the administrative and management ability of the grant recipient.
$15,489,551 spentof which $14,403,710 as grants63% of program spendingHouston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture non-profit agency whose principal work is to implement the City of Houston's vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA's work is conducted through contracts with the City of Houston, overseen by the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. Established in 1999, the Civic Art Ordinance Dedicates 1.75% of the budget for eligible, City-funded construction projects to commission or acquire new artworks or conserve existing ones in the City's 800+ object Civic Art Collection. See Schedule O for continuationCivic Art Projects include paintings, murals, prints, drawings, photographs, videos, films, decorations, stained glass, statues, sculptures, monuments, fountains, arches, or other structures of permanent character located on City property. Civic art projects can be found throughout the City in parks, libraries, airports, police and fire stations, and community centers.
$3,371,379 spent$2,903,365 earned by the program14% of program spendingThe Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Arts Network & Fund (BANF) is a revolutionary arts ecosystem that empowers BIPOC artists, organizations, and communities in the Greater Houston Area with transformative opportunities to dream, connect, collaborate, and create. Established in 2021 as a collaborative community effort, BANF is a multi-year initiative dedicated to providing resources that support the vibrant BIPOC arts community of Greater Houston in fully displaying its power, values and traditions. BANF is staffed with its own Project Director and guided by a Steering Committee and an Accountability and Advisory Council and has engaged the alliance as an operational partner.
$4,985,268 spentof which $4,450,000 as grants20% of program spendingHouston Arts Alliance (HAA) is leading a new phase of work to ensure that Houston artists are ready and resilient when the next disaster hits. HAA believes in creating a system that empowers the arts, cultural, and historic preservation communities of Greater Houston to prevent and reduce damage in times of disruption. Our Disaster Services program is committed to building partnerships, sharing stories, changing minds, creating experts, and pioneering solutions so our arts community can get back to doing what it does best: enhancing the lives of the people in the Greater Houston area. The contemporary traditions that make Houston one of the most vibrant urban landscapes in the United States. The program's goals include research, documentation, and public projects that explore the wide variety of established and emerging cultural communities that come together in the greater Houston area. The program also provides technical assistance and resources to local traditional artists, collaborates with colleague organizations, and markets the city's rich and diverse culture to locals and visitors alike.
$518,680 spentof which $304,300 as grants2% of program spendingCommunications about and representation of the arts As a local arts and culture organization, HAA invests in Houston as a place to visit, live, work, honor, and create. HAA advances the arts and culture field through research and convenings, the promotion of cultural tourism, and other special projects that strengthen artists and nonprofits in the City and beyond. HAA sends a newsletter several times per month announcing its opportunities for artists and nonprofits, sharing arts jobs throughout the region, and sharing other organizations' awards and grant opportunities. HAA also manages the Cultural Events Calendar, a City-supported centralized online marketing initiative that serves the region's cultural producers and consumers. A map of the City's public art that is mobile-ready and rife with photographs helps tourists and others find the City's unique art collection wherever its pieces are located.
$206,144 spent1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $24,571,022.
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 2020 to 2021, from $14M to $30M (+113%).
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: 2017 73% · 2018 83% · 2019 89% · 2020 68% · 2021 52% · 2022 66% · 2023 74% · 2024 69%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of Houston Arts Alliance’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Michele Leal Farah
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $6k → $3.7M.
6 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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: $60k from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Tulsa Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Houston Arts Alliance raised.
From the IRS filings of Houston Arts Alliance’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
Houston Arts Alliance leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 80%; 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 64% · 2018 75% · 2019 78% · 2020 53% · 2021 41% · 2022 44% · 2023 50% — 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
24% of Houston Arts Alliance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
65% of Houston Arts Alliance's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $128k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Houston Arts Alliance has grown faster than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Houston Arts Alliance receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $195k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$195k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Houston Arts Alliance
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 Houston Arts Alliance: 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 Houston Arts Alliance?
- Houston Arts Alliance (Texas) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,937,498 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($6,765,700). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Houston Arts Alliance have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $15,937,498 in grants to Houston Arts Alliance, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Houston Arts Alliance?
- HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,765,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Houston Arts Alliance 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 47 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