Texas · Nonprofit
Houston MediaSource
Houston MediaSource (Texas) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $105 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($105). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $105
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Houston MediaSource does
Mission
Houston MediaSource aspires to be the community media center for the City of Houston. HMS provides public access to media platforms that promote citizen engagement, protect the right to free expression, and provide opportunities to advance community dialogue.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Houston MediaSource (HMS) was created in 1986 by the City of Houston (the City) to coordinate and develop all public and educational cable access activities for access to cable television franchises licensed to operate in the City. The Board of Directors is appointed by the Mayor of the City, subject to the City Council's approval. HMS receives funding primarily from cable television franchise access fees allocated by the City. HMS provides citizens access to the mass media by furnishing training equipment and a cable television channel. Over $4,000,000 of equipment usage is provided by HMS each year, and over 200 classes are attended by more than 600 persons. HMS is on the air 24 hours daily, 7 days a week. A total of 8,760 programming hours are aired annually.
$1,315,876 spent$38,621 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,315,876.
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 2024 to 2025, from $6.1M to $4.6M (−24%).
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 95% · 2018 95% · 2019 94% · 2020 95% · 2021 98% · 2022 98% · 2023 96% · 2024 96% · 2025 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of Houston MediaSource’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $34 → $49.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 Houston MediaSource’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.
Where its funders are
100% of Houston MediaSource's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $105 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
Houston MediaSource holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Houston MediaSource
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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 MediaSource: 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 MediaSource?
- Houston MediaSource (Texas) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $105 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($105). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Houston MediaSource have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $105 in grants to Houston MediaSource, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Houston MediaSource?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $105 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Houston MediaSource 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 Houston MediaSource →
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 1 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