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Texas · Nonprofit

Houston Parks Board

Houston Parks Board (Texas) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,087,583 to it, the largest being The Brown Foundation Inc ($32,335,000). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$36M
Funders on record
95
Grants received
$65M
Net assets
$103M
50/95 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%
01What it does

What Houston Parks Board does

Mission

The Houston Parks Board mission is to expand, improve, and protect parks and greenspace in the Houston region.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Bayou Greenways Maintenance: Houston Parks Board provides ongoing maintenance for Bayou Greenways through a long-term agreement with the City of Houston. Bayou Greenways is an integrated system of connected linear parks and trails along nine major bayous within Houston city limits. Unspent funds from the annual maintenance fee are used for trail and bridge capital replacement projects along the bayous. Houston Parks Board incorporates conservation into bayou maintenance to preserve, create, and enhance the region's habitats through initiatives such as tree plantings and prairie rebuilds, and wetland restorations.

    $11,298,334 spentof which $367,447 as grants$13,622,628 earned by the program
    58% of program spending
  2. Neighborhood & Regional Parks: Through partnerships with the Houston Parks Board LGC, the City of Houston, and other public and private partners, Houston Parks Board creates and renovates neighborhood and regional parks in the Houston region, with a focus on supported underinvested communities.

    $3,993,042 spentof which $632,075 as grants$33,963 earned by the program
    21% of program spending
  3. Bayou Greenways & Connector Trails: Houston Parks Board, along with support from partners, designs and builds trails and linear parks across the Houston region to connect communities, provide recreational opportunities, and enhance competitiveness in the region.

    $3,843,683 spentof which $1,981,457 as grants$924,631 earned by the program
    20% of program spending
  4. Research, Feasibility, and Partnerships: Houston Parks Board conducts feasibility assessments of future projects, develops strategies to support parks and trails, and implements new partnerships with the aim of supporting greenspaces throughout the region. Additionally, it assists the City of Houston in receiving and utilizing funds for special projects.

    $301,638 spentof which $3,500 as grants$719 earned by the program
    2% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,436,697.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($21M) Expenses 100 ($22M) Net assets 100 ($68M)2018 Revenue 113 ($24M) Expenses 98 ($22M) Net assets 103 ($70M)2019 Revenue 135 ($29M) Expenses 93 ($21M) Net assets 115 ($79M)2020 Revenue 110 ($23M) Expenses 125 ($28M) Net assets 101 ($69M)2021 Revenue 88 ($19M) Expenses 114 ($25M) Net assets 97 ($66M)2022 Revenue 87 ($18M) Expenses 102 ($23M) Net assets 89 ($61M)2023 Revenue 134 ($28M) Expenses 108 ($24M) Net assets 95 ($65M)2024 Revenue 242 ($51M) Expenses 123 ($27M) Net assets 132 ($90M)2025 Revenue 169 ($36M) Expenses 102 ($23M) Net assets 151 ($103M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (169)Expenses (102)Net assets (151)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $68M to $98M (+44%).

$70M
$74M
$83M
$75M
$69M
$62M
$68M
$98M
$107M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 7% · 2018 7% · 2019 25% · 2020 8% · 2021 3% · 2022 3% · 2023 1% · 2025 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

46% of Houston Parks Board’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 874 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$890k
’17
$2.3M
’18
$8.0M
’19
−$4.3M
’20
−$6.6M
’21
−$4.3M
’22
$4.6M
’23
$24M
’24
$13M
’25
42
months of
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

Cullen Geiselman Muse

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed383743424538444848
Joined·+6+10+3+11+4+12+17+2
No longer listed·7448116132
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 32 funders, grant income rose $858k → $16M.

10 of 95 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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: $4.1M from 13 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Texas Children's Hospital). These are real filings, and they are not money Houston Parks Board raised.

From the IRS filings of Houston Parks Board’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 95 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 Parks Board leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

50%
largest funder
77%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 39% · 2019 42% · 2020 34% · 2021 28% · 2022 27% · 2023 49% — 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

37% of Houston Parks Board's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

99% of Houston Parks Board's grant income comes from Texas funders.

IL
NY
CA
UT
NE
MO
VA
DE
NC
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Houston Parks Board holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 490 philanthropy nonprofits its size.

Operating margin37% · above the median
Months of reserve42.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)7% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding Houston Parks Board receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record — $1.0M federal, $118 state.

Federal$1.0M
grants $1.0Mcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M
State$118
Top programs
  • REFUNDS - GENERAL $118

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 Parks Board

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 7%Fundraising 7%

Governance

36
board members
97%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

45%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Houston Parks Board LGC Inc · exempt
  • The Houston Parks Board Foundation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Houston Parks Board: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Parks Board?
Houston Parks Board (Texas) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,087,583 to it, the largest being The Brown Foundation Inc ($32,335,000). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Houston Parks Board have?
IRS filings report 95 organizations giving $65,087,583 in grants to Houston Parks Board, 50 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Houston Parks Board?
The Brown Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $32,335,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Houston Parks Board 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 95 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