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
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
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 program58% of program spendingNeighborhood & 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 program21% of program spendingBayou 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 program20% of program spendingResearch, 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 program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,436,697.
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 2023 to 2024, from $68M to $98M (+44%).
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 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).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Cullen Geiselman Muse
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
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
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.
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.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
Houston Parks Board holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 490 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
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.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M
- 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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.
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