Texas · Nonprofit
Houston Responds
Houston Responds (Texas) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,673,776 to it, the largest being THE ONESTAR FOUNDATION ($2,175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $428k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $191k
What Houston Responds does
Mission
To unite, empower and mobilize churches to multiply collective impact on critical needs in their community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
City-Wide Collaborative Initiatives (ServeHTX, HopeFest, Winning Houston, Houston Flourish Forums) The organization leads and supports city-wide initiatives that mobilize volunteers and advance collaborative solutions to community needs. ServeHTX coordinates volunteers across Greater Houston to meet practical community needs through service projects. HopeFest and Winning Houston provide community outreach that addresses both spiritual and practical needs through large-scale engagement efforts. Houston Flourish Forums convene subject matter experts and practitioners to address key issues including food insecurity, housing, mental health, and education, supporting shared learning and action-oriented solutions. Collectively, these initiatives expand regional engagement, strengthen partnerships, and improve community outcomes across Greater Houston.
$115,885 spent68% of program spendingCoalition Development (Regional Workgroups and Capacity Building) The organization facilitates and supports regional coalitions focused on disaster response, food insecurity, education, mental health, and community resilience. These coalitions convene churches, nonprofits, and community partners to improve coordination, reduce service duplication, and increase collective impact. Activities include convening regular meetings, conducting capacity assessments, mapping community resources, and providing training and tools to strengthen organizational effectiveness and preparedness.
$53,227 spent31% of program spendingState of the City (Annual Convening Initiative) The organization convenes an annual State of the City gathering that brings together leaders from faith-based, nonprofit, business, education, and civic sectors across Greater Houston. The convening provides data, keynote presentations, and panel discussions to promote cross-sector collaboration, align community priorities, and encourage coordinated action on regional issues. The event strengthens partnerships and connects stakeholders to ongoing collaborative initiatives.
$575 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$123 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $169,810.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2018 to 2019, from $554k to $899k (+62%).
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: 2022 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Houston Responds’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Thomasina Burns
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income fell $750k → $180k.
5 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 Responds’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
Houston Responds leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
97% 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 Houston Responds.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 35% · 2022 34% · 2023 38% — 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
50% of Houston Responds's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
63% of Houston Responds's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $686k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 Responds runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Houston Responds
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
53% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 Responds: 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 Responds?
- Houston Responds (Texas) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,673,776 to it, the largest being THE ONESTAR FOUNDATION ($2,175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Houston Responds have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $4,673,776 in grants to Houston Responds, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Houston Responds?
- THE ONESTAR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Houston Responds 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 14 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