Texas · Nonprofit
HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Texas) receives grants from 250 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,497,825 to it, the largest being Ruby McKibben Foundation for the Protection of Animals ($5,358,385). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 250
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $77M
What Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals does
Mission
To improve and protect the lives of animals in our community and to alleviate their suffering and abuse.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The mission of houston spca is to improve and protect the lives of animals in our community and to alleviate their suffering and abuse. Established in 1924, houston spca is our region's most impactful non-profit animal protection organization, providing a comprehensive range of services for more than 60,000 animals annually. We are committed to being a beacon of hope for neglected, injured, and orphaned animals, advocating for justice for animals who have suffered abuse, and offering a nurturing environment, quality medical attention, and compassionate care as they await new homes. Our services include animal cruelty investigations, 24-hour animal ambulance, disaster response, a public pet veterinary clinic, adoptions, foster care, rehoming, veterinary care, humane education, & community outreach.
$13,098,971 spent$2,587,713 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $13,098,971.
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 $74M to $78M (+6%).
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: 2021 8% · 2022 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
60% of HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Patricia E Mercer Cawa
President & CEO
Board chair
Tommy Harper
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 93 funders to 61 funders, grant income fell $2.3M → $1.8M.
26 of 250 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 250 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
51% 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 22% · 2019 20% · 2020 31% · 2021 26% · 2022 47% · 2023 14% — 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
88% of HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 30 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Wildlife Center of Texas Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS?
- HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Texas) receives grants from 250 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,497,825 to it, the largest being Ruby McKibben Foundation for the Protection of Animals ($5,358,385). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS have?
- IRS filings report 250 organizations giving $23,497,825 in grants to HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, 119 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS?
- Ruby McKibben Foundation for the Protection of Animals is the largest funder on record, with $5,358,385 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS 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 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals →
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 250 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