Texas · Nonprofit
HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE
HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE (Texas) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $142,623 to it, the largest being NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR URBAN DEBATE LEAGUES ($71,085). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $148k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $143k
- Net assets
- $92k
What Houston Urban Debate League does
Mission
To develop and support competitive debate programs in houston-area public schools. Hudl builds public-private partnerships that enhance and supplement the investment of school districts in debate activities by providing financial, monitoring, and communication support.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Host instructional academic seminars led by attorneys, college professors and other experts on topics relevant to competitive debate. This includes a summer institute and three weekend seminars during the school year that prepare the students to debate at tournaments. Students receive in depth debate training and the opportunity to participate in five different debate formats. The houston independent school district and the harris county department of education contributed towards this year's seminars and workshops.provide scholarships and opportunities to travel to state and national debate tournaments to city championship finalists and runners-up. Approximately 350 students participated in hudl's city championship tournament. The champions in each format were awarded $1,500 in scholarship money to be used at the college or university of their choosing. Runners-up in the four divisions were awarded $750 in scholarship money to be used at the college or university of their choosing. Host debate tournaments and classes. During the fiscal year, approximately 1,000 students have participated in some aspect of debate including classes, tournaments and seminars. Hudl builds and…
$187,531 spentof which $25,150 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2022 Form 990. Program spending in total: $187,531.
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 2022 to 2023, from $264k to $194k (−27%).
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: 2020 58% · 2021 41% · 2022 25% · 2023 70% · 2024 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
110% of HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% 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.
Board chair
Jim Summers
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $1k → $10k.
3 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE’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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
73% 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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 77% · 2021 66% · 2022 49% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
60% of HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE
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
90% 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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE: 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 URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE?
- HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE (Texas) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $142,623 to it, the largest being NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR URBAN DEBATE LEAGUES ($71,085). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $142,623 in grants to HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE?
- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR URBAN DEBATE LEAGUES is the largest funder on record, with $71,085 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOUSTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE 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 Urban Debate League →
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 9 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