Texas · Nonprofit
STATE FAIR OF TEXAS
STATE FAIR OF TEXAS (Texas) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $967,791 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($352,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $81M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $968k
- Net assets
- $111M
What State Fair of Texas does
Mission
The State Fair of Texas celebrates all things texan by promoting agriculture, education, and community involvement through quality entertainment in a family-friendly environment. The State Fair of Texas is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with proceeds helping to preserve and improve fair park; underwrite museum, community, and scholarship programs; and help improve state fair operations to help put on the next State Fair of Texas. Our nonprofit purpose is funded through the proceeds from the annual 24-day State Fair of Texas event, which serves as the organization's largest fundraiser of the year.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Since its inception in 1886, the State Fair of Texas has celebrated all things Texan by promoting agriculture, education, and community involvement through quality entertainment in a family-friendly environment. The 2024 State Fair of Texas welcomed nearly 2.4 million fairgoers through the gates. The State Fair of Texas offers a variety of interactive exhibits focusing on agriculture and livestock - implementing hands-on activities that are both enjoyable and informative. Activities range from feeding furry friends at the petting zoo to learning about different livestock species during daily guided tours through the livestock barns. In addition, each year, thousands of students from around the state work diligently in preparation for the competitive livestock events and leadership contests at the State Fair. The largest of these events, the annual Big Tex Youth Livestock Auction, celebrates the agricultural heritage of our great state, while also providing scholarships and prizes to students all over Texas. The Fair's educational initiatives extend far beyond our 24-day exposition. With education at the very core of our foundation, the State Fair of Texas continues to serve as a…
$62,516,247 spentof which $4,324,616 as grants$70,135,902 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $62,516,247.
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 2020 to 2021, from $71M to $105M (+49%).
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.
6% of STATE FAIR OF TEXAS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (10% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Bruce A Sifford
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $76k → $198k.
5 of 30 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.
Left out of every figure on this page: $400k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Dallas Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money STATE FAIR OF TEXAS raised.
From the IRS filings of STATE FAIR OF TEXAS’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
STATE FAIR OF TEXAS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 63%; 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 67% · 2018 65% · 2019 65% · 2020 86% · 2021 51% · 2022 38% · 2023 26% — 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
60% of STATE FAIR OF TEXAS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
STATE FAIR OF TEXAS draws 62% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $148k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
STATE FAIR OF TEXAS holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 303 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 303 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding STATE FAIR OF TEXAS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.
- Department of Defense$25k
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 STATE FAIR OF TEXAS
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
95%
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 STATE FAIR OF TEXAS: 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 STATE FAIR OF TEXAS?
- STATE FAIR OF TEXAS (Texas) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $967,791 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($352,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STATE FAIR OF TEXAS have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $967,791 in grants to STATE FAIR OF TEXAS, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STATE FAIR OF TEXAS?
- The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $352,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STATE FAIR OF TEXAS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 30 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