Texas · Nonprofit
The Blue Bird Circle
The Blue Bird Circle (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,827,278 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH FUND ($675,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $10.0M
What The Blue Bird Circle does
Mission
The Blue Bird Circle (the Circle) is dedicated to the promotion of the well-being of humanity through the betterment of the community. Its charitable and benevolent activities are pledged to the support of The Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology at Texas Children's Hospital, The Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine, The Blue Bird Circle Rett Center at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Blue Bird Circle Clinical Research Center at Texas Children's Hospital.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Approximately 350 Blue Bird Circle members devote at least 50,000 hours every year working in The Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology at Texas Children's Hospital or in The Blue Bird Circle Resale Shop (the Shop) and other fundraising activities to support the Circle's charitable causes. The Shop is substantially run by the volunteer members of the Circle and provides an important source of funding to enable the Circle to support its projects.Continued on Schedule O. The mission of The Blue Bird Circle Clinical Research Center at Texas Children's Hospital is to bring ever-advancing therapies to its patients. The Center supports cutting-edge research in neurology and enhances the larger effort to build a clinical research support structure that will advance care to the next level and make a difference in the lives of children affected by neurological disorders. It capitalizes on the remarkable scientific discoveries being made in childhood neurological diseases and serves as the clinical research arm of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital, as well as for the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Lab and The Blue…
$634,335 spentof which $634,335 as grants$48,535 earned by the program37% of program spendingThe Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology at Texas Children's Hospital is one of the largest neurology service centers in the United States, specializing in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care of neurological disorders in children. With over 20,000 patient encounters each year, the large team of specialists cares for patients with more than 450 neurological disorders including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, developmental delay, sleep disorders, stroke, cortical malformations, and brain tumors. The Clinic also diagnoses and treats such rare disorders as Rett syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Batten disease, and Prader-Willi syndrome. Satellite neurology clinics are located in Clear Lake, Sugar Land, the Woodlands, and TCH West Campus.
$233,155 spentof which $233,155 as grants14% of program spendingThe Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine continues to perform ground-breaking research into the causes and treatments of neurological disorders in both children and adults including seizures, stroke, brain trauma and other neurodegenerative disorders.
$435,583 spentof which $435,583 as grants26% of program spendingThe Blue Bird Circle Rett Center at Baylor College of Medicine is one of the few centers in the world that specializes in the diagnosis and care of patients with Rett Syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder that develops almost exclusively in females. The syndrome causes chronic neurological problems that include severe communication and motor disabilities. There is no known cure for the disorder, but the Center offers a multi-disciplinary approach focused on care, education, and research that will improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
$399,672 spentof which $399,672 as grants23% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,702,745.
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 $7.3M to $16M (+121%).
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 13% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
112% of The Blue Bird Circle’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $177k → $313k.
5 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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: $23M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Blue Bird Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money The Blue Bird Circle raised.
From the IRS filings of The Blue Bird Circle’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
The Blue Bird Circle has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 37% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 30% · 2019 52% · 2020 51% · 2021 47% · 2022 40% · 2023 32% — 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
44% of The Blue Bird Circle's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
93% of The Blue Bird Circle's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $71k 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
The Blue Bird Circle holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,002 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like The Blue Bird Circle
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
53%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Blue Bird Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Blue Bird Circle: 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 The Blue Bird Circle?
- The Blue Bird Circle (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,827,278 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH FUND ($675,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Blue Bird Circle have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $1,827,278 in grants to The Blue Bird Circle, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Blue Bird Circle?
- THE WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH FUND is the largest funder on record, with $675,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Blue Bird Circle 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 31 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