Texas · Nonprofit
The Hobby Center Foundation
The Hobby Center Foundation (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,685,770 to it, the largest being THE SAROFIM FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $34M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $7.7M
- Net assets
- $75M
What The Hobby Center Foundation does
Mission
The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts deepens understanding of our shared humanity. We serve as a connector, convenor and incubator for all Houston audiences, artmakers and arts organizations. By presenting engaging performances and educational programs, we strengthen our sense of belonging to shape a more cohesive and connected Houston community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Presented Programming and Rentals:The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts welcomes hundreds of thousands of audience members each year to diverse, high quality performing arts programming presented by the Hobby Center in three performance spaces across the campus including Sarofim Hall, Zilkha Hall and the Founders Club. The primary driver of impact is the Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center series, a cornerstone of the Hobby Center's artistic programming, and one of the most successful Broadway Series in the country. See Schedule OIn addition to Broadway, during the 2024-2025 Season, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts continued to expand its presented programming beyond the Broadway Series with a series of 34 performances including a dynamic and diverse mix of Houston based and touring artists across disciplines including theater, dance, and music. As a presenter, the Hobby Center books the artists directly and holds full responsibility for audience engagement. In addition to artistic programs curated and presented by the Hobby Center, the campus is also home to many performances produced and presented by partners, notably Principal Resident Company, Theater…
$30,586,863 spent$31,491,178 earned by the program97% of program spendingEducation and Engagement:An expanded Education Department is leading the development of programs on stage, in the classroom and in the community. Education and accessibility initiatives are central to the Hobby Center's reach in Houston through programs like the ExxonMobil Discovery Series that, during the 2024-2025 Season, welcomed nearly 20,000 fifth grade students and teachers for free performances in Sarofim Hall and Zilkha Hall, including bus transportation provided by the Hobby Center.
$1,069,687 spent3% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,656,550.
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 2018 to 2019, from $80M to $84M (+5%).
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 91% · 2022 10% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of The Hobby Center Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Mark Folkes
President/CEO
Board chair
Rob Doty
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $142k → $326k.
10 of 31 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 The Hobby Center Foundation’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 Hobby Center Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 27% · 2019 28% · 2020 54% · 2021 43% · 2022 23% · 2023 31% — growing more concentrated.
“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
57% of The Hobby Center Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
100% of The Hobby Center Foundation's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $655k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 Hobby Center Foundation has grown faster than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like The Hobby Center Foundation
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- HCPA Services Company · exempt
- HCPA Operating Company · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Hobby Center Foundation: 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 Hobby Center Foundation?
- The Hobby Center Foundation (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,685,770 to it, the largest being THE SAROFIM FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Hobby Center Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $7,685,770 in grants to The Hobby Center Foundation, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Hobby Center Foundation?
- THE SAROFIM FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Hobby Center Foundation 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 Hobby Center →
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 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing