Texas · Nonprofit
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON (Texas) receives grants from 280 organizations whose IRS filings report $116,110,905 to it, the largest being GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($13,064,785). 187 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $255M
- Funders on record
- 280
- Grants received
- $116M
- Net assets
- $2.2B
What The Museum of Fine Arts Houston does
Mission
The museum of fine arts, houston serves as a welcoming and inclusive place for all people, connecting the communities of houston with diverse histories of art spanning 6,000 years and six continents. Through our permanent collections, special exhibitions, learning and interpretation programs, publications, conservation and scholarly research, we strive to inspire appreciation and understanding of the broadest spectrum of human achievement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education and public programs: provides interpretive programming, access to 2 on-site art libraries, provides resources and training to art teachers, and engages the community through lectures, concerts, tours and festivals. See schedule o for further detail.
$12,331,623 spent$3,818,997 earned by the program12% of program spendingAccessions, curatorial and exhibit programs: includes acquisition of works of art, research into and care of the art collection, and coordination and production of art exhibitions. See schedule o for further detail.
$82,968,352 spent$746,284 earned by the program80% of program spendingGlassell school of art: provides hands-on art education to pre-school through adult students. Approximately 7,800 students took classes this year. See schedule o for further detail.
$6,567,581 spentof which $149,197 as grants$3,507,595 earned by the program6% of program spendingMembership activities
$1,963,997 spent$3,545,459 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $103,831,553.
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 $1.8B to $2.2B (+18%).
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: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 0% · 2022 4% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Mrs Anne S Duncan
Life trustee, chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 83 funders to 133 funders, grant income rose $10M → $15M.
19 of 280 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 280 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 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
33% 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 THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 18% · 2019 19% · 2020 9% · 2021 15% · 2022 11% · 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
51% of THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON'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
78% of THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $28M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$1.3M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$476k
- National Endowment for the Arts$310k
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 THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
55%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- The Endowment for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston · exempt
- Houston Arts Combined Endowment Foundation · exempt
- Art of the Spirits Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON: 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 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON?
- THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON (Texas) receives grants from 280 organizations whose IRS filings report $116,110,905 to it, the largest being GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($13,064,785). 187 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON have?
- IRS filings report 280 organizations giving $116,110,905 in grants to THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON, 187 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON?
- GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $13,064,785 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON 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 Museum of Fine Arts Houston →
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 280 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