Gordon a Cain Foundation
Houston, TX · EIN 20-8483773. Reported 182 grants totalling $7,661,000 to 66 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Gordon a Cain Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $1,100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Infantry Foundation | Columbus, GA | $2,400,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Museum of Fine Arts Houston | Houston, TX | $924,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | Houston, TX | $866,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Alley Theatre | Houston, TX | $645,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Media Research Center Inc | Alexandria, VA | $275,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| St Matthew's Parish School | Pacific Palisades, CA | $260,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Houston Botanic Garden | Houston, TX | $178,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research | Dallas, TX | $165,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Good Samaritan Foundation of Texas Inc | Houston, TX | $135,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Project 8P | New York, NY | $125,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| National Rifle Assocation of America | Fairfax, VA | $120,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Heritage Education Society | Houston, TX | $110,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| USO - Houston | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Star of Hope | Houston, TX | $70,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| UCLA Children's Hospital | Los Angeles, CA | $65,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Citizens Against Government Waste | Washington, DC | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Independent Institute | Oakland, CA | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Child Advocates Inc | Houston, TX | $55,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| National Center for Public Policy Research | Washington, DC | $55,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Bill of Rights Institute | Arlington, VA | $55,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| National Legal and Policy Center | Falls Church, VA | $50,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Texas Public Policy Foundation | Austin, TX | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| St Martin's Episcopal Church | Houston, TX | $49,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Holocaust Museum of Houston | Houston, TX | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Houston Center for Contemporary Craft | Houston, TX | $45,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Menninger Clinic | Houston, TX | $45,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Houston Area Women's Center | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Women's Home | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Discovery Green | Houston, TX | $35,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Grandfather Community Foundation | Linville, NC | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hope and Healing Center | Houston, TX | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Sight Into Sound | Houston, TX | $30,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Texans for Lawsuit Reform | Houston, TX | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| San Jacinto Museum of History | La Porte, TX | $26,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Appalachian Regional Healthcare Inc | Lexington, KY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| UCLA Lab School | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Food Bank | Houston, TX | $24,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Crime Stoppers of Houston | Houston, TX | $22,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Heritage Education Foundation | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| CASA De Esperanza | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Harmon Family Foundation | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Trees for Houston | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Re-Mind | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Theatre Under the Stars Inc | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Battleship Texas Foundation | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Blowing Rock Museum | Blowing Rock, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Camp Allen | Navasota, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends of the Children Houston | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Inevitable Foundation | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Linville Volunteer Fire Department | Linville, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Prageru | Sherman Oaks, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rice University | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Rotary Club of Houston | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Community in Schools | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Ballet | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Interfaith Ministries | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lombardi Award | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Philanthropy Roundtable | Washington, DC | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Country | Hockley, TX | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Council on Recovery | Houston, TX | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ut MD Anderson Cancer Center | Houston, TX | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Michael J Fox Foundation | New York, NY | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Right From the Start | Columbus, GA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
46 of 66 (70%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 86%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 89 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41 | $1,014,500 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 43 | $1,325,500 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 46 | $2,498,500 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 52 | $2,822,500 | $15,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
52% of its giving went to organizations in Texas. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Texas.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Gordon a Cain Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 8 Greenway Plaza 606, Houston, TX, 77046. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 20-8483773 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.