Funders › Texas

Jfa Foundation

Houston, TX · EIN 27-4344587. Reported 141 grants totalling $370,895 to 47 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$370,895granted, 2021-2025
47recipients, as named on its returns
84%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,517,544assets, latest filing

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. Jfa 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.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $2,600; the smallest was $50 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
51 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
67 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
11 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Dilley Methodist ChurchDilley, TX$50,000332025
Southwestern UniversityGeorgetown, TX$50,000552025
Memorial Park Conservancy IncHouston, TX$43,000552025
Houston Methodist Hospital FoundationHouston, TX$40,000552025
Big Bend ConservancyBig Bend National Park, TX$17,000552025
Dilley Memorial Cemetery AssocDilley, TX$16,000112023
Menil Foundation IncHouston, TX$15,000112022
American Red CrossHouston, TX$13,500552025
Houston Food BankHouston, TX$10,500552025
Camp La Junta FundHunt, TX$10,000112025
USOWashington, DC$10,000552025
Coastal Prairie ConservancyHouston, TX$8,075442025
Texas Land Conservancy (ned Fritz Society)Austin, TX$8,000332023
The John Fairey Garden Conservation FoundationHempstead, TX$6,500552025
Hermann Park Conservancy IncHouston, TX$6,000552025
Star of HopeHouston, TX$6,000552025
Texas Land ConservancyAustin, TX$6,000222025
Emergency Aid CoalitionHouston, TX$5,400552025
The Nature Conservancy IncSan Antonio, TX$4,500552025
Trees for HoustonHempstead, TX$4,000442025
BakerripleyHouston, TX$3,500442025
Wounded Warrior ProjectTopeka, KS$3,500442024
Texas Children's HospitalHouston, TX$3,000442025
Amazing PlaceHouston, TX$2,700552025
St Paul's United Methodist ChurchSan Antonio, TX$2,600112025
Orange Show FoundationHouston, TX$2,500332024
St Jude's HospitalHouston, TX$2,500332024
Interfaith Ministries of Greater HoustonHouston, TX$2,300442024
Shriner's Hospital for ChildrenTampa, FL$2,300332025
Dilley Memorial Cemetery AssociationDilley, TX$2,000112025
Orange Show Center for Visionary ArtHouston, TX$2,000112025
St Paul's Methodist ChurchHouston, TX$2,000112022
Young LifeColorado Springs, CO$1,800552025
The Salvation ArmyAlexandria, VA$1,700552025
Houston Public Media (resiliency Fund)Houston, TX$1,200112025
Susan G Komen Race for the CureDallas, TX$1,200442025
Grand Canyon ConservancyGrand Canyon, AZ$1,000112025
Thornton Middle School BandMissouri City, TX$1,000112025
Houston Habitat for HumanityHouston, TX$900332024
Volunteer Florida FoundationTallahassee, FL$500112022
The Will Erwin Headache Research FoundationHouston, TX$300112021
Workshop HoustonHouston, TX$300112021
Houston Bar FoundationHouston, TX$250112021
The Upper RoomThe Woodlands, TX$200112022
Museum of Fine Arts HoustonHouston, TX$70112025
The League of Women VotersWashington, DC$50112023
Veterans of Foreign WarsKansas City, MO$50112023

29 of 47 (62%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 84%, across 4 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 the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 81 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.

Environment
18 grants
Human Services
9 grants
Housing & Shelter
8 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
6 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
6 grants
Youth Development
6 grants
Food & Nutrition
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$28,950$500
202231$85,875$1,500
202330$88,800$1,000
202427$58,200$1,000
202531$109,070$2,000

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

94% 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.

Texas
$350K
District of Columbia
$10K
Kansas
$4K
Florida
$3K
Colorado
$2K
Virginia
$2K
Arizona
$1K
Missouri
$50

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund21 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc20 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust18 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program17 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsGreater Houston Community Foundation16 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Texas.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

Foundations funding human services in TexasEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Jfa Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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: 1800 Bering Dr 310, Houston, TX, 77057. 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 27-4344587 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.