Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund
San Antonio, TX · EIN 74-2985834. Reported 118 grants totalling $17.1M to 34 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. 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. Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund 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 $150,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $100,000 and $150,000; the smallest was $1 and the largest $666,668. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $3,400,544 | 21 | 5 | 2024 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center | San Antonio, TX | $2,742,948 | 16 | 5 | 2024 |
| Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $2,320,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $2,016,665 | 15 | 2 | 2022 |
| Boysville Inc | Converse, TX | $900,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Foundation Fighting Blindness | Columbia, MD | $625,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Christus Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Trinity University - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $450,000 | 3 | 2 | 2022 |
| Muscular Dystrophy Association | San Antonio, TX | $350,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Texas Biomedical Research Institute | San Antonio, TX | $350,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| I Care San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $320,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Trinity University | San Antonio, TX | $304,994 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American Heart Association | Dallas, TX | $267,388 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $266,666 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - 2019 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $266,666 | 2 | 1 | 2020 |
| Retina Foundation of the Southwest | Dallas, TX | $265,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hardberger Park Conservancy | San Antonio, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - 2021 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $233,332 | 2 | 1 | 2020 |
| Trinity University - 2020 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Trinity University - 2021 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio - 2021 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - 2018 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - 2020 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio - 2019 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $116,666 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio - 2020 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $116,666 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Utsa College of Sciences | San Antonio, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| American Red Cross | San Antonio, TX | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Brighton Center | San Antonio, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Antonio Young Women's Leadership Foundation | San Antonio, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Low Vision Resource Center | San Antonio, TX | $30,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| August Heart | San Antonio, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Believe It Foundation | San Antonio, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Contributions Paid Through MIT Private Equity Fund IV Lp | Cambridge, MA | $9 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Contributions Paid Through MIT Private Equity Fund IV Lp K-1 | Cambridge, MA | $1 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
16 of 34 (47%) 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 62%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.
- Children's Hospital of San Antonio
SUPPORT THE PEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY EPILEPSY PROGRAM - Texas Biomedical Research Institute
SUPPORT RECRUITMENT FOR CANCER RESEARCH SPECIALISTS - University of Texas at San Antonio
SUPPORT THE MAX AND MINNIE TOMERLIN VOELCKER CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE DRUG DISCOVERY - Trinity University
TO PURCHASE CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE - University of Texas Health Science Center
FUND THE VOELCKER BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH ACADEMY - Hardberger Park Conservancy
TO RESTORE DAIRY BARN EDUCATION CENTER
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 27 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 24 | $3,217,899 | $133,333 |
| 2021 | 21 | $3,343,649 | $150,000 |
| 2022 | 24 | $3,652,086 | $150,000 |
| 2023 | 25 | $3,429,029 | $116,666 |
| 2024 | 24 | $3,489,882 | $133,333 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund has 36 of them, worth $12.4M. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Christus Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $2,000,000 |
| Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $1,333,332 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $694,000 |
| Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $666,666 |
| Trinity University | San Antonio, TX | $579,987 |
| Children's Hospital of San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $475,000 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center | San Antonio, TX | $456,736 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $450,000 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $347,000 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio - 2021 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
| Trinity University - 2021 Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
| University of Texas Health Science Center - Young Investigator Award | San Antonio, TX | $300,000 |
Where its money goes
96% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $150,000. 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 Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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: 112 E Pecan 1240, San Antonio, TX, 78205. 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 74-2985834 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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