The Wortham Foundation Inc
Houston, TX · EIN 74-1334356. Reported 22 grants totalling $38.7M to 21 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. The Wortham Foundation Inc 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 $75,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $15,000 and $250,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $12.6M. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See Attachment 18A | Various, TX | $23.1M | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| See Attachment 18 | Various, TX | $12.6M | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Houston Symphony Society | Houston, TX | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Grand Opera | Houston, TX | $850,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Jacinto Girl Scouts | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Children's Museum | Houston, TX | $175,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Da Camera Society | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hobby Center | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Public Media Foundation | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Stages Repertory Theatre | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Memorial Park Conservancy | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Galveston Historical Foundation | Galveston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Health Museum | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Spark | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Armand Bayou | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Classical Theatre Company | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asia Society Asia House | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Diverse Works | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Masterworks Chorus | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Boychoir Inc | Houston, TX | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Choral Society | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
1 of 21 (5%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
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.
- See Attachment 18
OPERATIONAL, CAPITAL AND ENDOWMENT GRANTS TO PUBLIC CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 13 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 | 1 | $12.6M | $12.6M |
| 2021 | 1 | $12.1M | $12.1M |
| 2022 | 1 | $11.0M | $11.0M |
| 2024 | 19 | $2,977,000 | $40,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Wortham Foundation Inc has 10 of them, worth $5,015,800. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership (east) | Houston, TX | $2,000,000 |
| See Attachment 19 | Various, TX | $1,085,000 |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | Houston, TX | $1,000,000 |
| Alley Theatre | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Battleship Texas | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Discovery Green | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Galveston Historical Foundation | Galveston, TX | $80,000 |
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership | Houston, TX | $50,000 |
| River Oaks Chamber Orchestra | Houston, TX | $40,000 |
| Woodlands Cemetary | Kirvin, TX | $10,800 |
Where its money goes
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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 $75,000. 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Wortham Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 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: 2727 Allen Parkway Suite 1570, Houston, TX, 77019. 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 74-1334356 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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