Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation
Houston, TX · EIN 74-6121656. Reported 97 grants totalling $6,878,975 to 31 organizations 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. Dorothy Richard Starling 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 $65,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $30,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $3,500 and the largest $250,000. 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. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Shephard School of Music - Rice University | Houston, TX | $755,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | Boulder, CO | $571,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Colburn School | Los Angeles, CA | $537,750 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Aspen Music Festival School | Aspen, CO | $510,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New England Conservatory | Boston, MA | $448,600 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $379,025 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Curtis Institute of Music | Philadelphia, PA | $345,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Starling Project Foundation | Cincinnati, OH | $340,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Music Academy of the West | Santa Barbara, CA | $330,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| College Conservatory of Music | Cincinnati, OH | $327,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Salt Lake Music School Foundation Dba Gifted Music School | Salt Lake City, UT | $323,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | $300,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Bowdin College | Brunswick, ME | $274,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Institute of Music | Cleveland, OH | $188,300 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Kneisel Hall | Blue Hill, ME | $145,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Sounding Point Foundation | Ann Arbor, MI | $145,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Steans Music Institute | Highland Park, IL | $130,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Meadowmount School of Music | Westport, NY | $104,400 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Conservatory of Music | San Francisco, CA | $102,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Yellow Barn Music School and Festival | Putney, VT | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Heifetz Institute | Staunton, VA | $84,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Coleman Violin Studio | Seattle, WA | $81,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival | Winston Salem, NC | $69,300 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | $62,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Encore Chamber Music Institute | Gates Mill, OH | $57,600 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Festival Institute at Round Top | Round Top, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Mcgill | New Rochelle, NY | $26,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Florida State University Foundation | Tallahassee, FL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra | Hilton Head Island, SC | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| String Insiders | Mckinney, TX | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
26 of 31 (84%) 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 100%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.
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.
- Starling Project Foundation
ADVANCEMENT OF VIOLIN STUDIES - New England Conservatory
ADVANCEMENT OF VIOLIN STUDIES, SEE STATEMENT 9
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 49 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | $1,400,600 | $44,000 |
| 2022 | 26 | $1,663,300 | $57,500 |
| 2023 | 22 | $1,580,000 | $67,500 |
| 2024 | 26 | $2,235,075 | $70,000 |
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. Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation has 45 of them, worth $4,594,796. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| New England Conservatory of Music | Boston, MA | $246,862 |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | Boulder, CO | $225,000 |
| The Shephard School of Music - Rice University | Houston, TX | $200,000 |
| The Shephard School of Music - Rice University | Houston, TX | $185,000 |
| The Shephard School of Music - Rice University | Houston, TX | $185,000 |
| The Shephard School of Music - Rice University | Houston, TX | $185,000 |
| New England Conservatory of Music | Boston, MA | $174,424 |
| University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $162,524 |
| The Colburn School | Los Angeles, CA | $145,750 |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | Boulder, CO | $140,000 |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | Boulder, CO | $140,000 |
| Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | $126,905 |
| New England Conservatory of Music | Boston, MA | $119,095 |
| San Francisco Conservatory of Music | San Francisco, CA | $108,657 |
| The Curtis Institute of Music | Philadelphia, PA | $105,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 16% of this one's giving went to organizations in Texas. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $65,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- 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 Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 2727 Allen Parkway Suite 1700, 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 74-6121656 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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