FundersTexas

Leon Payne JR Foundation

Houston, TX · EIN 85-2619235. Reported 49 grants totalling $254,800 to 27 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$254,800granted, 2021-2024
27organizations funded
56%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,211,989assets, 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. Leon Payne JR 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 $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $5,500; the smallest was $348 and the largest $22,898. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
29 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
8 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
9 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Amazing PlaceHouston, TX$57,398442024
The Church of St John the DivineHouston, TX$40,000222024
Houston Methodist Hospital FoundationHouston, TX$20,000222024
The University of Texas at Austin School of Social of School WorkAustin, TX$20,000222022
Houston ArboretumHouston, TX$13,500112024
Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN$12,500442024
Planned Parenthood Federation of America IncAustin, TX$11,000222024
Nick Finnegan Counseling CenterHouston, TX$10,304332024
Planned ParenthoodAustin, TX$10,000222022
St John's the Divine ChurchHouston, TX$10,000112022
Houston SPCAHouston, TX$8,348442024
St John's SchoolHouston, TX$7,250442024
Southern Methodist UniversityDallas, TX$6,500222023
St John's the Devine ChurchHouston, TX$5,000112021
Houston Humane SocietyHouston, TX$4,500222022
Houston Humane Soceity WildlifeHouston, TX$2,500112024
MD Anderson Cancer CenterHouston, TX$2,500112023
Texas Children's HospitalHouston, TX$2,500112023
Boy Scout Troop 354Kansas City, MO$2,000112021
The Junior League of HoustonHouston, TX$2,000222024
River Oaks Garden Club Azalea TrailHouston, TX$1,500112021
Small Steps Nurturing CenterHouston, TX$1,500112024
Concert Against CancerHouston, TX$1,000112023
Houston Arboretum & Nature CenterHouston, TX$1,000112023
Texas State UniversitySan Marcos, TX$1,000112024
Texas Sttate UniversitySan Marcos, TX$500112023
Wildlife Center of TexasHouston, TX$500112021

13 of 27 (48%) 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 56%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 24 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Health Care
7 grants
Education
7 grants
Animal Welfare
6 grants
Community Improvement
2 grants
Medical Research
1 grant
Environment
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$57,000$2,000
20229$64,148$4,750
202314$58,152$2,500
202413$75,500$2,500

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 94% 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.

Texas
$240K
Tennessee
$12K
Missouri
$2K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsGreater Houston Community Foundation8 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsThe Brown Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  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 education in TexasEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Leon Payne JR 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: 45 W Broad Oaks Dr, Houston, TX, 77056. 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 85-2619235 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.