The Sarofim Foundation
Houston, TX · EIN 37-2090276. Reported 62 grants totalling $9,669,500 to 62 organizations across tax years 2023. 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 Sarofim 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 $75,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $150,000; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $2,000,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor College of Medicine | Houston, TX | $2,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | $2,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way of Greater Houston | Houston, TX | $375,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Episcopal High School | Bellaire, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Etoile Academy Inc | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| KIPP Texas Inc | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Beta Foundation Dba Beta Academy | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Yes Prep | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Yellowstone Schools | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Awty International School | Houston, TX | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cristo Rey Jesuit | Houston, TX | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Emerge Fellowship | Houston, TX | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wonderland Educational Estate Association | Houston, TX | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| A Unlimited Potential | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Alley Theatre | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bloom Academy Inc | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Classical Inc | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Small Steps Nurturing Center | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Menil Collection | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Thrive With Autism | Magnolia, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Contemporary Arts Museum Houston | Houston, TX | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Ballet | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Food Bank | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Grand Opera | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Harbor Christian Academy | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Prounitas Inc | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Star of Hope Mission | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Beacon Formerly Houston Compass Inc | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Forge for Families | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lyford Cay School Foundation | Greenwich, CT | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Museum of Fine Arts Houston | Houston, TX | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| YMCA of Greater Houston | Houston, TX | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Game Conservancy USA Inc | Westport, CT | $62,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Children's Museum of Houston | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Harvard Business School | Boston, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Stages Repertory Theatre | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Society of St Vincent De Paul | Houston, TX | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation | Houston, TX | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| American Cancer Society | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Christus Foundation for Healthcare | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Depelchin Children's Center | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Discovery Green Conservancy | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Glenwood Cemetery Historic Preservation Foundation | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Harris County Hospital District Foundation | Bellaire, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| St George's School | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Chinati Foundation | Marfa, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of St Thomas | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Educational Fund | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Susan Smith Blackburn Prize | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Families Empowered | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lighthouse of Houston | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Tx Health Science Center at Houston | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Breakthrough T1D (formerly Jdrf) | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Junior League of Houston | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ronald Mcdonald House | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Texas Children's Cancer Center | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Special Olympics Texas | San Antonio, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Houston Bar Foundation | Houston, TX | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
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.
- Princeton University
GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES - Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
IN SUPPORT OF THE SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE TO OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 43 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Sarofim Foundation has 2 of them, worth $16.0M. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | $8,000,000 |
| Baylor College of Medicine | Houston, TX | $8,000,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 76% 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 $75,000. 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 The Sarofim Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 2 returns (tax years 2022-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 52830, Houston, TX, 77052. 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 37-2090276 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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