The Seawell Elam Foundation
Austin, TX · EIN 74-2637039. Reported 55 grants totalling $572,800 to 44 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. The Seawell Elam 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $15,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Youth River Watch | Austin, TX | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Safe Alliance | Austin, TX | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Assistance League Austin | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Austin Sunshine Camps | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Ballet Austin | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Breakthrough Central Texas | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Foster Angels of Central Texas | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Friends of the Children | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Jeremiah Program | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Open Door Preschools | Austin, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Atx Chamber Music and Jazz | Austin, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Any Baby Can of Austin Inc | Austin, TX | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Explore Austin | Austin, TX | $10,800 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Any Baby Can | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Austin Achieve Public Schools Inc | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Austin Bat Cave | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Austin Classical Guitar | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Austin Film Festival | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Austin Symphony Orchestra | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Austin Theatre Alliance | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Communities in Schools of Central Texas | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Creative Action | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ecology Action - Circle Acres Nature Preserve | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Families in Nature | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Foundation Communities | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Genaustin | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Girls Empowerment Network | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hope Alliance | Round Rock, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Interfaith Action of Central Texas | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Keep Austin Beautiful | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lifeworks Austin | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Literacy Coalition | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Literacy First | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Peas Office (partners for Education Agriculture and Sustainability) | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pease Park Conservancy | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Seedling Foundation | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Center for Child Protection | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Uprise Circus | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Urban Roots | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Uteach | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Zach Theatre | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
11 of 44 (25%) 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 0%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. 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.
- The University of Texas at Austin
TO SUPPORT THE LITERACY FIRST PROGRAM.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 32 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | $130,000 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 16 | $160,800 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 14 | $140,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 12 | $142,000 | $10,000 |
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.
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 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 $10,000. 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 Seawell Elam 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: Po Box 5546, Austin, TX, 78763. 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 74-2637039 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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