The Tobin Endowment
San Antonio, TX · EIN 74-6478848. Reported 41 grants totalling $6,795,543 to 22 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 Tobin Endowment 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 $50,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $15,000 and $126,000; the smallest was $1,230 and the largest $1,792,457. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation | San Antonio, TX | $3,442,457 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund | San Antonio, TX | $1,000,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Mcnay Art Museum | San Antonio, TX | $661,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Santa Fe Opera | Santa Fe, NM | $581,664 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Christus Santa Rosa Friends Foundation | San Antonio, TX | $208,532 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| San Antonio Report | San Antonio, TX | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Texas Tribune Inc | Austin, TX | $120,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Opera San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Biobridge Global | San Antonio, TX | $75,860 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas | San Antonio, TX | $70,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Texas Biomedical Research Institute | San Antonio, TX | $68,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Classical Music Institute | San Antonio, TX | $59,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Mission Road Ministries | San Antonio, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Charity Ball Association of San Anto | San Antonio, TX | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Metropolitan Opera Association Inc | New York, NY | $32,800 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Elf Louise Inc | San Antonio, TX | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Humanities Texas | Austin, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Musical Bridges Around the World Inc | San Antonio, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Witte Museum | San Antonio, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Antonio Foundation for Free Enterpri | San Antonio, TX | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Antonio Foundation for Free Enterprise | San Antonio, TX | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of the San Antonio Public Library | San Antonio, TX | $1,230 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
12 of 22 (55%) 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 65%, 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 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.
- Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation
SUPPORT TO PROVIDE A DIVERSE RANGE OF CULTURAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND ARTISTIC EXPERIENCES FOR YOUTH AND COMMUNITY - The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund
CHARITABLE GRANT FOR OPERATING BUDGET - The Santa Fe Opera
SUPPORT THE SANTA FE OPERA'S APPRENTICE PROGRAM AND PRODUCTION SPONSOR FOR A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION FOR THE 2024 SEASON - Mcnay Art Museum
SUPPORT FOR UNDERWRITING THE COST OF OPERATING THE CURATORIAL DEPARTMENT OF THE TOBIN COLLECTION OF THEATRE ARTS AND THE TOBIN WING, AND THE PRESENTING SPONSOR FOR TIM BURTON AND THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION - Christus Santa Rosa Friends Foundation
SUPPORT FOR CHRISTUS SANTA ROSA FRIENDS FOUNDATION TO COMPLETE THE CHRISTUS SANTA ROSA HOSPITAL - MEDICAL CENTER'S COMPREHENSIVE ONCOLOGY UNIT'S CAPITAL CAMPAIGN - Opera San Antonio
SUPPORT OPERA SAN ANTONIO 2023-2024 FISCAL OPERATIONS
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 28 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | $348,860 | $68,000 |
| 2022 | 5 | $180,250 | $16,800 |
| 2023 | 18 | $3,168,346 | $55,000 |
| 2024 | 13 | $3,098,087 | $60,000 |
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 Tobin Endowment has 2 of them, worth $740,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Biomedical Research Institute | San Antonio, TX | $500,000 |
| Texas Tribune Inc | Austin, TX | $240,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 91% 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 $50,000. 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 Tobin Endowment'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 90869, San Antonio, TX, 78209. 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 74-6478848 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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