The Wortham Foundation Inc
Houston, TX · EIN 74-1334356. Reported 22 grants totalling $38.7M to 21 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. 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 Wortham Foundation Inc 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 $15,000 and $250,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $12.6M. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See Attachment 18A | Various, TX | $23.1M | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| See Attachment 18 | Various, TX | $12.6M | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Houston Symphony Society | Houston, TX | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Grand Opera | Houston, TX | $850,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Jacinto Girl Scouts | Houston, TX | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Children's Museum | Houston, TX | $175,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Da Camera Society | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hobby Center | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Public Media Foundation | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Stages Repertory Theatre | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Memorial Park Conservancy | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Galveston Historical Foundation | Galveston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Health Museum | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Spark | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Armand Bayou | Houston, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Classical Theatre Company | Houston, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asia Society Asia House | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Diverse Works | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Masterworks Chorus | Houston, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Boychoir Inc | Houston, TX | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Houston Choral Society | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
1 of 21 (5%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
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.
- See Attachment 18
OPERATIONAL, CAPITAL AND ENDOWMENT GRANTS TO PUBLIC CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 13 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | $12.6M | $12.6M |
| 2021 | 1 | $12.1M | $12.1M |
| 2022 | 1 | $11.0M | $11.0M |
| 2024 | 19 | $2,977,000 | $40,000 |
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 Wortham Foundation Inc has 10 of them, worth $5,015,800. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership (east) | Houston, TX | $2,000,000 |
| See Attachment 19 | Various, TX | $1,085,000 |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | Houston, TX | $1,000,000 |
| Alley Theatre | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Battleship Texas | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Discovery Green | Houston, TX | $250,000 |
| Galveston Historical Foundation | Galveston, TX | $80,000 |
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership | Houston, TX | $50,000 |
| River Oaks Chamber Orchestra | Houston, TX | $40,000 |
| Woodlands Cemetary | Kirvin, TX | $10,800 |
Where its money goes
Find more foundations like The Wortham Foundation Inc
We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.
No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.
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 Wortham Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 2727 Allen Parkway Suite 1570, 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 74-1334356 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.