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Armand Bayou Nature Center _Photo By Gary Seloff f _2 Mud Digger
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Buffalo Bayou Park Photo by Katya Horner Courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Partnership(1)
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Grants & IMpact

The Brown Foundation, Inc., aims to support organizations dedicated to ambitious goals, excellence, and exceptional impact.

Historically and today, education and the arts are the Foundation’s top grantmaking priorities. We also support organizations within human services, healthcare, conservation and land protection, parks and urban greenspace, civic assets, and more.

Impact Areas

Since our founding in 1951, The Brown Foundation, Inc. has distributed more than $2 billion to help build and sustain institutions that make Houston a world-class city, from leading educational institutions to renowned medical facilities to a vibrant arts ecosystem.

Arts & Culture

The Foundation believes that the arts contribute meaningfully to the vibrancy and vitality of communities. A thriving arts ecosystem promotes diversity, creates dynamic and joyful experiences for residents, sparks dialogue, and sustains a richness of life in a city. We proudly support arts organizations of all sizes—from the performing arts to museums, from small community-based groups to flagship institutions—that bring passion, energy, and creativity to life in Houston and beyond.

  • Areas of Interest:
    • Performing arts
    • Visual arts, museums, public art, and exhibition spaces
    • Community building through the arts
    • Expanding opportunity for artistic expression and appreciation
    • Literary arts

Education

The Foundation has a longstanding commitment to education, reflecting our belief that education creates pathways to future opportunity and strengthens communities. Our grantmaking extends from early childhood to higher education. Although we fund broadly, our top priority is direct support to a diverse ecosystem of school models. Our public education grantmaking is concentrated almost exclusively in the greater Houston region.

  • Areas of Interest:
    • High-performing school models & programs
    • Post-secondary access & success
    • Teacher & leader pipeline

Civic Assets

The Foundation believes that strong and vibrant cities need places where communities gather, families spend time, and greenspace is abundant. We also believe in the importance of preserving our native landscape for future generations to enjoy. The Foundation proudly supports parks, gardens, nature conservancies, places for children, and efforts to preserve and protect ecologically sensitive areas.

  • Areas of Interest:
    • Parks and other green spaces
    • Public spaces
    • Civic institutions
    • Conservation

Healthcare

The Foundation awards grants to a diverse array of organizations working to improve health in our community, ranging from large academic medical centers to small community-based clinics. Our current priorities include direct support to hospital systems and clinics that provide primary care, behavioral, and mental health services.

  • Areas of Interest:
    • Primary and general healthcare services
    • Mental health services
    • Behavioral health, including substance recovery
  •  

Human Services

The Foundation is dedicated to supporting organizations that deliver critical social services and programs that address basic human needs in our community. We award grants to organizations with demonstrated ability to accomplish ambitious goals aligned to their mission. These include organizations focused on a range of services from child welfare to food insecurity, services to individuals experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, substance recovery, and community development, among others.

  • Areas of Interest:
    • Basic human needs, such as food insecurity and housing
    • Child welfare
    • Domestic violence

Grants Awarded

Since inception

Since our founding in 1951, The Brown Foundation, Inc. has distributed more than $2 billion to help build and sustain institutions that make Houston a world-class city, from leading educational institutions to renowned medical facilities to a vibrant arts ecosystem.
  • Total Awarded Since Inception: $2,071,681,847
  • Education: $724,472,390 35%
  • Arts & Culture: $667,066,248 32%
  • Civic Assets: $247,496,795 12%
  • Healthcare: $238,919,672 12%
  • Human Services: $184,525,145 9%

Grants Awarded in Fiscal Year 2024

The Brown Foundation Inc., investment strategy has achieved sustained growth, enabling us to increase the grant funds distributed to the community over time. We also commit to a lean cost structure to maximize funds dedicated to our mission. Together, these strategies have allowed the Foundation’s grantmaking capacity to grow significantly over time.
  • Total Awarded: $97,794,500
  • Education: $19,120,000 20%
  • Arts & Culture: $12,174,500 12%
  • Civic Assets: $32,225,000 33%
  • Healthcare: $26,195,000 27%
  • Human Services: $8,080,000 8%

Our Grant Making By the Numbers

Total Grantmaking in 2024:

$97,794,500

Grant Size:

  • Smallest Grant:

    • $15,000

      • Ars Lyrica Houston (24-5050-C)

  • Median Grant:

    • $50,000

  • Largest Grant:

    • $20,748,807.22

      • Houston Parks Board (24-5524-B)

Grant Type:

General Operating:

$15,152,000 15.49%

Program:

$6,014,500 6.15%

Capital:

$76,628,000 78.36%

Strategically Aligned:

% of grants funded within the priorities listed above:

  • 21%
    • Education
  • 34%
    • Arts & Culture
  • 13%
    • Civic Assets
  • 8%
    • Healthcare
  • 24%
    • Human Services

2024 Grantee Profile:

    • Grantees that are new to The Brown Foundation in 2024:
      • 7%
    • Grantees that are greater than or equal to five years old:
      • 95%
    • Grantees who are located in Greater Houston:
      • 89%

  • Organization Operating Budgets

    • 16%
      • Less than 1MM
    • 55%
      • Equal to 1MM – 10MM
    • 27%
      • Greater than 10MM

Explore Past Grants

Explore our most recent five years of grantmaking here.

2217 Welch Street
Houston, Texas 77019
(713) 523-6867
grants@brownfoundation.org

©2025 The Brown Foundation, All Rights Reserved.