Giving: In the Heart of Texans
When it comes to giving, these foundations contributed more than $406 million in 2005.
Dollar amounts in millions.
| Foundation | Total Giving |
|---|---|
| Greater Houston Community Foundation | $109 |
| The Brown Foundation Inc. | $68 |
| ExxonMobil Foundation | $64 |
| Communities Foundation of Texas Inc. | $60 |
| The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation | $56 |
Source: The Foundation Center
Philanthropy means business in the Lone Star state.
Texans live big – and many of us give big to a variety of causes. The state’s citizens are consistently among the nation’s top individual givers each year.
Mixing Sense with Sentiment
Michael Holthouse of Houston has successfully blended his business skills with his philanthropic tendencies.
Co-founder and CEO of Paranet, Holthouse sold the computer network services company for $375 million in 1997. A lifelong philanthropist, in 1999 he founded Holthouse Foundation for Kids, a nonprofit that helps at-risk children learn life skills.
“There are many organizations full of well-intentioned people,” he says. “The people are so passionate. But if they don’t surround themselves with a quality board of directors or have business acumen, the organization will never survive.”
The Foundation of Giving
What sort of economic return does an enterprise like Holthouse’s Foundation for Kids give Texas? It’s hard to say, but it’s easy to imagine the intrinsic value of putting at-risk youth on the right path. In 2007, foundations nationwide gave an estimated $42 billion to charities, up 10 percent from the previous year. And this rise occurred despite growing uncertainty about the economy. Texas ranked fifth nationally in foundation giving, which was more than $1.8 billion in 2006. A foundation is broadly defined as a nonprofit corporation or a charitable trust to make grants to organizations or individuals for charitable purposes.
The state faces some challenges in giving. Per capita, Texas foundations gave about $78 in 2006, while the nation’s top giving foundations per capita were in Delaware. Foundations there gave $749 per citizen. In giving alone, Delaware ranks 19th nationally with about $640 million, a third of what Texas foundations give.
Top Texas foundations in 2005 contributed more than $400 million in grants, scholarships and employee matching gifts. Who were the biggest recipients? Educational facilities dominated the list of top 50 recipients in the state, according to Foundation Center statistics. Southern Methodist University in Dallas gathered the most, more than $37 million, while the Houston Museum of Science, ranked 50th, received about $3 million.
Individual Gifts Benefit the Whole
As Holthouse points out, at the heart of every organization are its people. Texans give millions to nonprofits each year. Longtime arts patron and oil heiress Caroline Wiess Law, for instance, left millions of dollars worth of fine art pieces and a $25 million endowment to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) when she died in 2003.
Law’s relationship with the museum spanned decades. During that time she saw how her funds were handled, says Peter Marzio, MFAH director. Although appreciated, a donation of this size is atypical, to say the least. According to its 2007 annual report, MFAH received about $8.4 million from 186 foundations.
Big Gift for Little Ones
Dell Children’s Medical Center grows with community.
In 2004, a $50 million campaign was launched for a new state-of-the-art Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Gifts ranged from several dollars all the way up to a $25 million grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. More than $86 million was raised for the $200 million facility, which in 2007 would become the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.
“People gave because of the need,” says Missy Wood, executive director of Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas.
In addition to housing medical services, the medical center has a green design and includes six courtyards and 900 pieces of artwork.
“What we’ve come to realize is it’s so much more than just a building,” Wood says.
Texans continually show they care in gifts small and large. Last year, Paul J. Foster, CEO of Western Refining in El Paso, donated $50 million to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. That same year, Harold and Annette Simmons pledged $50 million to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for the study of neurological diseases. In 2008, the Dan L. Duncan Family Foundation of Houston gave $35 million to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s cancer prevention program. Before that, the Baylor College of Medicine received a $100 million gift from Dan Duncan and his family for a cancer research, treatment and education center.
Nationally, charitable giving is on the rise, reaching $306.4 billion in 2007, according to Giving USA 2008, a report issued by Giving USA Foundation. Individual giving totaled an estimated $229 billion, or 74.8 percent of all giving in 2007. This was an increase of 2.7 percent over 2006.
Whether Texans give millions of dollars or minutes of their time, a sound philanthropic decision takes homework, says Holthouse, who advises selecting a recipient of your gift the way you would hire an employee.
“Check references; talk to whom they have served,” he advises. “Go to their facilities and talk to the employees. Use your heart to determine what you want to invest in, but use your business sense and due diligence to ascertain what is going to have the greatest impact.” FN
For more information on philanthropic activities in Texas or nationwide, visit www.foundationcenter.org.
Tell us what $20 will do for your Texas non-profit and we’ll share the information online. E-mail your story to fiscal.notes@cpa.state.tx.us.
Your $20:
What Good Can it Do?
So you don’t have millions, thousands or even hundreds of dollars to dole out to your favorite Texas nonprofit. But even your $20 donation can make a big difference.
Don’t believe us? Ask George Fierro at YMCA of Midland, and he’ll tell you your money will pay half the weekly cost for one child’s after-school care. It could supplement eight weeks of swimming lessons or provide a partial scholarship for a week of daycare.
In 2007, the YMCA of Midland provided $144,000 in scholarship assistance for its myriad programs. About 4,000 weekly scholarships were awarded to 425 children. No one was turned away.
Gregory Duke, director for the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank, can stretch your $20 donation to $160. The regional food bank, located in San Angelo, serves 15 counties. If not earmarked for food purchases, the money goes to offset the shared overhead costs incurred at the facility, including utilities.