Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city by population, is known for its energy and aerospace sectors, as well as its rising diversity. All of those factors make it a regional philanthropic hotspot, and it’s home to numerous major living donors who give in the area. In our last regional rundown, we looked at some top donors in South Florida. Today, we will do the same in Houston, aka Space City or Clutch City.
Compared to top community foundations in the Northeast, the Sunbelt city’s major community foundation, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, is relatively new, tracing its roots back to the early 1970s. Since its 1995 reconstitution, the foundation has distributed over $2.2 billion. In its efforts to better parse out Houston’s philanthropic landscape, it found that more than 15,600 nonprofit organizations served Houston’s three-county area in 2020 and that almost half of households in Houston metro donated $25 or more in 2019.
Philanthropic support is all the more urgent these days as Houston tackles a range of challenges, including natural disasters. As of January 2021, Greater Houston had been the site of 25 federally declared disasters in just four decades, nearly one-third of which have occurred since 2015, according to the Greater Houston Community Foundation. That list will continue to grow as the region faces increased hurricane threats and other climate challenges. Case in point this year: In a winter that few in the deep south will forget, Houston is now cleaning up after a rare significant snowstorm and temperatures that dropped into the 20s.
There are quite a few legacy foundations across the metro area, including the Welch Foundation, one of the oldest and largest private funding sources for chemistry researchers in the United States, and the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation, which bears the name of the late Houston-born oilman and his wife. But for this particular rundown, we’ll be focusing on living donors based in or supporting the Houston area. Here are some top names to note.
Laura and John Arnold
Drawing on an investing fortune, the Arnolds started their foundation back in 2008. What began as a family foundation evolved into Arnold Ventures, a multipronged LLC that oversees the couple’s giving through many channels, for instance, through foundation gifts, donor-advised-fund support and 501(c)(4) funding. The Arnolds were among the vanguard of billionaire givers who moved to an LLC format to give them more funding flexibility, an approach also taken by the likes of Pierre and Pam Omidyar, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Melinda French Gates and others. Arnold Ventures is known for its evidence- and data-driven funding, working in areas like healthcare, democracy, affordable housing, criminal justice and more. In 2023, the Arnolds contributed nearly $484 million to their foundation, which awarded approximately $165 million in grants, including to Houston’s Rice University.
Laura Arnold told me in 2022 about the couple’s passion for supporting criminal justice organizations like REFORM Alliance: “Our interest in criminal justice was rooted in our mission, which is to maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. And the criminal justice system is sadly one of the drivers of inequality in this country.”
George and Kathy Bishop
One of several billionaire energy moguls on our list, George Bishop, 88, is the founder of GeoSouthern Energy, a petroleum and natural gas exploration company. The Bishops move their philanthropy through the George Bishop Family Foundation, but their giving has been sporadic of late. They’ve supported Houston organizations like Helping a Hero, as well as Sealy Christian Food Pantry and Iglesia Cristiana Mahanaim in nearby Willis, Texas.
Clint and Nancy Carlson
In 2002, Clint Carlson started Carlson Capital, an alternative asset management firm where Nancy also serves as a partner. The couple work collectively in their philanthropy, too, through the Carlson Foundation, whose grantmaking touches areas like education and youth, arts and culture, and human services. The foundation’s giving strongly tracks with board memberships and personal connections in Dallas and Houston. The couple have extensively supported their shared alma mater Rice University and Houston Pets Alive!
Albert Chao, James Chao and Dorothy Chao Jenkins
Billionaire Albert Chao and his siblings Dorothy and James own Westlake Corporation, one of North America’s largest producers of low-density polyethylene, used for food packaging. Their foundation, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation, bears the name of their parents, and makes grants to Houston-based organizations like Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston Food Bank and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The family launched the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences (BRAIN) at Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute to tackle neurological disorders. The foundation also makes grants far outside of Houston and Texas, including to Wellesley College.
Jim Crane
Billionaire logistics mogul and Houston Astros chair Jim Crane runs the low-profile Crane Family Foundation, which gives in the Houston area, including to the Children’s Museum of Houston, Lutheran High School, and Houston Zoo. Grantmaking focuses on education and arts and culture. The Astros Foundation, meanwhile, supports local youth sports and education programs, veterans’ causes, childhood cancer and domestic violence awareness, and efforts to reduce homelessness.
Michael and Susan Dell
The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has a broad reach, befitting a couple whose centibillionaire fortune stems from a near-ubiquitous personal computing brand. The Dells have grown the foundation by over $5 billion in the past two years alone — yet another case of living tech billionaires’ philanthropies expanding to dwarf most legacy foundations. That ramp-up is powering giving across the country and overseas, but the Dell Foundation — which is based in Austin, not Houston — also has a specific Texas grantmaking program which says it’s “building pathways for more than 7 million Texans” by expanding access to education, job training and essential health services, touching major cities like Houston, Austin and Dallas, as well as underfunded regions. For instance, the foundation made a grant of more than $1 million to Houston’s Alliance of Community Ministries to engage young adults in healthcare education and training.
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Tilman and Paige Fertitta
Billionaire Houston Rockets owner and businessman Tilman Fertitta was recently nominated by President Trump as ambassador to Italy. On the philanthropic front, he and his wife Paige launched the Tilman and Paige Fertitta Family Foundation in 2000. Recent grants have gone to Houston Children’s Charity, Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, and Houston Museum of Natural Science. In 2016, Fertitta contributed $20 million dollars to fund the Fertitta Center at University of Houston.
Dan Friedkin
Billionaire Dan Friedkin owns Gulf States Toyota, which sold $11 billion worth of Toyotas in 2023. He also owns the Friedkin Group and luxury hospitality management firm Auberge Resorts. On the philanthropic side, his Friedkin Conservation Fund is working to preserve more than 6 million acres in Tanzania. Closer to home, Friedkin Family Initiatives works in conservation and entrepreneurship, including by supporting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation.
Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand
Billionaire Jeff Hildebrand made his fortune at the helm of Hilcorp Energy Company in Houston. The couple’s Hildebrand Foundation keeps a low profile but quietly gave away nearly $10 million in 2023, and nearly $17 million the year prior. The couple are laser-focused on supporting faith-based organizations and organizations that work with the needy. They’ve also shown a willingness to support local parks and have helped fund public parks project Bayou Greenways, to which the Kinders (below) have also given major support.
Richard and Nancy Kinder
Richard Kinder cofounded energy and pipeline company Kinder Morgan. He and his wife Nancy established the Kinder Foundation to contribute to parks, education, and human services in and around Houston. They have committed to giving 95% of their wealth to charity, and have given over a half-billion dollars to Houston-area causes already. Some of the foundation’s top recipients include Rice University, home of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Houston Downtown Park Corporation, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, the nation’s largest museum dedicated to the legacy of African Americans in the military.
Janice McNair
Janice McNair and her late husband Bob McNair, founder of an energy company and owner of the Houston Texans, started the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation in 1988. The McNairs established McNair Scholars programs to support students and faculty at institutions like Rice and Baylor. They also launched the McNair Centers for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise at several Houston schools including Rice, University of St. Thomas Houston, and Houston Baptist University.
Randa Duncan Williams
Randa Duncan Williams is non-executive chairman of Enterprise Products Partners, the pipeline giant her late father Dan Duncan founded in 1968. Now, the billionaire Duncan clan includes a number of heirs like Dannine Avara, Scott Duncan and Milane Frantz. Along with other family members, Randa now runs the Dan L. Duncan Family Foundation. The foundation has recently made seven-figure gifts to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and the Houston Zoo.
Editor’s Note (1/24/25): A previous version of this article stated that the Arnolds gave away $484 million in 2023. The Arnolds contributed nearly $484 million to their foundation that year, and awarded around $165 million in grants.
