Houston Independent School District Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 760424529
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7135567275
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,863,727
- Expenses
- $3,344,686
- Assets
- $5,896,098
- Liabilities
- $50,730
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Katherine Smith (CEO through 4/30/25)
Highest reported compensation
- Katherine Smith (CEO through 4/30/25): $208,413 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The HISD Foundation is dedicated to mobilizing the local community to support innovative priorities in HISD to improve outcomes for all students in the district. Our mission is to fund projects and programs of merit that fall outside of the district's operating budget.
What it reported doing in 2024
The HISD Foundation (Foundation) supports the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and its mission of providing every student with a consistently rigorous education in a safe environment. Established in 1993, the Foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors that includes local businesses, industry, and community leaders. The Foundation works with the Superintendent of Schools, HISD Board of Education, and Houston's business leaders and philanthropic community to raise funds for the district, provide support for teachers, students, and parents, and raise awareness of the district's commitment to providing every student with a quality education.See Schedule O for further details.The Foundation supports HISD and school-based programs and initiatives to increase academic achievement, eliminate the minority achievement gap, and develop and retain effective educators in every classroom.The Foundation believes equity, literacy, innovation, college access, and great people can prepare students for college and the workforce.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 71% for direct work, and 29% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 91
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -79.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.76; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $208K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.