John S. Dunn Foundation

• This is a good fit only for charitable organisations serving the greater Houston area, with work in healthcare education (including nursing programmes), healthcare clinics for the underserved, mental health programmes or medical research, or nursing scholarships and medical research endowments and chairs; it does not make multiyear grants, though it encourages matching grants and collaboration.
• A realistic request would sit within its typical grant range of $15,000 to $200,000, with the median grant at $50,000, though amounts have gone as high as $3,000,000 and its total paid in a recent filing year was $5,107,452.
• Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through an online form asking for the nonprofit's name and address, its IRS determination letter and the amount requested for the project or programme, so there is no fixed deadline to work to.
• With just over half of its grant dollars going to organisations it had also funded in the two previous filing years, the Foundation looks relationship-led, so building a track record with it may help over time.
• It will not fund businesses or individuals, capital campaigns, construction and/or furnishings, advocacy, other foundations that re-grant to third parties, scholarships paid directly to individuals, Type III Section 509(a)(3) supporting organizations, other private foundations, or organisations that do not meet Section 501(c)(3) criteria or are not non-profit, tax-exempt organisations.

The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:

• UThealth Science Center - John S Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center · Grant to establish 14 separate permanent endowments for the use, benefit, and support of UTHealth to advance behavioral health research, education, and patient care at the John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center.
  $2,000,0002024 tax year
• Rice University · Grant to support a fund for research seed grants with the Collaborative Research Center explicitly designed to bring together Rice researchers with their colleagues in the Texas Medical Center.
  $300,0002024 tax year
• Texas Heart Institute · Grant to establish the John S. Dunn Chair for the Innovative Device & Engineering Applications (IDEA) Lab which is focused on developing and evaluating cutting-edge cardoivascular medical devices.
  $200,0002024 tax year
• Communities In Schools of Houston · Grant to support the on-campus Mental Health Initiative Program Program for 2023-2024 school year.
  $200,0002024 tax year
• UThealth Science Center - Faillace Dept Of Psychiatry · Grant to establish the John S. Dunn Foundation Distinguished Chair in Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for research in schizophrenia and psychotic disorders.
  $200,0002024 tax year
• Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation · Grant to establish the Eva Lynn and John S. Dunn, Jr. New Century Chair in Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery $1,500,000 Endowment Fund.
  $134,4522024 tax year
• Texas A&M Foundation · Grant to establish the John S. Dunn Foundation Endowed Scholarship in Engineering Medicine to support $10,000 annually to a top-performing student.
  $125,0002024 tax year
• Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation · Grant to support the John S. Dunn Foundation Advancing Nursing Excellence Award to award funds to each of the runners up each year who go above and beyond in their commitment to their patients.
  $110,0002024 tax year

Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.

Figures from the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings. Assets are at fair market value at year end. The document icon links to each year’s filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.