Community Impact Fund UPDATE FALL 2026
Dear Friends and Supporters, Thank you for your investment in the Community Impact Fund and your belief in what we can accomplish together. Over the past year, donor feedback, community input, and strategic planning have reinforced the importance of this work, and the role philanthropy can play in addressing some of our region's most pressing challenges and opportunities. In May, our Governing Board affirmed that direction. Community Impact was solidified as a core function of Greater Houston Community Foundation alongside the Center for Family Philanthropy, Donor Services, Philanthropic Advising, and Scholarships. The Board approved a five-year Community Leadership strategy through 2030 and a three-year financial plan, while recognizing that the strategy will continue to evolve over time as we deepen our understanding of where the Community Foundation can create the greatest value for our donors and impact on our community. That solid foundation is crucial because our aspiration is bold: for Houston to lead the nation in upward mobility and disaster resilience. The strategy sharpens our focus on four areas where collaborative, high-impact philanthropy can help drive lasting change: 1. Advancing economic mobility 2. Accelerating disaster recovery and resilience 3. Driving informed action through data and insights from Understanding Houston 4. Engaging in strategic community opportunities While planning for the future, the work has continued. Your gift is creating something larger than any single grant, program, or organization. By giving through the Community Impact Fund, you are helping the Community Foundation bring people, data, relationships, and flexible philanthropic capital together around some of our region’s most important challenges and opportunities. The following pages highlight progress achieved since January and the momentum we are building together. With gratitude,
Steve Maislin President & CEO
Diana Zarzuelo Chief Impact Officer
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Advancing Economic Mobility Expanding pathways for individuals and families to achieve long-term financial stability and upward mobility. Every child deserves the opportunity to build a brighter future. Yet nearly one in four children in Harris County lives in poverty, and national research shows that children raised in poverty face a greater risk of remaining in poverty as adults. And locally, only 20% of Houston-area graduates earn a living wage six years after high school graduation. Creating lasting change requires more than individual programs. It requires coordinated investments and systems that expand access to education, employment, financial stability, and opportunity. Through the Community Impact Fund’s High-Impact Grantmaking initiative, your generosity is helping advance solutions that make those pathways more visible, more accessible, and more durable for individuals and families across our region.
Gaining Momentum In March 2026, the Governing Board approved grants to San Jacinto College’s Promise Scholarship ($400,000) and BridgeYear’s Career Cohorts program ($100,000) in partnership with Good Reason Houston. These investments align with broader momentum in Houston to clarify and strengthen post-secondary and career pathways for young people. San Jacinto College secured a $15.3 million commitment from Arnold Ventures to pilot an expanded version of its Promise Scholarship model, and BridgeYear and Good Reason Houston are playing core operational roles in a $17 million regional apprenticeship initiative supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of a $90 million national workforce strategy. Looking ahead, the third grantmaking cycle will align investments with emerging priorities from Houston’s economic mobility efforts, with new grant partners expected in 2027.
Support Beyond the Check Beyond the grant investment, the High-Impact Grantmaking initiative supports grant partners by connecting them with donors, funders, nonprofit leaders, and other resources that can unlock new resources and opportunities to strengthen their work.
The grants awarded through the High-Impact Grantmaking initiative provide vital funding to these organizations. By making an additional gift, you can build on the impact of this initial grant investment and create more opportunities for students to thrive. For Community Foundation fundholders, login to DonorSphere to make a contribution. BridgeYear (EIN: 81-4848803) | San Jacinto College Foundation (EIN: 76-0502278)
"Donors know they cannot solve economic mobility on their own. High-Impact Grantmaking allows them to pool their resources and have a bigger impact. It is about teaming up with people in Houston who care about making a difference." — Community Foundation Donor, 2025 Strategy Discovery Interviews
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From Collective Investment to Greater Opportunity The Community Foundation’s inaugural High-Impact Grantmaking recipients completed their grants with significant results:
Connective Unlocked more than $11 million annually in public benefits for Houston families, with an average annual income of approximately $4,300 per household.
Grameen America Deployed more than $35 million in microloans to more than 5,000 local women entrepreneurs. Members in Houston started 440 new businesses, maintained or created 8,800 jobs, and earned an average income of $18,400 from their businesses.
Prison Entrepreneurship Program Supported 1,300 returning citizens and family members on pathways to employment and economic security by investing nearly $600,000 in loans and grants to entrepreneurs and delivering 215 hours of small-business coaching.
Your generosity turned investment into opportunity, helping more Houstonians access resources, income, and greater financial security. Because donors co-invested alongside us, the fund’s inaugural grant recipients attracted more than $850,000 in additional support from Community Foundation donors and local institutional funders. We more than doubled our investment and enhanced the visibility of our grant partners to further their mission and impact.
Why it matters: Your generosity helped move resources toward high-impact organizations and partnerships that are opening pathways to long-term economic stability.
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Building a Regional Shared Vision for Economic Mobility Houston’s most complex challenges cannot be solved by any one organization alone. The Community Impact Fund played a key role in creating the Houston Economic Mobility Coalition. Through this work, the Community Foundation collaborates with partners across the philanthropic, civic, education, workforce, employer, research, and nonprofit sectors to build a shared vision and plan for regional upward economic mobility.
Core Coalition founding partners include:
What began as a convening at Houston’s Inaugural Economic Mobility Summit is becoming a coordinated regional effort. Together, Coalition partners are building relationships, shared understanding, and coordinated action needed to address barriers, strengthen pathways to opportunity, and help more Houstonians achieve lasting economic mobility. The Coalition has moved from shared concern to shared direction by establishing a vision, mission, framework, and an emerging measurement approach for longterm progress. As the Coalition moves to implementation, partners are working together to develop shared goals, common measures of progress, and the governance needed to sustain collaboration over time. This work gives Houston a stronger foundation for coordinated action, helping leaders move beyond isolated efforts toward strategies that can improve upward mobility at a systems level.
“We believe that Houston can and should—and dare I say, must—lead the nation in upward mobility as one of the most diverse and fastest-growing regions in America” — Steve Maislin, President & CEO at Greater Houston Community Foundation at the Inaugural Houston Economic Mobility Summit, October 2025
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A Second Summit & A Deeper Conversation The Coalition convened more than 250 leaders across sectors in May 2026 for the Second Houston Economic Mobility Summit. While the first summit focused on understanding the state of economic mobility in Houston and the evidence behind what drives upward mobility, the second summit moved from learning to action. Participants helped refine the Coalition’s proposed vision, mission, framework, and approach to measuring progress. Their feedback shaped a clear shared vision: A Houston where all people thrive, no matter where they start. Additionally, with a framework adapted from the Urban Institute, the work is organized across five pillars—basic needs, housing, education, jobs, and health with two enablers related to policy and connected people and systems. The feedback from the May summit reinforced a shared measurement approach that includes both a clear, easy-to-communicate north star metric and a broader set of indicators, or “guiding stars,” that reflect the multiple factors influencing economic mobility for people and communities.
“Every Houston resident deserves a fair chance to succeed—regardless of ZIP code, age, gender, race, or family income. That future is within reach with partnerships, cohesive strategies, and a robust learning framework.” Dr. Flávio Cunha Director of the Center for Economic Mobility at Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University
Why it matters: This work helps ensure generosity is informed by shared data, aligned with community priorities, and connected to a broader strategy for lasting change.
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Accelerating Disaster Recovery & Resilience Strengthening communities before, during, and after disasters—ensuring recovery leads to greater longterm resilience. Disaster recovery begins long before a storm makes landfall. Through your support, Greater Houston’s disaster response ecosystem is becoming stronger, more coordinated, and better prepared to help residents when they need it most. Since 2023, the Greater Houston Disaster Alliance has helped build the relationships, systems, and coordination needed to improve regional disaster response and recovery. Today, the Disaster Alliance is expanding its capacity to serve as the community’s philanthropic disaster response leader by strengthening its data-driven, coordinated model. This expansion is supported by a $1.7 million investment from Enbridge, Phillips 66, JPMorganChase, and Texas Mutual Insurance Company. As founding lead sponsors since the Disaster Alliance launched in 2023, Enbridge and Phillips 66 continue their support, joined by new investments from JPMorganChase and Texas Mutual. Together, these commitments reflect the importance of sustained, long-term investment in building a more resilient future for our region.
Through donor support, the Disaster Alliance has been able to: Strengthen collaboration across the disaster response ecosystem. Improve regional coordination before disasters occur. Support rapid mobilization following federally declared disasters. Advance preparedness efforts that help communities recover more quickly. Attract additional local and national funding and resources to strengthen resilience across the region. For families facing the aftermath of a disaster, faster support can mean earlier access to housing, stabilization, and recovery resources when they are needed most.
Founding Lead Sponsors
Lead Sponsor
Sponsor
“Disaster recovery is not just about the immediate response, it’s about building systems that continuously improve. By strengthening coordination, measuring outcomes, and investing in long-term resilience, we are helping ensure our region is better prepared for whatever comes next.” — Amanda McMillian, President and CEO at United Way of Greater Houston
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Impact to Date
12
DAYS
Number of days reduced between disaster declaration and recovery dollars deployed First national resilience investments from the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program
$1.7
MILLION Secured in Phase 2 sponsor commitments
288
127 Nonprofit partners engaged
Nonprofit staff convened
Community Foundation Resilience Network A key initiative in Phase 2 of the Disaster Alliance is Greater Houston Community Foundation’s participation in the Community Foundation Resilience Network supported by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Network, a first-of-its-kind collaboration, connects us with three Gulf Coast community foundations to share expertise, coordinate resources, and advance science-informed disaster adaptation strategies that can strengthen vulnerable communities throughout the region. Through this support, the Disaster Alliance will lead Hurricane Harvey at 10: Building a More Resilient Future, a regional initiative culminating in a landmark report and event in August 2027. Drawing on a decade of research, recovery experience, and community voice, the effort will reflect on the region's recovery journey while identifying priorities and investment opportunities to strengthen resilience in Greater Houston.
Why it matters: By investing in preparedness, coordination, and resilience today, you are helping Houston respond faster, coordinate better, and recover with greater resilience.
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Driving Informed Action Through Understanding Houston Using trusted, community-wide data to guide decisions, align investments, and measure what is working. Good decisions begin with good information. Seven years ago, Understanding Houston was created to help leaders, including those at the Community Foundation, make informed decisions and take meaningful action. Understanding Houston helps the Community Foundation, its donors, community leaders, and residents with access to independent information they can use to effect positive change in their communities.
Impact Since Launch
262,100
4,400+
100+
95%
Understanding Houston Visitors
Community Leaders Engaged
Data & Insight Presentations
Used Insights to Inform Action
Your support helps make trusted, local data accessible to nonprofit leaders, public officials, philanthropists, researchers, and community organizations working to improve quality of life across the region. It also helps the Community Foundation sharpen its focus on the most prevalent issue areas facing our region, such as economic mobility and disaster preparedness. As the way people access information continues to evolve, including through AI tools, Understanding Houston is focused on keeping trusted local data visible, accessible, and useful for the people and organizations working on Houston’s most pressing issues.
Through strategic initiatives like Understanding Houston, we will continue to measure what matters so we can do what matters.
"Understanding Houston provided accessible, region-specific indicators that allowed us to confidently set priorities, communicate needs clearly to partners and stakeholders, and align our programs with the realities facing our community." — Nonprofit Leader
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New Data, Insights, and Collaborations Understanding Houston is continuously updated with the latest data across core topics, including economic mobility, education, and housing, with additional updates planned through the end of the year. New blog content translates complex data into accessible, actionable insights, amplifies high-impact nonprofit work, and provides timely context on emerging issues facing Houston residents.
2010–2024
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 ACS
Source: Texas Education Agency
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Economic Mobility Learning Series The Economic Mobility Learning Series is a shared learning space for donors, nonprofit leaders, and community leaders. Each webinar explores real-world cross-sector efforts and research that help individuals and families move up the economic ladder. This learning series aims to strengthen community knowledge, inspire more collaboration, and develop a shared understanding of what it may take to improve economic mobility in the Houston region.
Prosperity Initiative
Click on the images to learn more and watch each webinar.
Child Poverty Action Lab
Promise Partnership Utah
Leading on Opportunity
Opportunity Insights
Why it matters: When support is invested in trusted data, more leaders can make better decisions for the communities they serve.
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Strategic Community Engagement & Opportunities Building the relationships and identifying opportunities that help promising ideas move forward. Some opportunities require more than a single grant. They require early coordination, trusted relationships, and flexible philanthropic capital that can help promising ideas move from concept to action. This year, we’ve continued to participate in a funder collaborative that aims to expand access to highquality early childhood environments and engaged in the Houston Economic Growth Collaborative, a cross-sector effort focused on expanding economic opportunity in Northeast Houston communities. Your support gives the Community Foundation the ability to explore, shape, and advance emerging opportunities that align with Houston’s needs and donor priorities. This work helps position philanthropy to respond thoughtfully, collaborate effectively, and invest where donor dollars can help unlock broader community benefit.
Why it matters: Your support gives the Community Foundation flexibility to identify and advance promising opportunities, helping philanthropy move early and strategically toward Houston’s future.
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Progress Made Possible by You Since the Community Impact Fund launched in 2023, donors like you have invested $6.4 million toward the fund’s $10 million goal. Your shared belief in Houston’s strengths and potential is what makes this work possible. Every milestone in this report began with donor generosity: opening pathways to opportunity, strengthening regional readiness, informing decisions grounded in data, and shaping early-stage ideas that lead to future investment. Thank you for helping create a stronger, more resilient Houston.
Have questions?
Reach out to Tyler Murphy, Senior Advisor, Charitable Solutions, or Diana Zarzuelo, Chief Impact Officer.
Community Impact Fund Founding Supporters Barrington Family Foundation Ken Bohan Lenni & Bill Burke Maris & Jason Castro Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation Dovetail Impact Foundation Ebel Family Foundation Elkins Foundation Eugenia Elliot Enbridge Patti, Richard & Jenny Everett Ann & Peter Fluor Cullen Geiselman Muse Lacey & Matthew Goossen Annie & Bob Graham Vicki & Bob Harvey Sara & Phil Hawk Holly & Josh Hudley/Linda & Phil Lewis
Jill & Dunham Jewett Carla Knobloch Manne McGregor Family Foundation Marek Family Fund Lauren & Brad Morgan Phillips 66 Beth Robertson Lyn & Carl Schmulen Fund Shell Caren & Rob Sweetland Fund Charlene & Tym Tombar Verizon Chris Weekley Randa & K.C. Weiner Wells Fargo Wilkens Family Toni & Chad Wilson Connie & Tommy Wright
Thank You! The Community Foundation would like to acknowledge and thank the individuals who have invested so much time and energy leading our fundraising efforts. We truly appreciate their expertise, support, and leadership!
Kate Fowler
Tym Tombar
Governing Board Member & Executive Director of Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation
Governing Board Member & Managing Director at Arcadius Capital
Cullen Gieselman Muse, Ph.D.
Randa Weiner
Governing Board Member & Chair of the Board at Cullen Trust for Healthcare
Former Governing Board Member & Community Leader
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