H E Butt Foundation

The H.E. Butt Foundation, headquartered in Kerrville, Texas, is a private operating foundation — not a conventional grantmaker. Understanding this distinction is foundational to any engagement strategy. The vast majority of its $762 million in assets funds internally operated programs: the 1,900-acre Laity Lodge retreat complex in Leakey, youth and family camps on the Frio River, an outdoor school serving 2,500 students annually, and The Congregational Collective, a newly created 501(c)(3) targeting faith-based mental health in San Antonio. External grants represent a secondary function, totaling roughly $4.2 million in fiscal year 2024 against total assets that could support far more at the standard 5% payout threshold.

The governing reality for prospective grantees is unambiguous: HEBF makes grants exclusively to preselected organizations. No application portal, LOI process, or published grant cycle exists. The foundation's own profile confirms this — application instructions are listed as none, and the preselected-only designation is explicit. Every funding relationship begins with a personal connection, not a written inquiry.

The foundation's external grantmaking clusters around three pathways. First, a structured cohort program awards approximately $77,000–$77,500 each to selected San Antonio nonprofits working across youth, arts, community health, and social services; eight organizations received cohort grants in a single analyzed cycle. Second, institutional partnerships with national bodies like the American Camping Association ($407,000+), The Aspen Institute ($162,500), and UT Southwestern Medical Center ($100,000) reflect relationships built around shared program interests. Third, event sponsorships and capacity-building contributions in the $5,000–$35,000 range often serve as gateway investments before a deeper relationship develops.

Key staff are President David Rogers (compensation: $354,712) and Asst. Secretary-Treasurer Janice Flynn ($412,659). The board is composed entirely of unpaid Butt and Rogers family members: Howard E. Butt III, Stephen W. Butt, Sarah Butt Oldeschulte, Deborah Butt Rogers (VP/Secretary-Treasurer), and Alexandra Rogers Crawford. Relationships with either staff or family trustees can open pathways unavailable through formal channels alone.

Organizations working in mental health, faith-community engagement, youth development, arts education, or community health in San Antonio, Kerrville, or Real County should prioritize sector visibility — attending convenings where HEBF staff participate, building relationships with intermediary grantees, and demonstrating sustained community impact before seeking an introduction.

Analyzing 244 grants totaling $12,952,527 across multiple fiscal years, the average grant size is $53,084 — but this figure is skewed by several large institutional relationships and obscures the more practical distribution for typical grantees.

A clear tiering structure emerges from the grantee data:

• Tier 1 — Affiliated/operational entities ($500,000–$2M+): Real County Community Mental Health (RCCMH) received over $2.4 million across multiple grants, and Laity Lodge Foundation received approximately $685,000. These are effectively operational transfers to closely aligned entities rather than arm's-length competitive grants.

• Tier 2 — Multi-year institutional partnerships ($100,000–$500,000): Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation ($500,000 pledge in two $250,000 installments), UpTogether ($328,660 total), American Camp Association ($407,443 total), Leakey ISD ($169,000), The Aspen Institute ($162,500), and Community Health Development Inc ($295,000). These grants typically carry multi-installment structures or multi-year pledges.

• Tier 3 — Cohort participants (~$77,000–$77,500): Eight San Antonio nonprofits each received cohort grants at nearly identical amounts, including Empower House SA, The Lemonade Circle, San Anto Cultural Arts, Students of Service, Gardopia Gardens, SAY SI, and SA Youth. This is the foundation's signature external grantmaking vehicle.

• Tier 4 — Sponsorships and capacity building ($5,000–$60,000): Many organizations appear in the grant record with sponsorship contributions ($5,000–$15,000) or capacity-building grants ($2,500–$7,500) before receiving larger awards.

Annual grants paid have grown from $523,000 in 2015 to $4.22 million in 2024 — an 8× increase over nine years. Total assets expanded from $295.6 million (2015) to $762 million (2024), with a dramatic inflection in 2022 when $231 million in contributions were received. Grantmaking appears to have stabilized: 2024 ($4.22M) and 2023 ($4.15M) are nearly identical, suggesting a steady-state annual external grant budget near $4–4.5 million.

Geographic concentration is extreme: 226 of 244 grants (92.6%) went to Texas organizations. Washington, DC received 6 grants (likely national partnership-related), Indiana and California each received 3. Organizations outside Texas have negligible prospect without a preexisting program relationship.

The following table compares H.E. Butt Foundation to four comparable Texas-based private foundations of similar scale and focus:

H.E. Butt Foundation stands apart from its Texas peer set in one critical way: it is an asset-rich private operating foundation that deploys the overwhelming majority of its resources through internally operated programs rather than external grants. At $762M in assets, a comparable foundation using a standard 5% payout would distribute roughly $38M annually; HEBF's $4.2M in external grants represents approximately 0.55% of assets, far below peer norms. Meadows Foundation, by contrast, grants roughly 5% of assets to outside organizations each year.

For grant seekers, this means HEBF is a far more selective and relationship-dependent funder than its asset base would suggest. Foundations like Meadows or RGK offer responsive or open grant processes; HEBF does not. Peer comparison also reveals that HEBF's cohort-based model — committing $77,000 to multiple organizations simultaneously — is an unusual structure that reflects the foundation's preference for deep ecosystem investment over broad, opportunistic grantmaking.

The most significant 2025 development is HEBF's expanded UpTogether partnership in San Antonio (noted May 2, 2025 on the foundation's website). UpTogether's direct cash-transfer model aligns with HEBF's healthy families and healthy communities pillars, and documented grants to the organization exceed $328,000 — signaling a deepening multi-year commitment.

The Congregational Collective, launched in 2023, remains the foundation's flagship new initiative. This separately incorporated 501(c)(3) is designed to equip San Antonio churches to become first-responders in community mental health, drawing on research that 77% of congregants seek faith leaders during personal crises while fewer than 27% of churches have formal mental health support structures. This initiative represents the clearest articulation of where HEBF's strategic priorities are heading.

The $500,000 commitment to the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation — made in two $250,000 installments — was one of the foundation's largest single-initiative external grants in the analyzed period, demonstrating willingness to respond to high-profile Texas community trauma at a significant scale.

The Butt family, H-E-B grocery, and HEBF together announced a $5 million donation for Texas flood recovery, illustrating coordinated deployment of Butt-affiliated capital across multiple entities in response to state disasters. The specific flood event and recipient organizations were not identified in publicly available sources as of research date.

Financially, the foundation's November 2025 tax filing confirmed $761.9M in assets and $4.22M in grants paid for FY2024. The board composition and key staff (President David Rogers, Asst. Secretary-Treasurer Janice Flynn) have remained stable across the analyzed period.

Because HEBF makes grants exclusively to preselected organizations, conventional application guidance does not apply. What follows is relationship-development strategy specific to this funder.

Establish credibility in the San Antonio nonprofit ecosystem first. HEBF's cohort grantees — including Empower House SA, San Anto Cultural Arts, Gardopia Gardens, and SA Youth — are embedded in the city's community development infrastructure. Organizational credibility in the eyes of HEBF typically comes through sector presence, not proposal strength. Build that presence through peer convenings, collaborative programs, and sector publications before seeking a direct conversation.

Target HEBF-adjacent intermediaries deliberately. Three current HEBF grantees also serve as sector connectors: San Antonio Area Foundation ($54,000 grantee), Social Venture Partners San Antonio ($21,700), and Philanthropy Southwest ($33,000). Strong relationships with any of these organizations increase the likelihood of a warm introduction to HEBF staff.

Use language that maps directly to HEBF's stated vocabulary. The foundation's communications consistently reference: wholeness, renewal, soul care, healthy families, community transformation, faith-based mental health, and capacity building. Organizations that adopt this language naturally — because it reflects their actual work — will resonate; organizations that bolt it on will not.

Start with a sponsorship inquiry. The gap between initial visibility and cohort membership is often bridged by event sponsorships ($5,000–$15,000). Identifying a specific organizational event — anniversary gala, community celebration, training day — where an HEBF sponsorship would be natural and aligned gives staff a low-risk entry point for the relationship.

Time outreach to sector convenings. There are no published grant cycles or LOI windows. Introductions at Philanthropy Southwest gatherings, Social Venture Partners SA events, or San Antonio Area Foundation convenings — where HEBF staff are active participants — are more likely to advance than cold email. President David Rogers (main number: 830-315-9246) and Asst. Secretary-Treasurer Janice Flynn are the key staff contacts.

If your work intersects with The Congregational Collective, lead with that alignment. Faith communities working on mental health, trauma recovery, or congregational capacity building sit at the center of HEBF's current strategic priority. Organizations that can demonstrate direct partnership potential with this initiative have the strongest possible entry point.