Steen Family Foundation

Steen Family Foundation is a small, closely held family foundation based in Houston, run entirely by three family members who take no compensation: Lias J. Steen (President), D. Jennings Steen (Secretary & Treasurer), and Shannon S. Mann/Manning (Vice President). With $6.34M in assets (FY2025) and roughly $260K-$320K in annual charitable disbursements, this is not a broad open-application funder — it operates more like a personal giving vehicle tied to the family's own network, hometown, and interests. The foundation's own record shows a blank application_instructions field, no published application form URL, no stated funding cycle, and no deadline — strong signals it does not run a formal competitive grant program.

The grant history supports a relationship-first, largely unsolicited model: virtually all 56 recorded grants (worth $730,600 across the multi-year 990 record) are coded "GENERAL SUPPORT," and 54 of 56 went to Texas organizations, pointing to recurring, multi-year commitments to a stable roster of known organizations rather than responses to open RFPs. The top recipient, Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero, TX (DeWitt County — likely a family hometown connection), received $206,200 across 3 grants, more than double the next-largest relationship. A dedicated "Sharon D. Steen Endowed Scholarship Fund" at Texas A&M's Association of Former Students ($75,000 combined) further signals the foundation memorializes specific family causes.

For grant seekers with no prior relationship, this is a long-shot cold-outreach target. The best odds belong to organizations already serving Houston (Yellowstone Academy, Hope Stone, Dell Children's Foundation, MD Anderson programs), DeWitt County/Cuero, TX, or Sun Valley, ID — the foundation's three consistent geographic anchors. Nonprofits in youth education, children's health/cancer care, arts education, and human services in these specific communities should introduce themselves with a brief letter to "% Jeff Steen" at the foundation's Houston address rather than expect an online portal. First-time applicants should treat this as multi-year relationship-building and keep asks modest — the data shows a clear preference for steady, moderate general-operating gifts over one-time large capital requests.

Steen Family Foundation's giving has grown steadily but remains modest in absolute terms. Total charitable giving climbed from $11,879 in FY2013 (its first active year, following a $1M founding contribution) to $85,417 (FY2014), $124,913 (FY2015), $219,802 (FY2019), $252,958 (FY2020), $259,717 (FY2021), $300,329 (FY2022), $295,468 (FY2023), and an estimated $318,700 in charitable disbursements for FY2025 — roughly a 6-8x increase over a decade, tracking asset growth from $2.0M (2013) to $6.34M (2025).

Per-grant sizing, based on a recent 20-grant sample, shows a median grant of $10,000 (average $10,185, range $200-$25,000). The fuller 56-grant historical record (average $13,046, total $730,600) is top-heavy: Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum alone accounts for 28% of all-time recorded giving ($206,200). The next four largest relationships — Small Steps Nurturing Center ($75,000), Yellowstone Academy ($60,000), Chinquapin Preparatory School ($60,000), and the TAMU Association of Former Students' Sharon D. Steen Endowed Scholarship Fund ($75,000 combined) — add another 37%. Roughly two-thirds of all giving flows to just five relationships, while the remaining ~20 grantees split modest four- and five-figure gifts ($500-$30,000).

Geographically, giving is overwhelmingly Texas-concentrated: 54 of 56 recorded grants (96%) went to Texas nonprofits, split between Houston-area organizations (Yellowstone Academy, Hope Stone, Dell Children's Foundation, MD Anderson Children's Cancer Institute) and DeWitt County/Cuero, TX civic institutions (Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum, Cuero Community Foundation, Cuero ISD Education Foundation, Keep Cuero Beautiful). The only out-of-state giving (2 grants) went to Sun Valley Film Festival Inc. in Idaho. By cause area, education/youth development (Yellowstone Academy, Chinquapin Prep, TAMU scholarships, Cuero ISD) and children's health/human services (Dell Children's, MD Anderson, Purple Songs Can Fly, Seedling Foundation, Helping Hand Home) dominate, with arts (Hope Stone, Prelude Music Foundation, Sun Valley Film Festival) and community/historic preservation (Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum, Victoria Preservation) as secondary themes — despite the database's single listed NTEE focus tag of "Community Development," actual dollars skew heavily toward education and health/human services.

Steen Family Foundation sits in a tight cluster of similarly sized "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" private foundations, all within a few thousand dollars of its $6,337,966 in assets, but none of the five closest peers list a public website — reinforcing that this asset tier of family foundation typically does not run an advertised application process.

All five peer foundations fall within $2,900 of Steen's asset base, a nearly identical bracket recurring under the same NTEE code — and none maintain a discoverable website, matching the pattern of family-run foundations that give primarily through known relationships rather than open competitions. Steen stands out within this peer set as more geographically identifiable (concentrated in Houston and Cuero, TX) and more transparent about its giving history through 990-PF filings; if the standard 5% minimum payout requirement applies across peers, several likely distribute in a similar $300K-$320K/year range, though none disclose actual dollar figures publicly, so this is inference rather than a confirmed figure.

Web searches for "Steen Family Foundation" news in 2025-2026 returned no foundation-specific press coverage, announcements, or leadership changes — consistent with a family foundation that does not issue press releases. Search results were repeatedly confounded by two unrelated, similarly named organizations: a different Steen Family Foundation based in Hopkins, MN, and the Steans Family Foundation of Chicago. This foundation's own website, steen.org, could not be reached during this research (a certificate/SSL error blocked retrieval), so no announcements page was available to review directly.

The most concrete recent signal is financial: the foundation's most recently available Form 990-PF (FY2025, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer) shows total revenue of $816,879, up from $757,153 in FY2023, driven by $335,000 in contributions plus $347,545 in realized asset sales, pushing net assets to $6,337,966 — an all-time high and the fifth consecutive year of asset growth from $4.71M in FY2021. Charitable disbursements were $318,700, roughly in line with FY2022's $263,450 and FY2023's $295,468, indicating the foundation continues its established pattern of modest, steady payout growth rather than a step-change expansion.

Leadership has remained stable across the filing years reviewed: Lias J. Steen (President), D. Jennings Steen (Secretary & Treasurer), and Shannon S. Mann/Manning (Vice President) all appear consistently, uncompensated, with no apparent turnover. Grant seekers should not expect a public announcement of new funding priorities or an open call for proposals — this foundation's activity is best tracked through annual 990-PF filings (ProPublica or GuideStar) rather than news coverage.

Given the foundation's own record shows a blank application_instructions field and no application_form_url or funding_cycle on file, Steen Family Foundation almost certainly does not run a formal competitive RFP process — treat any approach as relationship cultivation, not portal submission.

1. Lead with geography and connection. All but 2 of 56 recorded grants went to Texas organizations, split between Houston (where the foundation is headquartered, 3 Oaklawn Dr, 77024) and Cuero/DeWitt County, TX (home of the largest single relationship, Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum). If your organization sits in either community, name that explicitly in your first outreach.

2. Address correspondence to "% Jeff Steen" — the contact name on file — by mail or phone at (713) 724-9629, since no online form exists. A concise 1-2 page letter of introduction outlining mission, budget size, and specific use of funds is more appropriate than a full proposal on a first approach.

3. Ask for general operating support, not restricted project funding. 54 of 56 recorded grants (96%) were coded "GENERAL SUPPORT" — this foundation trusts grantees to allocate funds rather than funding discrete programs, so frame the request accordingly.

4. Calibrate the ask to $2,000-$25,000. The typical/median grant is $10,000; only a handful of deeply established relationships (Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum, the TAMU scholarship fund) exceed $25,000, and those took multiple years and 3 separate grants to build. First-time applicants should not request six figures.

5. Expect multi-year cultivation, not a single response. Nearly every top recipient shows 2-3 recorded grants over time rather than one-off gifts, suggesting the foundation renews relationships annually once established rather than running fresh annual competitions. Budget for silence on a cold first ask and plan a follow-up the next year.

6. Avoid treating this as a large institutional funder. With roughly $300K in annual giving spread across ~20-25 active grantee relationships in a typical year, this is a small, personally-managed family fund — mass-produced applications or generic form letters will not stand out. A warm introduction through a mutual Houston or Cuero contact will outperform a cold written proposal every time.