Once Upon A Time Foundation
ActivePhilanthropy & VoluntarismFunds Individuals
About Once Upon A Time Foundation
The Once Upon A Time Foundation makes very large, focused gifts to academic medicine, concentrating its philanthropic resources on a single major medical institution. Its support appears aimed at transformative biomedical research, clinical care capacity, or major capital/endowment needs at a Texas-area academic medical center (UT Southwestern).
Focus Areas
Major gifts to academic medical centers (UT Southwestern)Biomedical research and translational science fundingClinical care capacity and hospital/medical campus capital or endowment supportRegional healthcare infrastructure in North Texas
Who They Fund
not specified
Giving Approach
Extremely concentrated giving: very large, multi-million-dollar gifts directed to one repeat grantee (two grants to the same institution), indicating strategic, transformational support rather than many small or diverse grants.
Funding Style
general operating supportunrestricted support
About Once Upon A Time Foundation
Once Upon a Time Foundation’s most visible recent gift is $10 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for general support, followed by a $2.5 million grant in 2025 and $1 million in 2023 to the same institution. That repeated support points to a funder that concentrates large, unrestricted gifts on a small set of medical and research recipients rather than spreading money across many program areas. In the recent grant list, UT Southwestern is joined by other major recipients in academic medicine and healthcare, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, and Texas Children’s Hospital. The foundation also appears alongside a broader set of large nonprofit and institutional grantees such as the Fort Worth Zoo, Vanguard Charitable, and The Genesis Foundation. Across those grants, the pattern is one of sizable general-support awards to established organizations, with a particular emphasis on medical centers and health systems. The result is a grantmaking profile centered on institutional capacity, biomedical research, and clinical infrastructure, especially in Texas and at nationally prominent medical organizations.
What Once Upon A Time Foundation Funds
Academic medicine is a clear throughline. Once Upon a Time Foundation gave $10 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center for general support, then followed with $2.5 million in 2025 and $1 million in 2023. It also made six- and seven-figure general-support grants to Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins University, both major research institutions. Healthcare delivery appears as another focus: Texas Health Resources (Harris Methodist Foundation) received $275,000 in 2025 and $137,500 in 2024, while Texas Children’s Hospital received $200,000 in 2025. The foundation also supported other institutional priorities outside medicine, including $1 million to Fort Worth Zoo in 2025 and 2024, and $1 million in 2023.
How Once Upon A Time Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is modest at the low end and much larger at the top of the distribution: p25 is $350, median is $1,387, and p75 is $10,000. The recent awards show a very wide spread, from small grants to seven-figure general-support gifts. The same grantee can appear across multiple years, most clearly UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Resources, which indicates recurring support rather than one-off awards. The foundation is a regular funder, and the recent grants are predominantly general support. It also funds individuals, though the recent grant list is dominated by institutional recipients.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$35.9M
Total Assets
$276.7M
Total Revenue
$2.4M
Total Expenses
$14.7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $350 and $10K, with a median of $1K.
25th Percentile
$350
Median
$1K
75th Percentile
$10K
Geographic Reach
National37 states funded
About 42% of grants go to recipients in CO.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Once Upon A Time Foundation Funds
Top 10 recipient countries by grant volume for Once Upon A Time Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 1,651 | $34.6M | 98.4% |
| 2 | Australia | 10 | $171K |
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