Crystal Charity Ball

About Crystal Charity Ball

The Crystal Charity Ball has made Dallas County children’s charities its sole purpose since 1952, and its recent grants show that mission expressed through unusually large single awards. The foundation backs programs that move from crisis response to long-term capacity: mental health collaboration for children, pediatric specialty care, preschool improvement, and family stabilization. In the latest grants, Children's Medical Center Foundation received multiple multi-million-dollar awards for Action Before Crisis, the Mental Health Colaboration for Children, while Baylor Oral Health Foundation and Southwestern Medical Foundation were funded for specialized pediatric health services. Its grantmaking also reaches into education and child welfare through organizations such as United to Learn, Educational First Steps, and Buckner Children and Family Services. The pattern is consistent with the foundation’s annual beneficiary model: large, focused grants to Dallas County organizations serving children, infants and toddlers, high-needs school-age youth, and families. The result is a portfolio centered on direct services, program expansion, and facility or system improvements rather than broad, general-purpose support.

What Crystal Charity Ball Funds

In child health, The Crystal Charity Ball has backed both specialty care and crisis-oriented services. Children's Medical Center Foundation received grants of $2,155,000 in 2025 and $2,020,000 in 2024 for Action Before Crisis, The Mental Health Colaboration for Children, while Southwestern Medical Foundation received $960,000 in 2023 to expand the neonatal neurology intensive care program. In education, the foundation funded United to Learn with $1,206,022 in 2023 to double literacy rates across 21 DISD elementary schools, and Educational First Steps with $500,000 in 2023 to transform existing day cares into accredited pre schools. For child and family support, Family Compass received $899,665 in 2023 for Connecting Children and Fathers, and Family Gateway received $1,032,000 in 2024 for a mobile crisis response unit for families with children experiencing homelessness. The foundation also supports community-based child services, including Fair Park First for revitalization at Fair Park and The Salvation Army of North Texas for a childcare center at its new Dallas social service center.

How Crystal Charity Ball Gives