Welcome to the Summerlee Foundation
Founded in 1988, The Summerlee Foundation is a mission-driven, proactive organization dedicated to the support of animal protection and the preservation of Texas history.
Today, the foundation is governed by a seven member board of directors composed of animal and history experts and community leaders and remains actively involved in the broader philanthropic sector as members of national and regional philanthropy serving organizations including Animal Grantmakers, Exponent Philanthropy, and Philanthropy Southwest.
Since inception, The Summerlee Foundation has awarded $65 million dollars in grants and has been recognized as the Outstanding Foundation by the Greater Dallas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Important Notice for Cat Groups
Changes to the Summerlee Foundation TNR/Community Cat Grants
The Summerlee Foundation is on a mission to change the lives of community cats and the organizations that care about them. In collaboration with the United Spay Alliance and the Community Cats Podcast, we are excited to launch the newly reimagined Summerlee Sustainable Solutions grant program.
This program offers more than just funding. It provides a pathway to long-term impact through mentorship, strategic planning, and certification in Community Cat Program Management through University of the Pacific, Benerd College. The application portal opens July 1, 2025. You can learn more and apply here: www.unitedspayalliance.org/summerlee-grant
With this change, the Summerlee Foundation is NOT accepting Letters of Interest for cat TNR, spay & neuter, rescue, adoptions, transport or sanctuaries. Funding for cats is directed to this new effort administered by United Spay Alliance. Any cat proposals we receive will be redirected to them.
This change aligns with the findings and recommendations of the white paper commissioned by the Foundation, Free-roaming Cat Management: A Funders’ Guide to Better Impact. Along with our new Sustainable Solutions grant program, the Summerlee Foundation will be supporting a pilot project based on the principles and methods outlined in the white paper. The goal of the pilot is to create a model for managing free-roaming cats that achieves meaningful, measurable, sustainable and replicable success on a community-wide level. (For further reading, see WellBeing International and Animal Politics.)
Animal Protection Program
The Animal Protection application portal will next open for Letters of Interest on December 1, 2025 and will close upon reaching 150 submissions. (Please be advised this can happen very quickly – in just a couple of hours.) This is for organizations wishing to apply for our February 2026 grant cycle. Thank you.
Texas History Program
The Texas History Application portal will be open for new LOI proposals from October 9-31, 2025 for organizations wishing to apply for our February 2026 grant cycle. Please email Gary Smith at gnsmith@summerlee.org to set up an appointment to discuss your project prior to entering the grant portal.
What We Fund
The Foundation makes grants for two specific purposes: to alleviate fear, pain and suffering of animals and to promote animal protection and the prevention of cruelty to animals, and to research, promote and document all facets of Texas History.
