Houston, TX

HARRY E BOVAY JR FOUNDATION

EIN 76-0343221

Education & Youth Development College Access & Scholarships Children & youth Rural communities

Mission

Guided by Mr. Bovay’s values, the foundation supports innovative and effective programs in its core areas of interest: education, scouting and community development. Its grantmaking is inspired by a legacy of integrity, compassion and honesty.

IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) private non-operating foundation Contributions are tax-deductible

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About HARRY E BOVAY JR FOUNDATION

The Harry E Bovay Jr Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation based in Houston, Texas, formed at the bequest of civil engineer and philanthropist Harry E. Bovay, Jr. and tax-exempt since 1991. The foundation focuses its giving on education (college scholarships and educator grants), youth development (notably long-standing support for Boy Scouts programs and scout ranches), community revitalization in specific rural communities, and medical research. The foundation awards scholarships to students from targeted rural counties and high schools, provides educator and community grants in selected towns, and makes institutional grants and endowments to universities and research institutions. In recent years the foundation has funded endowed programs and lecture series at universities, multi-hundred-thousand-dollar research and symposium endowments, and seven-figure grants to scouting organizations and community projects.

Notable achievements

Endowed engineering ethics program at Cornell

Funded the Sue and Harry E. Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering at Cornell University, supporting undergraduate ethics education, an annual Bovay Lecture and related faculty and programming.

Established Bovay Symposium in Chemical Biology at Texas A&M (2024)

Provided a major gift to create the Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Foundation Symposium in Chemical Biology endowment to support lectures, symposia and activities tied to the Bovay Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Texas A&M University.

Large-scale support for scouting and medical research

Made multi-hundred-thousand- and seven-figure grants in 2023–2024 to scouting organizations (including major support for Bovay Scout Ranch and Philmont Scout Ranch) and to medical research and patient-focused institutions such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and specialist research foundations.

At a glance

Total assets: $40.0M
Tax status: 501(c)(3)Private non-operating foundation
EIN: 76-0343221
Location: Houston, TX
Website: bovayfoundation.org
On Mahalo since: September 2026

Financial figures from the IRS Business Master File, the IRS’s registry of tax-exempt organizations.

Recognition

IRS-recognized private foundation (tax-exempt) since 1991.

Maintains a sizeable endowment and active grantmaking program, reporting multi‑million-dollar assets and multi-year grant activity to educational, youth and health institutions.

Publicly acknowledged by major recipient institutions for endowed programs and lecture series (examples include Cornell University and Texas A&M University).

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