Nancy Kinder

Nancy Goins Kinder (born 1952) is President of the Kinder Foundation, a foundation established in 1997 by her and her husband, Richard Kinder, Kinder Morgan chairman of the board and CEO. She is also president of the Advisory Board of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. [^[1]]

Biography

Nancy Kinder was born and raised in New Iberia, Louisiana and attended Mt. Carmel Academy and the University of Louisiana. She married Richard Kinder in 1997 and the couple resides in Houston, Texas.

The couple joined the Giving Pledge in 2011, committing to give away 95 percent of their wealth in their lifetimes. [^[2]] Richard and Nancy Kinder were 50th on Forbes Biggest Givers in 2013 [^[3]] and 28th on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “Philanthropy 50” [^[4]], a chronicle of the nation’s biggest contributors to charitable organizations.

Board and Civic Service

She was the founding chairman of Discovery Green Conservancy and Corporation and currently serves on the Corporation board and on the board of directors for MD Anderson Cancer Center. Previously, she served on the boards of Central Houston, Harris County Hospital District Foundation (now the Harris Health System), the Houston Zoological Society, the Prevent Blindness Texas Advisory Council, the Houston Symphony, Ronald McDonald House, and the United Way of the Greater Gulf Coast.

She served as finance chair for the 2005 Presidential Inauguration, executive director of the Governor’s Business Council of Texas, and executive director of the Houston Host Committee for the 1992 Republican National Convention. She was also regional finance co-chairman for the George W. Bush 2000 Presidential Campaign and served as South Texas Chairman for Bush-Cheney 2004. In 2009, she served on a three-person transition team for Mayor-elect Annise Parker.

Kinder Foundation

The Kinders founded the Kinder Foundation in an effort to support education and the Greater Houston area by promoting preservation and accessibility to parks and green space. Through the foundation, the Kinders donated $15 million to Rice University in 2010 to establish the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. [5]

The foundation has funded projects that include the Bush Center at Southern Methodist University, the Texas Heart Institute and the Houston Food Bank. [6]

In October 2013, it was announced that the foundation would give $50 million to the Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways 2020 Project, which connects greenspaces along Houston's bayous and creates parkland. [7]

In 2014, the Kinder Foundation made possible the Kinder Forum on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri, a new program to support excellence in the teaching and study of American constitutional and democratic traditions. In 2015, the foundation made a new, endowed gift of $25 million to MU to provide permanent support for the renamed Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.^[5] Also, The Kinder Foundation committed a principal gift of $50 million to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for the redevelopment of its 14-acre campus which was unveiled in January 2015.

References