Rich Kinder was once best known for co-founding Kinder Morgan, the energy infrastructure giant that manages roughly 80,000 miles of pipeline across North America. These days, however, the billionaire is focused on giving back to Houston through a series of donations aimed at urban green space, education and quality-of-life initiatives. Rich and his wife, Nancy, have an estimated net worth of $11.2 billion—reportedly making them the wealthiest couple in Houston. That fortune is expected to shrink considerably as the duo follows through on a pledge to dole out 95 percent of their net worth to charity.
“We just felt early on that the right thing to do was to try to give most or all of that away,” said Rich in a recent interview with ABC13. “So that’s what we plan to do during our lifetime and after our death.”
Their most recent donation will benefit Emancipation Park, founded in 1872 and one of the oldest parks in Texas. The Kinders are the lead funders for an expansion project at the park that will include a new performance stage and revamped cultural center. The improvements are expected to cost around $18.5 million and will be open to the public by next June. “The significant upgrades will ensure that it continues to play a vital role in Houston’s future,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire in a statement.
Who are Rich and Nancy Kinder?
The Kinders conduct most of their philanthropy through the Kinder Foundation, established in 1997. They strengthened their charitable goals in 2011 by becoming early signees of the Giving Pledge, a philanthropic campaign started by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates that urges billionaires to promise to give away more than 50 percent of their wealth.
In their 14-year-old Giving Pledge letter, Rich, originally from Cape Girardeau, Miss., and Nancy, from New Iberia, La., outlined plans to devote the bulk of their fortune to charitable causes in Houston. “Nancy and I grew up in small towns and firmly believe in the opportunity for entrepreneurship in America, and especially in Houston, and we believe in giving back to society the bulk of the good fortune we have received,” said Rich in the pledge.
The billionaire, who stepped down as CEO of Kinder Morgan in 2015 but remains the company’s executive chair, has already delivered on his promise. As of last December, the Kinder Foundation had committed around $850 million in grants, with more than $55 million earmarked for 2025 alone.
Most of those funds have been directed toward local Houston organizations. Beneficiaries include Buffalo Bayou Park, Memorial Park Conservancy, Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the Museum of Fine Arts. More recently, the couple donated $150 million to create the Kinder Children’s Cancer Center, a joint venture between Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, set to launch in 2026 with the mission of ending childhood cancer.
In addition to supporting their local community, the Kinders hope their efforts will inspire their grandchildren to embrace the same spirit of giving. “I want them to know that’s what we expect of them when they grow up,” Nancy told ABC13. “They have to carry it forward.”