Texas A&M San Antonio Foundation

Charles C. Butt feels a sense of responsibility to help educators provide the best possible education so that all children can have a secure future. In a letter he wrote upon launching a leadership development program for educators, he expressed his commitment to strengthening public schools and addressing the challenges facing educators – challenges like limited funding, scarce resources and diminishing public support.

Butt, who inherited his family's San Antonio-based H-E-B supermarket chain in 1971, formed the Charles Butt Foundation in 2000 to support educational, cultural and health institutions. H-E-B consists of more than 300 stores and generates more than $20 billion in revenue, according to Forbes.

Butt believes that giving back is the right thing to do. His parents instilled this belief in him while he was growing up, as he witnessed his family setting aside 5 percent of earnings for charitable causes. He grew the H-E-B family grocery business into a multi-billion-dollar operation, and his charitable foundations give generously in the areas of hunger relief, education, health, the environment, diversity and the arts. Butt supports the premise that great teachers prepare great students. In 2017, he founded the Holdsworth Center of Excellence in Education Leadership, committing $250 million to develop educational leaders to impact K-12 students in Texas public schools.

The alignment between Butt’s passion for supporting public education and the needs of public schools on the south side of San Antonio was the catalyst for a $1 million gift to support A&M-San Antonio’s College of Education and Human Development, and to support the College’s educational efforts through the A&M-San Antonio and South Bexar County ISDs Partnership to Impact Regional Equity and Excellence (ASPIRE). Under this collaboration, seven participating school districts will join forces to leverage assets, improve academic advancement and access services, such as the Autism RISE Center, to impact nearly 70,000 K-12 students in the historically underserved south side of Bexar County.