Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation

In 1979, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) members formed the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation (TSCRF.) Intent on preserving and protecting the heritage of the livestock industry of the Southwest, the Foundation's goals include educating students and the general public as to the cattleman's independent nature, pride in the free enterprise system, and devotion to private land ownership and commitment to environmental stewardship. The Foundation accomplishes its goals through two primary ways: the Cattle Raisers Museum and the Foundation Scholarship Program.

The Cattle Raisers Museum officially opened in 1981 to build a greater public awareness of and appreciation for our ranching heritage. The Cattle Raisers Museum's collections include book and manuscript holdings, historic photographs, oral history interviews, artifact and educational collections which focus on all aspects of the history of the TSCRA and cattle industry.

Through the Museum, we traditionally share our story with more than 250,000 annual visitors from all around the world, including more than 71,000 students who visit the Museum on school field trips. Our educational programming enables us to reach families, students, teachers, and other visitors and promote the legacy of an industry vital to the economy of Texas and the United States. We showcase both the history, heritage, and culture of the ranching industry as well as the devotion today's cattle raisers have to natural resource stewardship and supplying consumers with the most nutritional beef in the world.

Most importantly, to help supply the cattle raising industry with the personnel it needs to thrive, the Foundation provides scholarships to deserving students who dream of working in the agricultural sector or veterinary medicine. We believe that providing students with the financial means to attend college and earn a degree in agricultural fields is central to our mission and valued deeply by the ranching community.

Our Needs

Like so many in our nonprofit circle, the Cattle Raisers Museum and Foundation encountered a number of unprecedented challenges over the last two years.  First, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closures presented significant threats to the organization, its revenue streams, and its position as a cultural institution in our community.  Then, in February 2021 during severe winter weather, our host facility, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, suffered extensive pipe damage that forced additional prolonged closures. Combined with layoffs necessitated by the pandemic and widespread difficulty in rehiring personnel, these challenges kept our doors closed until June 2021, when we reopened on the weekends.

After years of hardship and uncertainty, we are excited to announce that we have expanded to our pre-pandemic operating hours of six days per week (Tuesdays-Sundays), resumed our educational programming, and are developing and participating in special events with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.  With more normal operations resuming, we can now begin to restore operations in areas we cut in 2020 in order to survive.  However, expanding our personnel and museum offerings for a post-pandemic world requires us to shoulder new and ongoing operating costs.

Our primary need at this time is assistance with the general operations of the Museum and Foundation to enable us to continue to tell our important story of the history of the cattle industry in Texas.