Colorado · Private foundation
David and Laura Merage Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $2.4M
- Granted FY2019
- 44
- Grants FY2019
- 43
- Organizations funded FY2019
- 51%
- First-time grantees FY2019
Read this first · the figures below need context
77% of David and Laura Merage Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to National Philanthropic Trust, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 14 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year David and Laura Merage Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 30 organizations, $2M. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
- Median grant, FY2019
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2019
- $875,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 25 to 43
- FY2017 to FY2019
- States reached, FY2019
- 10
- Total assets, FY2019
- $70M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2019, 51% of the organizations David and Laura Merage Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 7% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2019, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $181k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2019 | 43 | $2.4M | 51% |
| FY2018 | 31 | $2.1M | 55% |
| FY2017 | 25 | $1.7M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Learning Ventures | $3,564,950 | 9 | 12% |
| Black Cube | $3,491,500 | 9 | 90% |
| Equitas Foundation | $1,148,370 | 2 | 100% |
| Anti-Defamation League | $388,770 | 7 | 0% |
| Redline | $335,250 | 7 | 3% |
| National Jewish Health | $251,000 | 9 | 0% |
| Healthier Colorado | $240,000 | 1 | 20% |
| Belev Echad Inc | $215,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Free Press | $200,000 | 1 | 3% |
| Bipartisan Policy Center Inc | $105,000 | 3 | 0% |
Show all 92 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 37 recipients with no EIN on record ($3.4M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
David and Laura Merage Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 83 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: The Denver Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · The Colorado Health Foundation · Caring for Colorado Foundation · Gates Family Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · Boettcher Foundation · Community Foundation Boulder County · Gary Philanthropy · Libertygives Foundation · El Pomar Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to David and Laura Merage Foundation?
Find your warmest path to David and Laura Merage Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
About David and Laura Merage Foundation
- How much does David and Laura Merage Foundation give?
- David and Laura Merage Foundation reported 44 grants totaling $2,433,787 in its FY2019 IRS filing. It funded between 25 and 43 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2019.
- What does David and Laura Merage Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Philanthropy (52%), Human Services (15%), Health (5%).
- Who are David and Laura Merage Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Early Learning Ventures ($3.6M), Black Cube ($3.5M), Equitas Foundation ($1.1M).
- Does David and Laura Merage Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2019, 51% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does David and Laura Merage Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as David and Laura Merage Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Denver Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Colorado Gives Foundation.
- Where is David and Laura Merage Foundation based?
- David and Laura Merage Foundation is based in CO.
Play a game based on David and Laura Merage’s filings →