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Lee Merrick Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Lee Merrick Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$15k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Animals$1.8MReligion$759kPublic Benefit$246kHealth$223kFood & Nutrition$112kPublic Safety & Disaster$65kHuman Services$48kArts & Culture$45kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$3,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TEXAS SCORECARD$3,000
WILD WEST WILDLIFE REHABILITATION C$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
SHEPHERD'S WATCH$3,000
MUTTLEY FARMS$3,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY19–22, $115k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 67% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ORPHAN ACRES INC: $15k → 16%PATRIOT PAWS: $5k → 5%FAITH CITY MINISTRIES: $25k → 20%GUARDIAN ANGELS MEDICAL SERVICE DOG: $10k → 16%ORPHAN ACRES INC: $10k → 16%PATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $5k → 5%MANE GAIT: $25k → 5%GUARDIAN ANGELS MEDICAL SERVICE DOG: $5k → 16%ORPHAN ACRES INC: $5k → 16%PATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $3k → 5%ORPHAN ACRES INC: $3k → 16%SHEPHERD'S WATCH FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ID
WI
NY
OR
NV
OH
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
DC
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 96% of Lee Merrick Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 62% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 97%.

Lee Merrick Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.3M · 49 repeat orgs$316k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against -4% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 45 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
27

Total granted

$3.3M
$313k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
-4%

Still filing today

71%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsHuman ServicesPublic BenefitHealthPhilanthropyArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • JUDICIAL WATCH INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $118k · revenue +16%
  • TF
    ThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc
    2× · 2019–2022 · $92k · revenue +44%
  • PW
    PRIDEROCK WILDLIFE REFUGE
    5× · 2019–2023 · $73k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • THE HERITAGE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue +32%
  • AF
    AMERICANS FOR AMERICA
    one grant, 2020 · $30k · revenue 0%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
2nd Chance Ranch and Rescue

Sanctuary for abused or abandoned animals

Animals
2
Fighting Chance Ranch & Rescue
Animals
3
Runaways Animal Rescue
Animals
4
War Angel Farms Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc
Animals
5
Wolfe Ranch Rescue
Animals
6
Grace Farm Animal Rescue and Sanctu
Animals
7
Platte Ranch Forever Home Sanctuary
Animals
8
Raskels Rescue
Animals
9
Lexis Legacy Animal Rescue
Religion
10
Where the Wild Things Are Rescue in

The rescue and rehabilitation of canines.

Animals
11
Believe Ranch and Rescue
Animals
12
Happy Acres Pet Rescue
Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Feeding Pets of the Homeless Aka Pets of the Homeless; the most unlike its peers is Karts. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

57 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 57 of the 77 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/57
Grantees still filing
36/57
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE PEGASUS PROJECT INC: $856,488 · AnimalsTHE PEGASUS PROJECT INCPRIDEROCK WILDLIFE REFUGE: $73,000 · AnimalsSTRAYDOG INC: $64,500 · Animals+25 more: $580,777 · Animals+25 moreLIBERTY COUNSEL INC: $155,000 · OtherLIBERTY COUNSEL INCEQUEST: $58,000 · OtherEQUESTREDGRANITE FIRE RESCUE AUXILIARY INC: $50,000 · OtherREDGRANITE FIRE RESCUE AUXI…Individual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMUTTLEY FARMS: $46,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $43,000 · OtherK9 LIFELINE RESCUE INC: $38,000 · OtherWILD WEST WILDLIFE REHABILITATION: $38,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $36,000 · OtherAMERICANS FOR AMERICA: $30,000 · OtherSKY WATCH TVWHISPERING PONIES RANC: $30,000 · OtherLOVE AND GRACE FAMILY RESOURCE MINISTRY: $66,000 · OtherLOVE AND GRACE FAMILY RESOU…CITIZENS NEWS GUILD INC: $44,000 · Other+18 more: $188,500 · Other+18 moreMarriage Today: $601,000 · ReligionMarriage TodayJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $118,000 · Public BenefitSEMPER K9 ASSISTANCE DOGS: $30,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Public BenefitPAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS: $27,500 · Public BenefitTEA PARTY PATRIOTS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Public BenefitORPHAN ACRES INC: $32,500 · Human ServicesMane Gait: $25,000 · Human ServicesFAITH CITY INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesGUARDIAN ANGELS MEDICAL SERVICE DOGS INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesPATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $12,500 · Human ServicesShepherds Watch Foundation: $5,000 · Human ServicesREFUGE SERVICES INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc: $92,000 · PhilanthropyHOPE TO OPPORTUNITIES FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyVICTORY THERAPEUTIC CENTER INC: $60,000 · HealthPhysicians Committee for Responsible Med: $7,500 · HealthNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Health
Animals$1,574,765Other$872,500Religion$601,000Public Benefit$215,500Human Services$120,000Philanthropy$117,000Health$72,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE PEGASUS PROJECT INC: $856,488 over 5y, 53% of budgetMarriage Today: $601,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $118,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc: $92,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetPRIDEROCK WILDLIFE REFUGE: $73,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetLOVE AND GRACE FAMILY RESOURCE MINISTRY: $66,000 over 4y, 33% of budgetSTRAYDOG INC: $64,500 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetVICTORY THERAPEUTIC CENTER INC: $60,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetEQUEST: $58,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetTIGER HAVEN INC: $50,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetRanch Hands Rescue: $45,000 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetTHE ELEPHANT SANCTUARY IN TENNESSEE: $45,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCITIZENS NEWS GUILD INC: $44,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetGENTLE GIANTS DRAFT HORSE RESCUE SOCIETY LTD: $42,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetKeepers of the Wild: $40,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetNOAH'S LOST ARK INC: $35,500 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetFEEDING PETS OF THE HOMELESS AKA PETS OF THE HOMELESS: $33,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetORPHAN ACRES INC: $32,500 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetRED BUCKET EQUINE RESCUE: $30,500 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetSEMPER K9 ASSISTANCE DOGS: $30,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICANS FOR AMERICA: $30,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetAMERICAN WILD HORSE PRESERVATION CAMPAIGN: $28,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS: $27,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetWOUNDED PAW PROJECT: $25,500 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetMane Gait: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetHOPE TO OPPORTUNITIES FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetIRONDOG K9 INTERNATIONAL INC: $25,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetPAWS OF HONOR INC: $25,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFAITH CITY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY: $23,777 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPAWS OF WAR INC: $23,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSPEAK UP FOR HORSES: $23,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetMUTTS WITH A MISSION: $22,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetIZZY'S LOVE EQUINE RESCUE INC: $20,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetTHE CAT HOUSE ON THE KINGS INC: $17,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT K9 HERO: $17,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetGUARDIAN ANGELS MEDICAL SERVICE DOGS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetWILD WEST WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER: $13,000 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetPATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $12,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetDON HARRINGTON DISCOVERY CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGUARDIANS OF RESCUE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTEA PARTY PATRIOTS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetDreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetGAMILAH UNBRIDLED INC: $8,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetPhysicians Committee for Responsible Med: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSPCA OF EAST TEXAS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE WHITE COAT WASTE PROJECT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds THE PEGASUS PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds Marriage Today ↗
  • Who funds JUDICIAL WATCH INC ↗
  • Who funds ThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc ↗
  • Who funds PRIDEROCK WILDLIFE REFUGE ↗
  • Who funds LOVE AND GRACE FAMILY RESOURCE MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds STRAYDOG INC ↗
  • Who funds VICTORY THERAPEUTIC CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds EQUEST ↗
  • Who funds TIGER HAVEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Ranch Hands Rescue ↗
  • Who funds THE ELEPHANT SANCTUARY IN TENNESSEE ↗
  • Who funds CITIZENS NEWS GUILD INC ↗
  • Who funds GENTLE GIANTS DRAFT HORSE RESCUE SOCIETY LTD ↗
  • Who funds Keepers of the Wild ↗
  • Who funds NOAH'S LOST ARK INC ↗
  • Who funds FEEDING PETS OF THE HOMELESS AKA PETS OF THE HOMELESS ↗
  • Who funds ORPHAN ACRES INC ↗
  • Who funds RED BUCKET EQUINE RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds SEMPER K9 ASSISTANCE DOGS ↗
  • Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICANS FOR AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN WILD HORSE PRESERVATION CAMPAIGN ↗
  • Who funds PAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS ↗
  • Who funds WOUNDED PAW PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds Mane Gait ↗
  • Who funds HOPE TO OPPORTUNITIES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds IRONDOG K9 INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds PAWS OF HONOR INC ↗
  • Who funds FAITH CITY INC ↗

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.

Joyce a Ward Foundati…PC Fund for Animals C…Bradford Family Found…Amg Charitable Gift F…Seckinger Foundation …Farrell Family Founda…Surendra and Karen Gu…The Gerald B Shreiber…Bernard Weinberg Foun…Edwin D Marks Animal …The J R Stein Family …The Susan and Ford Sc…
Joyce a Ward FoundationCA30.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Joyce a Ward Foundation · PC Fund for Animals Charitable Tr · Bradford Family Foundation · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · Seckinger Foundation Corporation · Farrell Family Foundation · Surendra and Karen Gupta Arc Foundation · The Gerald B Shreiber Foundation · Bernard Weinberg Foundation · Edwin D Marks Animal Foundation · The J R Stein Family Foundation (F/K/A the Stein Family Fund) · The Susan and Ford Schumann Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Lee Merrick Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lee Merrick Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Lee Merrick Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Lee Merrick Foundation Inc 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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 77 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Lee Merrick’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home