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Merced Fdn - Western at a glance

· Private foundation

Merced Fdn - Western

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.

$230k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Human Services$640kFood & Nutrition$170kHealth$145kPhilanthropy$83kEducation$25kArts & Culture$15kCommunity Improvement$15kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$70,365
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EAST TEXAS FOOD BANK$100,000
UNDUE MEDICAL DEBT$70,365
CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF CENTRAL TEXAS$60,000
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 (FY20–25, $240k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 71% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%RIP MEDICAL DEBT: $75k → 13%UNDUE MEDICAL DEBT: $70k → 13%PRISON ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM: $15k → 16%BAKERRIPLEY: $10k → 16%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH: $40k → 10%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH: $30k → 10%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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$998k · 8 repeat orgs$150k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
9

Total granted

$998k
$150k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+1%

Still filing today

63%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesPhilanthropyFood & NutritionArts & 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

  • CC
    Catholic Charities of Central Texas
    7× · 2019–2025 · $450k · revenue +49%
  • LS
    LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $70k · revenue +59%
  • The Houston Food Bank
    2× · 2020–2021 · $20k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • RM
    RONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF GREATER NORTH TEXAS INC
    one grant, 2019 · $30k · revenue -6%
  • LS
    LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY IN SHREVEPORT
    one grant, 2024 · $25k
  • LS
    LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE
    one grant, 2019 · $20k
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
Rebuilding Together Houston

Rebuilding Together Houston is the only organization in Houston and Harris County providing free home repairs to hundreds of families each year. We employ licensed contractors to restore homes to safe, livable conditions, extending each…

Housing & Shelter
2
The Women's Resource of Greater Houston

See Schedule OThe Women's Resource of Greater Houston helps women and girls make choices toward becoming independent, productive, and financially stable. We fulfill our mission by recruiting volunteer instructors to deliver our programs in…

Philanthropy
3
Trees for Houston

Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.

—
4
Family Service Center of Houston and Harris County

The mission of Family Service Center of Houston and Harris County (Family Houston) is to create a stronger community for tomorrow by helping individuals and families meet the challenges they face today. We help others help themselves.

Human Services
5
Houston Botanic Garden

To enrich life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.

Environment
6
Southeast Texas Food Bank Inc

Food distribution to the hungry throughout an eight county service territory in Southeast Texas.

Human Services
7
West Texas Food Bank

The WTFB exists to collect, purchase, and distribute food to feed the hungry in 19 counties in West Texas in partnership with volunteers and community organizations and to educate these partners and the public at large about the real face…

—
8
Houston Christian Foundation dba National Christian Foundation Houston

As the Houston affiliate of the National Christian Foundation (NCF), our mission is to serve and encourage givers to grow as faithful stewards who give wisely to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

—
9
Feeding Texas

To lead a unified effort for a hunger-free texas.

Community Improvement
10
Food Bank of West Central Texas

To procure and distribute nutritional food to qualified agencies that feed the hungry of West Central Texas.

Food & Nutrition
11
Baylor Scott & White Holdings

Founded as a Christian ministry of healing, Baylor Scott & White Health promotes the well-being of all individuals, families and communities.

Health
12
Houston Bar Foundation

The Houston Bar Foundation supports programs that help provide legal representation to the indigent, promote community understanding of our legal system, and foster the administration of justice.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Ronald McDONALD House Charities of Greater North Texas Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 18 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Catholic Charities of Central Texas: $450,000 · OtherCatholic Charities of Central TexasEAST TEXAS FOOD BANK: $125,000 · OtherEAST TEXAS FOOD BANKRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES CNTRL TX: $90,000 · OtherRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES CNTRL TXIndividual grant recipient: $80,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+4 more: $75,000 · Other+4 moreMEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION INC: $145,365 · Human ServicesMEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION…LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH INC: $70,000 · Human ServicesLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE…PRISON ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesPRISON ENTREPRENEURSHIP…BakerRipley: $10,000 · Human ServicesRONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF GREATER NORTH TEXAS INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyPHILANTHROPY SOUTHWEST: $17,835 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Greater Houston: $10,000 · PhilanthropyWelcome Table Incorporated: $15,000 · Food & NutritionBo's Place: $15,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$820,000Human Services$240,365Philanthropy$82,835Food & Nutrition$15,000Arts & Culture$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCatholic Charities of Central Texas: $450,000 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetMEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION INC: $145,365 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH INC: $70,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF GREATER NORTH TEXAS INC: $30,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPHILANTHROPY SOUTHWEST: $17,835 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetWelcome Table Incorporated: $15,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetBo's Place: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPRISON ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Houston: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN ANTONIO FOOD BANK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBakerRipley: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Austin Community Foun…
Austin Community Foundation IncTX13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Austin Community Foundation Inc

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 Merced Fdn - Western funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merced Fdn - Western. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    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.

    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 18 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Merced Fdn - Western’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