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Merchantz Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Merchantz Family 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$400k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Religion$1.3MPhilanthropy$900kPublic Benefit$200kHuman Services$155kAnimals$150kInternational$150kCivil Rights$150kEducation$40k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k5 grants · $350k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.1M
$100,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$14M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CAPITOL MINISTRIES$400,000
CHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIES$400,000
MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE$250,000
JUDICIAL WATCH$100,000
ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE$100,000
CITY OF REFUGE$50,000
ACLJ - CHRISTIAN ADVOCATES SERVING EVANGELISM$50,000
SAMARITAN'S PURSE$50,000
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 (FY20–20, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%CITY OF REFUGE CHICAGO: $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

IL
WI
CA
VA
NC
DC
OK
GA
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 8 repeat orgs$495k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against +37% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
3

Total granted

$2.5M
$95k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+37%

Still filing today

75%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $400k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’23’24’25
ReligionCivil RightsPhilanthropyPublic BenefitEducationHuman ServicesOther
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

  • CM
    CAPITOL MINISTRIES
    3× · 2023–2025 · $900k · revenue +38%
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE
    3× · 2023–2025 · $550k · revenue +41%
  • JUDICIAL WATCH INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $200k · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • AC
    AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +12%
  • University of Illinois Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $40k · revenue +37%
  • CO
    CITY OF REFUGE - CHICAGOgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +106%
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
International Catholic Jurists Forum Inc

The International Catholic Jurists Forum (ICJF) was established to produce, compile, and share resources on fundamental human rights under attack in the regional and international human rights protection systems. It operates as a forum for…

Religion
2
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry Inc

To glorify god by equipping the church with proper christian doctrine and to help non-believers come to a saving knowledge of jesus christ.

—
3
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
4
God's Image
Human Services
5
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

To prepare students for the rabbinate and to issue the traditional certificate of ordination in connection therewith. the seminary is authorized to confer the degree of master of hebrew literature (m.h.l.), doctor of hebrew literature…

Education
6
Jubal Band Ministries

Jubal band ministries mission is to invite people to become disciples of christian life with jesus.

Religion
7
The Jerusalem Connection
—
8
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
9
Rodel Institute

The rodel institute is a nonpartisan center for leadership and intellectual growth. rodel helps america's most promising leaders reach their full potential as public servants, deepen their commitment to democracy and the rule of law,…

Philanthropy
10
Christians for Biblical Equality

See schedule o.christians for biblical equality (cbe), www.cbeinternational.org, is a 501c3 nonprofit organization comprised of individuals, churches, colleges, seminaries, and organizations, representing more than 100 different…

—
11
Behold Israel

To provide accurate reporting on israel and current events based on god's written word and most importantly lead people to the saving knowledge of jesus christ.

Religion
12
Family Research Council

The family research council's primary exempt purpose is to reaffirm and promote nationally, and particularly in washington, dc, the traditional family unit and the judeo-christian value system upon which it is built. frc's activities in…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism Inc; the most unlike its peers is Museum of the Bible. 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

9 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. 9 of the 12 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)
9/9
Grantees still filing
7/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE: $550,000 · OtherMUSEUM OF THE BIBLECHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIES: $400,000 · OtherCHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIESCITY OF REFUGE: $150,000 · OtherCITY OF REFUGEWISCONSIN LUTHERAN CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: $150,000 · OtherWISCONSIN LUTHERAN CHILD & FAMILY SERVICESCAPITOL MINISTRIES: $900,000 · PhilanthropyCAPITOL MINISTRIESILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE: $300,000 · ReligionILLINOIS FAMILY I…SAMARITAN'S PURSE: $150,000 · ReligionSAMARITAN'S PURSEJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $200,000 · Public BenefitCHRISTIAN ADVOCATES SERVING EVANGELISM INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC: $50,000 · Civil RightsUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $40,000 · EducationCITY OF REFUGE - CHICAGO: $5,000 · Human Services
Other$1,250,000Philanthropy$900,000Religion$450,000Public Benefit$200,000Civil Rights$150,000Education$40,000Human Services$5,000

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 budgetCAPITOL MINISTRIES: $900,000 over 3y, 9.7% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE BIBLE: $550,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE: $300,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $200,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHRISTIAN ADVOCATES SERVING EVANGELISM INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY OF REFUGE - CHICAGO: $5,000 over 1y, 4.4% 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Natl Christian Charit…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Natl Christian Charitable Fdn IncGA9.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Merchantz Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merchantz Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 12 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 Merchantz Family’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