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· Private foundation

Mercy Works 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.

$1.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
52
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$257k
Largest
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Religion$8.7MInternational$2.0MHuman Services$1.2MHealth$1.0MCivil Rights$496kEducation$455kSocial Science$195kFood & Nutrition$168kOther$0
02FY2025 · 52 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k33 grants · $715k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $592k
  • $250k+1 grant · $257k
$25,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHRISTOPHER MISSIONS FOUNDATION$256,563
WELLS OF LIFE$162,000
RELEVANT RADIO INC$100,250
JOHN PAUL II HEALING CENTER$95,000
SALVATORIAN MISSION WAREHOUSE$70,000
CATHOLIC FOUNDATION FOR THE GREEN BAY DIOCESE$65,000
VIDA CLINIC INC$50,000
APOSTOLATE FOR FAMILY CONSECRATION INC$50,000
HELP THE HELPLESS$40,000
INSTITUTE FOR PRIESTLY FORMATION$40,000
FRANCISCAN WORKS$35,000
NATIONAL SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF CHAMPION$30,000
LIVE ACTION$30,000
SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE$30,000
MISSIONARIES OF THE WORD$28,400
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, $1.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 75% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%WELLS OF LIFE: $240k → 10%THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE: $125k → 16%HEALING THE CULTURE: $25k → 9%GOOD COUNSEL HOMES INC: $20k → 14%COMMUNIO FOUNDATION: $15k → 6%NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FAMILY AND LIFE ADVOCATES - NIFLA: $25k → 8%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%WELLS OF LIFE: $164k → 10%THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE: $25k → 16%HEALING THE CULTURE: $25k → 9%GOOD COUNSEL HOMES INC: $20k → 14%COMMUNIO FOUNDATION: $15k → 6%NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FAMILY AND LIFE ADVOCATES - NIFLA: $25k → 8%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%WELLS OF LIFE: $162k → 10%THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE: $25k → 16%HEALING THE CULTURE: $25k → 9%GOOD COUNSEL HOMES INC: $20k → 14%NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FAMILY AND LIFE ADVOCATES - NIFLA: $25k → 8%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%WELLS OF LIFE: $80k → 10%HEALING THE CULTURE: $15k → 9%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%WELLS OF LIFE: $80k → 10%LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR: $15k → 14%NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FAMILY AND LIFE ADVOCATES - NIFLA: $15k → 8%PRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE: $10k → 11%MAJELLA CARES: $10k → 10%LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR: $15k → 14%LIFE'S CONNECTION: $15k → 5%MAJELLA CARES: $10k → 10%LEAVEN INC: $67k → 6%FATHER CARR'S PLACE 2B: $5k → 11%MAJELLA CARES: $10k → 10%FATHER CARR'S PLACE 2B: $4k → 11%MAJELLA CARES: $10k → 10%COMMUNITY CLOTHES CLOSET INC: $5k → 6%FATHER CARR'S PLACE 2B: $4k → 11%LEAVEN INC: $5k → 6%FATHER CARR'S PLACE 2B: $4k → 11%LEAVEN INC: $4k → 6%COMMUNITY CLOTHES CLOSET INC: $4k → 6%COMMUNITY CLOTHES CLOSET INC: $4k → 6%ELIZABETH MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL: $14k → 7%LEAVEN INC: $4k → 6%ELIZABETH MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL: $12k → 7%COMMUNITY CLOTHES CLOSET: $4k → 6%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

NH
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
AZ
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$15M · 99 repeat orgs$717k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

99 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2025, 54 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

99
24

Total granted

$15M
$575k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
0%

Still filing today

60%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $142k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
ReligionHuman ServicesInternationalEducationHealthCivil RightsOther
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

  • JP
    JOHN PAUL II HEALING CENTER INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $501k · revenue +121%
  • SG
    ST GIANNA MOLLA CLINIC INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $437k · revenue ×20 · 27% of their budget
  • HI
    HEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $390k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • AG
    Ad Gentes Missionary Congregation
    one grant, 2023 · $80k · revenue -53%
  • AM
    AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $65k · revenue +127%
  • GS
    GRACE SYSTEM ST JPII CLASSICAL SCHOOLCHERSTERTON ACADEMY
    one grant, 2021 · $60k
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
Living His Life Abundantly International

To inform, instruct and inspire people through the media about the sacred scriptures and teachings of the roman catholic church

Religion
3
Priests for Life
Youth Development
4
Action for Life Inc

Action for life promotes, upholds, and supports efforts to protect the sanctity of life from conception to natural death through education, advocacy, and prayer as well as by supporting traditional family values.

Civil Rights
5
Focolare Media Inc

Our mission is to provide content that empowers people to grow spiritually, improve relationships, engage in dialogue and foster collaboration within the Church and throughout society.

—
6
Amnion Women's Center

Amnion's mission is to share the gospel of jesus christ and to protect and advocate for the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn, through the provision of abortion alternative services that empower mothers to choose life.

Health
7
Servants of Mary
Religion
8
Keep the Faith Inc

Keep the faith is a catholic lay apostolate devoted to assist in the dissemanation of good catholic doctrine

Religion
9
Ave Maria Communications

Ave Maria Communications (AMC)employs radio, internet and other media to offer news, analysis, teaching, devotion and music to demonstrate Catholic values.

Religion
10
Liberty Womens Clinic

Liberty Women's Clinic ministers with the love of Christ by empowering people to make informed, life-affirming decisions about pregnancy, sexual health, and relationships.

Health
11
The Human Choice of Iowa

Mission is to provide women facing an unplanned pregnancy with truthful medical information and education. we are faith-based with a mission to encourage, through education and outreach, the recognition of human life from the moment of…

Human Services
12
Intimate Life Ministries
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Catholic Answers Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Vine Foundation. 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

71 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. 71 of the 130 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)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
68/71
Grantees still filing
49/71
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CATHOLIC FOUNDATION FOR THE DIOCESE OF GREEN BAY INC: $1,210,000 · OtherCATHOLIC FOUNDATION FOR THE DIOCESE OF GREEN BAY INCFELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: $1,020,000 · OtherFELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTSCHRISTOPHER MISSIONS FUNDATION: $769,024 · OtherCHRISTOPHER MISSIONS FUNDATIONMISSIONARIES OF THE POOR USA INC: $723,000 · OtherMISSIONARIES OF THE POOR USA INCNATIONAL SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF CHAMPION INC: $465,000 · OtherHEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL INC: $390,000 · OtherSALVATORIAN MISSION WAREHOUSE INC: $385,000 · Other+74 more: $4,786,757 · Other+74 moreIMMACULATE HEART MEDIA INC: $537,250 · ReligionIMMACULATE HEAR…JOHN PAUL II HEALING CENTER INC: $501,000 · ReligionJOHN PAUL II HE…MARY MOTHER OF GOD MISSION SOCIETY: $156,711 · ReligionMARY MOTHER OF …INSTITUTE OF CATHOLIC CULTURE: $146,000 · ReligionINSTITUTE OF CA…MOBILE LOAVES & FISHES INC: $133,000 · ReligionMOBILE LOAVES &…THE VINE FOUNDATION: $125,000 · ReligionTHE VINE FOUNDA…Spitzer-Magis Center FKA Magis Institute: $110,000 · ReligionSOPHIA INSTITUTE: $100,000 · ReligionAd Gentes Missionary Congregation: $80,000 · ReligionTHE EVANGELICAL CATHOLIC INC: $75,000 · Religion+6 more: $183,958 · Religion+6 moreWELLS OF LIFE INC: $725,658 · Human ServicesWELLS OF LI…THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE: $175,000 · Human ServicesTHE ALEXAND…National Institute of Family and Life Advocates: $90,000 · Human ServicesNational In…HEALING THE CULTURE: $90,000 · Human ServicesHEALING THE…LEAVEN INC: $88,896 · Human ServicesLEAVEN INCGOOD COUNSEL INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesPRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE INC: $60,000 · Human Services+8 more: $223,191 · Human Services+8 moreHELP THE HELPLESS: $189,000 · InternationalHUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC: $125,000 · InternationalADVANCE COMMUNITY: $119,380 · InternationalFarm of the Child Inc: $97,500 · InternationalFRIENDS OF THE ORPHANS D/B/A NPH-USA: $95,000 · InternationalFranciscan Works: $65,000 · InternationalTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $150,986 · EducationAugustine Institute Inc: $130,000 · EducationWitherspoon Institute Inc: $105,000 · EducationSaint John Institute: $75,000 · EducationAVE MARIA UNIVERSITY INC: $65,000 · EducationST GIANNA MOLLA CLINIC INC: $437,000 · HealthASSOCIATION OF ST LAWRENCE - COMUNITA CENACOLO AMERICA INC: $41,003 · HealthAGAPE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER: $25,000 · Health+1 more: $11,000 · HealthLIVE ACTION: $180,000 · Civil RightsStudents for Life of America Inc: $60,000 · Civil RightsPRO-LIFE WISCONSIN EDUCATION TASK FORCE INC: $35,000 · Civil Rights
Other$9,748,781Religion$2,147,919Human Services$1,512,745International$690,880Education$525,986Health$514,003Civil Rights$275,000

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 budgetWELLS OF LIFE INC: $725,658 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetJOHN PAUL II HEALING CENTER INC: $501,000 over 6y, 10% of budgetST GIANNA MOLLA CLINIC INC: $437,000 over 5y, 27% of budgetHEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL INC: $390,000 over 6y, 1.3% of budgetORDER OF MALTA WORLDWIDE RELIEF MALTESER INTERNATIONAL AMERICAS: $215,000 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetHELP THE HELPLESS: $189,000 over 6y, 3.9% of budgetLIVE ACTION: $180,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE: $175,000 over 3y, 6.8% of budgetMARY MOTHER OF GOD MISSION SOCIETY: $156,711 over 2y, 15% of budgetTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $150,986 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetINSTITUTE OF CATHOLIC CULTURE: $146,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetMOBILE LOAVES & FISHES INC: $133,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetAugustine Institute Inc: $130,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE VINE FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetHUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC: $125,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetCourage International Inc: $125,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetADVANCE COMMUNITY: $119,380 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetSpitzer-Magis Center FKA Magis Institute: $110,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetCATHOLIC YOUTH EXPEDITIONS INC: $107,500 over 6y, 23% of budgetWitherspoon Institute Inc: $105,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetSOPHIA INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetFarm of the Child Inc: $97,500 over 6y, 3.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ORPHANS D/B/A NPH-USA: $95,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMISSIONARIES OF THE WORD INC: $94,400 over 6y, 2.9% of budgetLifesitenewscom Inc: $90,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetNational Institute of Family and Life Advocates: $90,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetSEVERAL SOURCES SHELTERS INC: $90,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetHEALING THE CULTURE: $90,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetLEAVEN INC: $88,896 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetDISMAS MINISTRY INC: $81,000 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetAd Gentes Missionary Congregation: $80,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetTHE EVANGELICAL CATHOLIC INC: $75,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetHUMAN LIFE ALLIANCE: $75,000 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetSaint John Institute: $75,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCATHOLIC ANSWERS INC: $66,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetFranciscan Works: $65,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetAVE MARIA UNIVERSITY INC: $65,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOOD COUNSEL INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetStudents for Life of America Inc: $60,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetENDOW: $60,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetPRENATAL PARTNERS FOR LIFE INC: $60,000 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetHeart of the Father Ministries: $59,958 over 4y, 3.5% of budgetLITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR: $56,000 over 3y, 36% of budgetCARDINAL NEWMAN SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF CATHOLIC HGR ED: $50,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetSt Gerard Campus: $50,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetTHEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOUNDATION: $42,500 over 3y, 19% of budgetASSOCIATION OF ST LAWRENCE - COMUNITA CENACOLO AMERICA INC: $41,003 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetHOUSE OF HOPE GREEN BAY INC: $40,000 over 2y, 1.2% 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 WELLS OF LIFE INC ↗
  • Who funds IMMACULATE HEART MEDIA INC ↗
  • Who funds JOHN PAUL II HEALING CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds ST GIANNA MOLLA CLINIC INC ↗
  • Who funds HEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds ORDER OF MALTA WORLDWIDE RELIEF MALTESER INTERNATIONAL AMERICAS ↗
  • Who funds HELP THE HELPLESS ↗
  • Who funds LIVE ACTION ↗
  • Who funds THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE ↗
  • Who funds MARY MOTHER OF GOD MISSION SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE OF CATHOLIC CULTURE ↗
  • Who funds MOBILE LOAVES & FISHES INC ↗
  • Who funds Augustine Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE VINE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds Courage International Inc ↗
  • Who funds ADVANCE COMMUNITY ↗
  • Who funds Spitzer-Magis Center FKA Magis Institute ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC YOUTH EXPEDITIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds Witherspoon Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds SOPHIA INSTITUTE ↗

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.

Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund IncCT34.3× affinity15 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund Inc · The Catholic Foundation No Colorado · The Moran Foundation · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Our Sunday Visitor Inc · Sumnicht Family Foundation · Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota · The Martin Family Foundation · Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region Inc · The Clarence Wallace & Dolores Lynch Wallace Family Foundation · US Ventureschmidt Family Foundation · Koch 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 Mercy Works Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mercy Works Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Ave Maria University Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get 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
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Mercy Works Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Mercy Works 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.

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 130 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

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