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Merkaba Earth Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Merkaba Earth 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.

$27k
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$5k
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, FY2023 to 2024.

Civil Rights$15kFood & Nutrition$14kEnvironment$7kAnimals$2kArts & Culture$500Health$500
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$750
Median grant
3
States reached
$224k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VIGA$5,000
VASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST$5,000
PRIDE FOUNDATION$5,000
FOREST GARDEN FARM$1,500
PLUM FOREST FARM$1,500
Individual grant recipient$1,200
VASHON SENIOR CENTER$1,000
PACIFIC CREST FARM$1,000
AEGGY'S FARM$750
SOUND ACTION$750
VASHON CENTER FOR THE ARTS$500
VASHON YOUTH FAMILY SERVICES$500
Individual grant recipient$500
VIPP$500
FARMERS FOOTPRINT$500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY23–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%BE AWARE AND CARE: $250 → 15%PRIDE FOUNDATION: $15k → 9%METHOW BEAVER PROJECT: $400 → 17%FARMERS FOOTPRINT: $500 → 8%VASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST: $5k → 9%FARMERS FOOTPRINT: $300 → 8%VASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST: $5k → 9%VIGA: $5k → 9%PRIDE FOUNDATION: $5k → 9%FOREST GARDEN FARM: $3k → 9%FOREST GARDEN FARM: $2k → 9%PLUM FOREST FARM: $2k → 9%PROVO FARMS: $1k → 9%PEAK MOON NURSERY: $1k → 9%VASHON SENIOR CENTER: $1k → 9%PACIFIC CREST FARM: $1k → 9%PLUM FOREST FARM: $1k → 9%VASHON FOOD BANK: $1k → 9%AEGGY'S FARM: $750 → 9%SOUND ACTION: $750 → 9%PLUM FOREST FARM: $750 → 9%FOREST GARDEN FARM: $750 → 9%PACIFIC POTAGER: $750 → 9%TIAN TIAN FARM: $550 → 9%LITTLEST BIRD FARM: $550 → 9%NORTHBOURNE FARM: $550 → 9%VASHON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $500 → 9%VIPP: $500 → 9%VASHON NATURE CENTER: $500 → 9%HAVEN RESCUE: $500 → 9%VASHON NATURE CENTER: $500 → 9%VOICE OF VASHON: $500 → 9%VASHON YOUTH FAMILY SERVICES: $500 → 9%VIGA: $500 → 9%VASHON YOUTH FAMILY SERVICES: $500 → 9%VASHON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $500 → 9%HAVEN RESCUE: $500 → 9%SOUND ACTION: $500 → 9%VIPP: $500 → 9%VENISON VALLEY FARM & CREAMERY: $400 → 9%ISLAND MEADOW ORGANIC FARM: $400 → 9%GRACIE'S GREENS: $350 → 9%SOUND ACTION: $350 → 9%HAVEN: $300 → 9%VIPP: $250 → 9%VASHON FOOD BANK: $250 → 9%FOOD ACCESS PARTNERSHIP: $2k → 9%FOOD ACCESS PARTNERSHIP: $250 → 9%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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$35k · 14 repeat orgs$11k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
12

Total granted

$35k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+77%

Still filing today

36%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureAnimalsHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • VI
    VASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST
    2× · 2024–2025 · $10k · revenue +145%
  • VM
    VASHON MAURY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1k · revenue +8%
  • VA
    VASHON ALLIED ARTS
    2× · 2024–2025 · $1k · revenue +120%

Funded once

  • PF
    PROVO FARMS
    one grant, 2024 · $1k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $750
  • TT
    TIAN TIAN FARM
    one grant, 2023 · $550
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
Vashon-Maury Island Nature Center

Creating transformative nature experiences through community science, research, and education for the benefit of our island home and the entire salish sea.

Environment
2
Vashon Household

To develop affordable housing, improve housing conditions, and provide permanently affordable access to land, homes, and workplaces on vashon island for low and moderate income families and individuals, especially the disabled, the…

Housing & Shelter
3
Willapa Bay AiR
Arts & Culture
4
Vashon Island Growers Association

The Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA) promotes growing, farming, and food production on Vashon Maury Island, while working to build a local agricultural economy that is equitable, accessible, and sustainable.

Food & Nutrition
5
Vashon Parks and Recreation Foundation

The Vashon Parks Foundation preserves improves and promotes the Vashon Park Districts projects programs facilities and trails for the benefit of all existing and potential users through fundraising support and community outreach.

Recreation & Sports
6
Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse - Varsa

To reduce the use of alcoho and drugs amoung teens

Education
7
Vashon Island Community Care

Home and assisted living center on vashon island, washington

—
8
Lummi Island Heritage Trust

To create a legacy of abundant open space, native habitat, and natural resources on Lummi Island by inspiring people to protect and care for the island's farms, forests, wetlands, and shorelines forever.

Environment
9
Vashon-Maury Island Chamber of Commerce

The organization promotes and serves vashon island businesses.

—
10
South Whidbey Tilth Association

Educate about,support, and promote biologically sound and socially equitable agriculture

Food & Nutrition
11
Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association

Museum of vashon island history

—
12
Vashon Island Chorale

The Vashon Island Chorale engages, enriches and unites our island community by providing opportunities for all people to participate in, learn about and enjoy fine choral music.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust; the most unlike its peers is Kiss the Ground. 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

11 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. 11 of the 34 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VIGA: $5,500 · OtherVIGAFOREST GARDEN FARM: $5,250 · OtherFOREST GARDEN FARMPLUM FOREST FARM: $3,250 · OtherPLUM FOREST FARMFOOD ACCESS PARTNERSHIP: $1,750 · OtherFOOD ACCESS PARTNERSHIPPROVO FARMS: $1,350 · OtherVIPP: $1,250 · OtherVASHON MAURY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $1,250 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $1,200 · Other+16 more: $10,100 · Other+16 moreThe Pride Foundation: $20,000 · Civil RightsThe Pride FoundationVASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST: $10,000 · EnvironmentVASHON-MAURY ISLAND …Sound Action: $1,600 · EnvironmentSound Action+1 more: $200 · EnvironmentVASHON ALLIED ARTS: $1,000 · Arts & CultureVOICE OF VASHON: $500 · Arts & CultureVASHON YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES: $1,000 · HealthHaven: $300 · AnimalsWest Sound Wildlife Shelter: $100 · AnimalsKISS THE GROUND: $250 · Food & Nutrition
Other$30,900Civil Rights$20,000Environment$11,800Arts & Culture$1,500Health$1,000Animals$400Food & Nutrition$250

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Pride Foundation: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetVASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSound Action: $1,600 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetVASHON MAURY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVASHON YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVASHON ALLIED ARTS: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHaven: $300 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKISS THE GROUND: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTILTH ALLIANCE: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWest Sound Wildlife Shelter: $100 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.

  • Who funds The Pride Foundation ↗
  • Who funds VASHON-MAURY ISLAND LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Sound Action ↗
  • Who funds VASHON MAURY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds VASHON YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds VASHON ALLIED ARTS ↗
  • Who funds VOICE OF VASHON ↗
  • Who funds Haven ↗
  • Who funds KISS THE GROUND ↗
  • Who funds TILTH ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds West Sound Wildlife Shelter ↗

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.

Mightycause Charitabl…Seattle FoundationThe Royal Little Fami…Puget Sound Energy Fo…Beardsley FoundationGrousemont FoundationUnited Way of King Co…Bny Mellon Charitable…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Morgan Stanley Global…Network for GoodAmerican Online Givin…
Mightycause Charitable FoundationFL19.5× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Seattle Foundation · The Royal Little Family Foundation · Puget Sound Energy Foundation · Beardsley Foundation · Grousemont Foundation · United Way of King County · Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Network for Good · American Online Giving 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 Merkaba Earth Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merkaba Earth Foundation. 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%10%20%30%40%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
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 34 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 Merkaba Earth’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