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Merkley Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Merkley Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$191k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$105k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Recreation & Sports$661kAnimals$174kHealth$77kFood & Nutrition$74kArts & Culture$70kHuman Services$62kYouth Development$45kHousing & Shelter$28kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k9 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $105k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GENESEE COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION$105,452
GENESEE COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY$35,153
FOOD BANK OF EASTERN MICHIGAN$10,000
FLINT INSTITUTE OF MUSIC$10,000
BIG BROTHERS AND BIG SISTERS OF EAST CEN$5,000
THE SALVATION ARMY$5,000
CRIM FITNESS FOUNDATION INC$5,000
CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY$4,000
CHOSEN FEW ARTS COUNCIL$3,000
FLINT CHILDRENS MUSEUM$2,500
COMMUNITIES FIRST INC$2,500
FLINT INSTITUTE OF ARTS$2,500
THE NEW MCCREE THEATRE$1,000
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 (FY21–25, $19k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 17%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 17%CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY: $4k → 16%CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY: $4k → 16%CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY: $4k → 16%CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY: $4k → 16%CROSSOVER DOWNTOWN OUTREACH MINISTRY: $2k → 16%Without Wall Outreach W O W: $1k → 16%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 24 repeat orgs$87k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
12

Total granted

$1.2M
$77k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-1%
-1%

Still filing today

79%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • HF
    HURLEY FOUNDATION
    4× · 2020–2024 · $44k · revenue +31%
  • FI
    Flint Institute of Arts
    6× · 2020–2025 · $25k · revenue +38%
  • FI
    Flint Institute of Music
    3× · 2021–2025 · $18k · revenue +69%

Funded once

  • GC
    GENESEE COUNTY HUMAN SOCIETY
    one grant, 2020 · $35k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $9k
  • TF
    THE FLINT DIAPER BANK INC
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -10%
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
Flint Public Art Project

Non Profit Art Organization

Community Improvement
2
Child Welfare Society of Flint
—
3
Greater Flint Health Coalition Inc

Improve the health of genesee county residents. improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the health care system in our community.

Health
4
Foundation for Flint

To support and benefit the community foundation of greater flint. the organization will address a wide variety of community needs in greater flint, and its immediate priority is to provide aid to those affected by the flint water crisis.

Philanthropy
5
Flint Social Club

Flint Social Club is to lower access barriers for the Flint food community by mentoring chefs and creating equitable opportunities for growth.

Employment
6
Flint Center for Educational Excellence

The flint center for educational excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all flint kids by providing programs. research, and advocacy that ensure flint kids, their families, schools, and communities thrive.

Education
7
Flint Cultural Center Foundation

To receive and administer funds and to operate exclusively for the benefit of, and to carry out the purposes of Flint Cultural Center Corporation.

Arts & Culture
8
International Center of Greater Flint

To celebrate and promote our international diversity because it makes us a stronger community

Public Benefit
9
Flint and Genesee Group Foundation

The Flint & Genesee Foundation's purpose is to receive and administer funds for educational, scientific and charitable purposes and for public welfare of Genesee County, Michigan.

—
10
Education Foundation for the Flint Community Schools

To Influence and enrich student achievement for the students of Flint Community Schools.

Education
11
Greater Flint Arts Council

To be a catalyst of and advocate for increased artistic and cultural enrichment of an ethnically diverse community

—
12
Ferris Wheel Innovation Center

Housed in flint, michigan, we are a non-profit with a mission to relieve the innovator of the entrepreneurial burden. we know entrepreneurship can be difficult, and that's why we're here to help. as a community of student professionals,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Asbury Community Development Corp; the most unlike its peers is Humane Society of Genesee County. 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

27 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. 27 of the 39 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
11/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GENESEE COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION: $314,356 · OtherGENESEE COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATIONGENESEE COUNTY PARKS AND: $313,356 · OtherGENESEE COUNTY PARKS ANDGENESEE COUNTY HUMAN SOCIETY: $34,820 · Other+25 more: $198,000 · Other+25 moreHUMANE SOCIETY OF GENESEE COUNTY: $174,433 · AnimalsHUMANE SOCIETY …Flint Institute of Arts: $25,000 · Arts & CultureFlint Institute of Music: $17,500 · Arts & CultureCHOSEN FEW ARTS COUNCIL: $12,500 · Arts & CultureTHE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $5,000 · Arts & CultureFlint Cultural Center Corporation: $5,000 · Arts & CultureFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $54,000 · Food & NutritionHURLEY FOUNDATION: $44,000 · Civil RightsGENESYS HURLEY CANCER INSTITUTE: $33,000 · HealthCROSSOVER OUTREACH: $18,000 · Human ServicesWITHOUT WALLS OUTREACH: $1,000 · Human Services
Other$860,532Animals$174,433Arts & Culture$65,000Food & Nutrition$54,000Civil Rights$44,000Health$33,000Human Services$19,000

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 budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF GENESEE COUNTY: $174,433 over 5y, 13% of budgetFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $54,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHURLEY FOUNDATION: $44,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetGENESYS HURLEY CANCER INSTITUTE: $33,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFlint Institute of Arts: $25,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CRIM FITNESS FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCROSSOVER OUTREACH: $18,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetFlint Institute of Music: $17,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetYMCA of Greater Flint: $17,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGenesee Area Focus Fund: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCHOSEN FEW ARTS COUNCIL: $12,500 over 5y, 4.2% of budgetELE'S PLACE INC: $11,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGenesee County Habitat for Humanity: $11,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFLINT JEWISH FEDERATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCommunities First Inc: $10,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFLINT SOAP BOX DERBY: $9,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetKettering University: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHELTER OF FLINT INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FLINT DIAPER BANK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTHE FLINT CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFlint Cultural Center Corporation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF FOR MAR FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetFlint & Genesee Group: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFaith Foundation Resources: $4,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetASBURY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER FLINT: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWITHOUT WALLS OUTREACH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

Stella & Frederick Lo…Charles Stewart Mott …Community Foundation …Burroughs Memorial Tr…The Whiting FoundationNartel Family Foundat…The Hagerman Foundati…The Serra FoundationRuth Mott FoundationChild Welfare Society…Anna Paulina Foundati…Tummala Charitable Fo…
Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable TrustOH45.4× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · Community Foundation of Greater Flint · Burroughs Memorial Trust · The Whiting Foundation · Nartel Family Foundation · The Hagerman Foundation · The Serra Foundation · Ruth Mott Foundation · Child Welfare Society of Flint · Anna Paulina Foundation · Tummala Charitable 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 Merkley Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merkley Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%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
    9report 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 39 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 Merkley’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