· Private foundation
Merlin & Verna Manatt Family Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- $10k–50k14 grants · $294k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $401k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| GREATER POWESHIEK CO FOUNDATION | $240,500 |
| MICHAEL J MANATT COMMUNITY CENTER | $105,000 |
| BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY | $55,000 |
| CITY OF BROOKLYN | $35,000 |
| BGM | $35,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $27,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| CSF BGM DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS | $25,000 |
| BROOKLYN COMM FOUNDATION | $25,000 |
| BROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $21,000 |
| BROOKLYN FOOD BANK | $20,000 |
| MAYFLOWER | $20,000 |
| ST FRANCIS MANOR FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| ALZHEIMERS DISEASE RESEARCH | $10,000 |
| IOWA HEART FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 2% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 5 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $568k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MJMICHAEL J MANATT COMMUNITY CENTER2× · 2021–2023 · $110k
- BHBROOKLYN HISTORICAL MUSEUM5× · 2017–2021 · $23k
- BTBGM TAG SMART PANEL2× · 2020–2021 · $12k
Funded once
- CWClaude W & Dolly Ahrens Foundationgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +88%
- BBBGM BEAR BACKERS-COURTSIDE CHAIRSone grant, 2021 · $6k
- SPST PATRICKS CHURCH - BROOKLYNone grant, 2017 · $5k
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.
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.
To receive contributions and gifts and to disburse funds to assist in supporting jefferson county hospital, jefferson county, iowa.
Collect and distribute funds to charitable organizations
Raise funds for renovation and preservation of the historic Iowa State Fairgrounds by soliciting gifts, donations, bequests and grants to help finance infrastructure projects to guarantee the Fair continues to be Iowa's great celebration,…
The foundation is organized to further the growth and development of private colleges and universities of higher education in iowa.
The Ankeny Community Foundation is committed to be responsible and to provide our community an opportunity to create a legacy.
Promoting, for the benefit and education of the general public, the preservation and interpretation of the history of the state of iowa.
To encourage and assist sanford sheldon in its activities in providing health care, medical, and educational services to the region.
Benefit charitable and educational community projects in the jackson county area.
The iowa women's foundation is committed to improving the lives of iowa's women and girls. we use research to uncover barriers to women's success as well as their greatest needs, and we invest our passion and resources accordingly.
Iowa first fund was organized for the purpose of educating and informing iowa voters about limited government and expanding economic opportunity.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 33 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation ↗
- Who funds BROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ST FRANCIS MANOR FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Claude W & Dolly Ahrens Foundation ↗
- Who funds IOWA HEART FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds USAGAINSTALZHEIMER'S ↗
- Who funds Grinnell-Newburg Boosters ↗
- Who funds BROOKLYN HOUSING INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Merlin & Verna Manatt Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merlin & Verna Manatt Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Merlin & Verna Manatt Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Merlin & Verna Manatt Family 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.
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