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Merrill Family Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Merrill Family Foundation Inc

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.

$975k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$3.8MHousing & Shelter$1.7MHealth$619kYouth Development$428kArts & Culture$359kReligion$325kHuman Services$225kPhilanthropy$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k4 grants · $675k
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$200,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$6.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SUNY COBLESKILL FOUNDATION$300,000
TURNING POINT PROGRAM$225,000
OSU FOUNDATION$200,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$200,000
LIFEWORKS NORTHWEST$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 (FY18–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ST MARY'S HOME FOR BOYS: $5k → 8%ST MARY'S HOME FOR BOYS: $3k → 8%ST MARY'S HOME FOR BOYS: $3k → 8%SHERWOOD4KIDSSAKE: $100 → 8%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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.1M · 21 repeat orgs$288k to everyone else

21 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
11

Total granted

$7.1M
$63k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+33%

Still filing today

38%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $225k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • Oregon State University Foundation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +42%
  • Portland YouthBuilders
    4× · 2019–2022 · $403k · revenue +31%
  • OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING
    6× · 2017–2022 · $315k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • BU
    BUSHNELL UNIVERSITY FKA NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $39k · revenue -14%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF NW FUSION
    one grant, 2019 · $8k
  • SF
    SMALL FRIENDS SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $8k
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
Jubilee Hall Pdx
Employment
2
Seattle University

Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.

—
3
Oregon Energy Systems Technology and Research
Environment
4
Oregon Association of Public Accountants Scholarsh
—
5
University of Portland

The university of portland, an independently governed catholic university guided by the congregation of holy cross, addresses significant questions of human concern through interdisciplinary studies of the arts, sciences, and humanities…

Education
6
Earth Day Oregon
—
7
Portland State University Foundation

Portland state university foundation is responsible for raising and managing private resources to advance psu's priorities and mission to be a leading urban university.

—
8
The Portland Playhouse

Portland playhouse's mission is to celebrate the complexity of the human experience. each season we produce 4-5 professional plays and community programs to serve 12,000 people. our free education programs have made space for 10,000+ young…

Arts & Culture
9
Oak Hill School

The mission of oak hill school is to provide the best pre-kindergarten through 8th grade education, creating caring and responsible critical thinkers.

—
10
Portland Esl Scholarship Fund
Philanthropy
11
The Oregon Community Foundation Trust

The oregon community foundation trust is a supporting organization of the oregon community foundation (ocf). the trust makes grants that further the mission of ocf which is to improve the lives of all oregonians through the power of…

Philanthropy
12
Pacific Northwest Music Project
Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lifeworks Nw; the most unlike its peers is Archer Glen Elementary School. 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

16 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. 16 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/16
Grantees still filing
11/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SUNY COBLESKILL FOUNDATION: $1,307,970 · OtherSUNY COBLESKILL FOUNDATIONWILLAMETTE WEST HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1,280,000 · OtherWILLAMETTE WEST HABITAT FOR HUMANITYTHE COLLEGE FOUNDATION AT: $890,300 · OtherTHE COLLEGE FOUNDATION ATHABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $400,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITYMURRAY HILLS CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $289,000 · OtherMURRAY HILLS CHRISTIAN CHURCHTURNING POINT PROGRAM: $225,000 · Other+14 more: $146,375 · OtherOregon State University Foundation: $1,736,150 · EducationOregon State University Foun…Sherwood Education Foundation: $112,588 · EducationSherwood Education Foundatio…+2 more: $39,100 · EducationPortland YouthBuilders: $402,525 · Youth DevelopmentOREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $315,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $6,940 · Arts & CultureLIFEWORKS NW: $253,770 · Health+1 more: $1,000 · HealthST MARY'S HOME: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $100 · Human Services
Other$4,538,645Education$1,887,838Youth Development$402,525Arts & Culture$321,940Health$254,770Human Services$10,100

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 budgetOregon State University Foundation: $1,736,150 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetWILLAMETTE WEST HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1,280,000 over 6y, 13% of budgetPortland YouthBuilders: $402,525 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetOREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $315,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetLIFEWORKS NW: $253,770 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSherwood Education Foundation: $112,588 over 4y, 36% of budgetBUSHNELL UNIVERSITY FKA NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: $39,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST MARY'S HOME: $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSherwood Foundation for the Arts: $3,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetOREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $2,940 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTheatre in the Grove: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW AVENUES FOR YOUTH INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetArcher Glen Elementary School: $100 over 1y, 0.1% 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 Oregon State University Foundation ↗
  • Who funds WILLAMETTE WEST HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ↗
  • Who funds Portland YouthBuilders ↗
  • Who funds OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING ↗
  • Who funds LIFEWORKS NW ↗
  • Who funds TURNING POINT PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds Sherwood Education Foundation ↗
  • Who funds BUSHNELL UNIVERSITY FKA NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S HOME ↗
  • Who funds Sherwood Foundation for the Arts ↗
  • Who funds OREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Theatre in the Grove ↗
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW AVENUES FOR YOUTH INC ↗
  • Who funds SHERWOOD 4 KIDS SAKE ↗
  • Who funds Archer Glen Elementary School ↗

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.

The Reser Family Foun…The Oregon Community …The Blackbaud Giving …American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Reser Family FoundationOR13.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Reser Family Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Merrill Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Merrill Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • New Avenues for Youth Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Portland YouthBuilders: 10% of income from government
  • Lifeworks Nw: 7% of income from government
  • Bushnell University Fka Northwest Christian University: 5% of income from government
  • Oregon Symphony Association: 5% of income from government
  • Oregon Public Broadcasting: 0% of income from government
  • Oregon State University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Merrill Family Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Merrill Family Foundation Inc 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 33 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 Merrill 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