Ohio · Private foundation
Merus 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.
- $376k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 56
- Grants FY2025
- 43
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 72%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $645
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 13 to 43
- FY2022 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 10
- Total assets, FY2025
- $10M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 72% of the organizations Merus Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 62% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $193k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 56 | $376k | 59% |
| FY2024 | 43 | $313k | 72% |
| FY2023 | 30 | $141k | 80% |
| FY2022 | 13 | $82k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2022 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art Opportunities Inc | $100,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Project Destined Inc | $90,000 | 3 | 2% |
| United Way of Greater Cincinnati | $65,433 | 3 | 0% |
| Brighton Center Inc | $60,250 | 2 | 0% |
| Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Foundation | $55,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Inc | $50,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Boy Scouts of America Council 438 Dan Beard | $50,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Tennessee Performing Arts Center (Tpac) Management Corporation | $25,050 | 2 | 0% |
| Easter Seals Tristate | $25,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Clifton Cultural Arts Center | $25,000 | 1 | 2% |
Show all 74 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 27 recipients with no EIN on record ($201k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Merus Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · The Thomas J Emery Memorial · John a Schroth Family Char Tr · Elsa M Heisel Sule Charitable Trust 2005 · Ge Aerospace Foundation · The Scripps Howard Foundation · Johnson Charitable Gift Fund · Charles H Dater Foundation Inc · Robert H & Susan F Castellini Foundation · L & L Nippert Charitable Foundation Inc Attn Carter F Randolph Phd
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Merus Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Merus 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.
About Merus Foundation
- How much does Merus Foundation give?
- Merus Foundation reported 56 grants totaling $375,964 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 13 and 43 organizations a year over FY2022 to FY2024.
- What does Merus Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2022 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (27%), Education (16%), Community Improvement (12%).
- Who are Merus Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2022 to FY2025: Art Opportunities Inc ($100k), Project Destined Inc ($90k), United Way of Greater Cincinnati ($65k).
- Does Merus Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 72% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Merus Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Merus Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation, Duke Energy Foundation.
- Where is Merus Foundation based?
- Merus Foundation is based in OH.
Play a game based on Merus’ filings →