Minnesota · Private foundation
Ruth & William Merkey Foundation
Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $189k
- Granted FY2026(still arriving)
- 30
- Grants FY2026
- 30
- Organizations funded FY2025
- 0%
- First-time grantees FY2025
- Median grant, FY2026
- $5,700
- Largest grant, FY2026
- $28,349
- Organizations funded a year
- 30 to 31
- FY2019 to FY2025
- States reached, FY2026
- 14
- Total assets, FY2026
- $2.0M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2025, 0% of the organizations Ruth & William Merkey Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 0% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026still arriving | 30 | $189k | 3% |
| FY2025 | 30 | $184k | 0% |
| FY2024 | 30 | $161k | 0% |
| FY2023 | 30 | $175k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 30 | $193k | 3% |
| FY2021 | 30 | $190k | 3% |
| FY2020 | 30 | $191k | 0% |
| FY2019 | 31 | $198k | 0% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 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, FY2017 to FY2026, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sisters of St Francis of the Holy Cross | $267,345 | 10 | n/a |
| Second Harvest Heartland | $134,747 | 10 | 0% |
| Paul's Pantry Inc | $102,264 | 10 | 0% |
| New Community Clinic Ltd | $99,716 | 10 | 0% |
| Friends of Kowak | $62,340 | 6 | 16% |
| Catholic Relief Services | $60,800 | 10 | n/a |
| Benedictine Mission House | $56,000 | 10 | n/a |
| Xavier Society for the Blind | $55,600 | 10 | 1% |
| Medecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc | $53,450 | 10 | 0% |
| Adopt-A-Native Elder | $48,700 | 10 | 0% |
Show all 24 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sisters of St Francis of the Holy Cross | $267,345 | 10 | n/a |
| Second Harvest Heartland | $134,747 | 10 | 0% |
| Paul's Pantry Inc | $102,264 | 10 | 0% |
| New Community Clinic Ltd | $99,716 | 10 | 0% |
| Friends of Kowak | $62,340 | 6 | 16% |
| Catholic Relief Services | $60,800 | 10 | n/a |
| Benedictine Mission House | $56,000 | 10 | n/a |
| Xavier Society for the Blind | $55,600 | 10 | 1% |
| Medecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc | $53,450 | 10 | 0% |
| Adopt-A-Native Elder | $48,700 | 10 | 0% |
| Salesian Missions Inc | $48,200 | 10 | n/a |
| Samaritan's Purse | $47,850 | 10 | 0% |
| Project Hope - the People-To-People Health Foundation Inc | $41,300 | 10 | 0% |
| Rushes Wilderness Foundation Inc | $40,000 | 10 | n/a |
| Community Bible Study | $35,050 | 10 | 0% |
| Salvatorian Mission Warehouse Inc | $34,700 | 5 | n/a |
| Living Faith Foundation | $28,100 | 10 | 3% |
| Eternal Word Television Network Inc | $23,500 | 10 | 0% |
| American Bird Conservancy | $17,300 | 10 | 0% |
| Unbound | $6,350 | 10 | 0% |
| Fathers of St Edmund Southern Missions Inc | $6,300 | 3 | n/a |
| Mobile Hope | $5,100 | 1 | n/a |
| Smile Train Inc | $3,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Thrive Networks Global | $2,500 | 1 | n/a |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 12 recipients with no EIN on record ($569k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Ruth & William Merkey 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: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ruth & William Merkey Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Ruth & William Merkey 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 Ruth & William Merkey Foundation
- How much does Ruth & William Merkey Foundation give?
- Ruth & William Merkey Foundation reported 30 grants totaling $189,299 in its FY2026 IRS filing. It funded between 30 and 31 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2025.
- What does Ruth & William Merkey Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2026, its largest causes are Religion (39%), Human Services (14%), Food & Nutrition (13%).
- Who are Ruth & William Merkey Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2026: Sisters of St Francis of the Holy Cross ($267k), Second Harvest Heartland ($135k), Paul's Pantry Inc ($102k).
- Does Ruth & William Merkey Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2025, 0% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Ruth & William Merkey 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 Ruth & William Merkey Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.
- Where is Ruth & William Merkey Foundation based?
- Ruth & William Merkey Foundation is based in MN.
Play a game based on Ruth & William Merkey’s filings →