· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2026
- Under $10k24 grants · $107k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $82k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SISTERS OF ST FRANCIS OF THE HOLY CROSS | $28,349 |
| Individual grant recipient | $10,800 |
| SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND | $10,800 |
| FRIENDS OF KOWAK | $10,800 |
| PAULS PANTRY | $10,800 |
| NEW COMMUNITY CLINIC | $10,800 |
| SALVATORIAN MISSION WAREHOUSE | $7,400 |
| SALVATION ARMY OF BROWN COUNTY | $7,400 |
| CROSIER BROTHERS AND FATHERS | $5,900 |
| DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS | $5,900 |
| CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES | $5,900 |
| SAMARITAN'S PURSE | $5,900 |
| PROJECT HOPE | $5,700 |
| ADOPT-A-NATIVE-ELDER | $5,700 |
| XAVIER SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND | $5,700 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–26, $117k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 59% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against -53% for those funded once.
34 repeat relationships: 29 still active in FY2026, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (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 FY2026, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SHSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND10× · 2017–2026 · $135k · revenue +96%
- PPPAUL'S PANTRY INC10× · 2017–2026 · $102k · revenue +50%
- NCNEW COMMUNITY CLINIC LTD10× · 2017–2026 · $100k · revenue +71%
Funded once
- TNThrive Networks Globalone grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue -53%
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.
Since 1816, american bible society has been fulfilling its mission of making the bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford so all people may experience its life-changing message.
Sharing Christ's passion for the world by serving the most vulnerable through national churches and leaders.
To boldly engage the world's greatest crises in partnership with the church.
Medical teams international is a christian humanitarian relief agency focused on providing life-saving medical care for people in crisis.
In 2005, medical missions outreach began pointing others to the great physician through an annual medical missions trip to the developing world by partnering with local churches to reach their communities with the gospel. now more than 20…
Plant with purpose, a christian nonprofit organization, reverses deforestation and poverty around the world by transforming the lives of the rural poor. we do this through: - watershed restoration & regenerative agriculture - savings…
The christian broadcasting network's mission is preaching the gospel of jesus christ into all the world. cbn's mission is preaching the gospel of jesus christ into all the world. the mission of cbn and its affiliated organizations is to…
Connectree's vision is to help missionaries have the care and support they need, financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually, to carry out the ministry that god has called them to do. our 5 distinctives are: missionary care,…
International needs has the vision to transform lives and change communities by helping christian nationals serve both god and neighbor within their own countries.
Heart Bridge International exists to equip and empower Christians around the world to fulfill the Great Commission. The organization provides free ministry training, discipleship resources, and practical coaching to under-resourced…
Partners In Health (PIH) is a non-profit, global health organization that fights social injustice by bringing the benefits of modern medical science first and foremost to the most vulnerable communities worldwide. In Haiti, Malawi, Rwanda,…
The mission of ORPHANetwork is to partner with the the local church to break cycles of poverty amongst highly vulnerable children.
How this is measured
17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 36 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 SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND ↗
- Who funds PAUL'S PANTRY INC ↗
- Who funds NEW COMMUNITY CLINIC LTD ↗
- Who funds Friends of Kowak ↗
- Who funds XAVIER SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds Adopt-A-Native Elder ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds PROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Community Bible Study ↗
- Who funds LIVING FAITH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds American Bird Conservancy ↗
- Who funds Unbound ↗
- Who funds Mobile Hope ↗
- Who funds SMILE TRAIN INC ↗
- Who funds Thrive Networks Global ↗
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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ruth & William Merkey Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruth & William Merkey Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
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.
Play a game based on Ruth & William Merkey’s filings →