Illinois · Private foundation
Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $62k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 11
- Grants FY2024
- 13
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 31%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $2,500
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $20,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 32
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 4
- Total assets, FY2024
- $997k
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 31% of the organizations Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 17% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $17k 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 11 | $62k | 27% |
| FY2023 | 13 | $102k | 31% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $43k | 8% |
| FY2021 | 18 | $75k | 17% |
| FY2020 | 22 | $70k | 50% |
| FY2019 | 32 | $77k | 31% |
| FY2018 | 32 | $77k | 75% |
| FY2017 | 11 | $97k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
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 FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Friends of Shaalei Torah Inc | $147,000 | 6 | 46% |
| Chicago Chesed Fund | $107,600 | 8 | 0% |
| Ezer Mizion | $26,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Cong Zichron Avos | $13,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Mifal Chesed Inc | $10,300 | 5 | n/a |
| Adi Israel Foundation Inc | $6,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Ne Eman Foundation USA | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Yeshiva Bais Yisroel | $2,500 | 2 | n/a |
| Lev Berel Inc | $2,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Brothers for Life | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
Show all 20 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Friends of Shaalei Torah Inc | $147,000 | 6 | 46% |
| Chicago Chesed Fund | $107,600 | 8 | 0% |
| Ezer Mizion | $26,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Cong Zichron Avos | $13,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Mifal Chesed Inc | $10,300 | 5 | n/a |
| Adi Israel Foundation Inc | $6,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Ne Eman Foundation USA | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Yeshiva Bais Yisroel | $2,500 | 2 | n/a |
| Lev Berel Inc | $2,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Brothers for Life | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Shalva Inc | $1,500 | 3 | 0% |
| Margolin Hebrew Academy-Yeshiva of the South | $1,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Friends of Yad Sarah Inc | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Yeshiva Shearis Yisroel-Veitzener Cheder Inc | $750 | 1 | n/a |
| Hebrew Theological College | $640 | 1 | n/a |
| Telshe Yeshiva-Chicago Rabbinical College Telshe-Chicago | $500 | 1 | n/a |
| Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation | $500 | 1 | 0% |
| Ohr Halacha Inc | $400 | 2 | 0% |
| Simchas Yom Tov Inc | $360 | 1 | 0% |
| Arie Crown Hebrew Day School | $360 | 1 | n/a |
Plus 47 recipients with no EIN on record ($274k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 12 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
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: Jewish Communal Fund · Jack Adjmi Family Foundation Inc · The Jmg Foundation · The Ojc Fund · Dennis and Joyce Ruben Foundation · Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation · Zichron Chaim Charity Fund · Kehillah Jewish Education Fund · Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family Foundation · Bitton Family Foundation Inc · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc
How this is measured
Compare Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sam & Sara Mermelstein 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.
About Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation
- How much does Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation give?
- Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation reported 11 grants totaling $62,020 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 32 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Religion (47%), Human Services (23%), Philanthropy (11%).
- Who are Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: American Friends of Shaalei Torah Inc ($147k), Chicago Chesed Fund ($108k), Ezer Mizion ($26k).
- Does Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 31% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family 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 Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Jewish Communal Fund, Jack Adjmi Family Foundation Inc, The Jmg Foundation.
- Where is Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation based?
- Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Sam & Sara Mermelstein Family’s filings →