Texas · Private foundation
Sherry & Gerald Merfish 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.
- $482k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 29
- Grants FY2024
- 20
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $76,640
- Organizations funded a year
- 7 to 20
- FY2020 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 7
- Total assets, FY2024
- $5.5M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 50% of the organizations Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 20% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $86k 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 | 27 | $430k | 44% |
| FY2023 | 20 | $421k | 50% |
| FY2022 | 13 | $395k | 62% |
| FY2021 | 11 | $616k | 73% |
| FY2020 | 7 | $445k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 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, FY2020 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston | $718,500 | 4 | 2% |
| Jewish Community Center of Dallas | $400,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Houston Area Women's Center | $236,640 | 3 | 1% |
| Promise Village Academy LLC | $138,515 | 3 | 24% |
| Congregation Emanu El | $100,360 | 3 | n/a |
| The Boulder Jewish Community Center | $80,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Mali Nieta Foundation | $57,500 | 2 | 27% |
| The Center for Reproductive Rights Inc | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Planned Parenthood | $45,000 | 2 | 6% |
| The 19th News | $40,000 | 3 | 0% |
Show all 34 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 11 recipients with no EIN on record ($245k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 27 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: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Houston Jewish Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Meyer and Ida Gordon Foundation 2 · Adler Foundation · Mechia Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund
How this is measured
Compare Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sherry & Gerald Merfish 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 Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation
- How much does Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation give?
- Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation reported 29 grants totaling $482,350 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 7 and 20 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2023.
- What does Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2024, its largest causes are Philanthropy (43%), Religion (21%), Human Services (18%).
- Who are Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2024: Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston ($719k), Jewish Community Center of Dallas ($400k), Houston Area Women's Center ($237k).
- Does Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Sherry & Gerald Merfish 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 Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Greater Houston Community Foundation, Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Houston Jewish Community Foundation.
- Where is Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation based?
- Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family Foundation is based in TX.
Play a game based on Sherry & Gerald Merfish Family’s filings →