· Private foundation
Smerge Family Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k5 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FENWICK HIGH SCHOOL | $75,000 |
| THE DOMINICAN FRIARS FOUNDATION | $25,000 |
| THE CATHOLIC FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL | $5,200 |
| PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA | $5,000 |
| UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER | $2,500 |
| CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES | $1,000 |
| DPS TROOPERS FOUNDATION (DPSTF) | $1,000 |
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 (FY19–20, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% 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
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- JCJESUIT COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL4× · 2019–2022 · $135k
- FHFENWICK HIGH SCHOOL2× · 2021–2024 · $80k
- TCTHE CATHOLIC FOUNDATION2× · 2021–2024 · $20k
Funded once
- ARAMERICAN RED CROSSone grant, 2019 · $15k
- 2R287 RC FIRE & RESCUEgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +37%
- PMPEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCEgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +247%
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.
7 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 7 of the 19 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.
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 Blackbaud Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Smerge Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Smerge Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Smerge Family’s filings →