· Private foundation
The Esther and Carl Merklein Foundation Inc
Its FY2025 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 · FY2025
- Under $10k12 grants · $26k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $18k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HUCK BOYD FOUNDATION | $17,996 |
| PHILLIPSBURG CITY LIBRARY | $4,397 |
| ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH | $3,608 |
| PHILLIPS COUNTY MINISTERIAL ALLIANC | $3,500 |
| EMANUEL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH | $3,384 |
| PHILLIPSBURG CHRISTIAN CHURCH | $2,996 |
| PHILLIPS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATIO | $1,587 |
| LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE | $1,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,500 |
| OAKS INDIAN CENTER | $1,000 |
| 4-H FAIR PREMIUM FUND | $1,000 |
| WARTBURG THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY | $1,000 |
| ECLA FUND FOR LEADERS | $500 |
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 (FY17–25, $180k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 9% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-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.
13 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- PCPHILLIPSBURG CITY LIBRARY9× · 2017–2025 · $38k
- PCPHILLIPS COUNTY MINISTERIAL ALLIANCE INC9× · 2017–2025 · $38k · revenue -17%
- EEEMMANUEL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH9× · 2017–2025 · $31k
Funded once
- IAINTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LIONSone grant, 2023 · $2k
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.
4 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. 4 of the 17 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.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Esther and Carl Merklein Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Esther and Carl Merklein Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Esther and Carl Merklein Foundation Inc?
Find your warmest path to The Esther and Carl Merklein Foundation Inc 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.
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