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The Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation

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.

$121k
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$52k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Animals$866kPhilanthropy$333kHuman Services$89kInternational$72kHealth$58kEducation$58kFood & Nutrition$57kYouth Development$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k20 grants · $24k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $52k
$1,250
Median grant
9
States reached
$861k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WAYSIDE WAIFS$51,730
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY$35,000
PET RESOURCE CENTER OF KANSAS CITY$10,000
HARVESTERS$2,500
JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS BUREAU$2,500
COMMUNITY HEALTH$2,500
SCHOOLS3$2,500
CARMEL PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION$2,500
THE NIGHT MINISTRY$1,500
MADRE$1,250
KINGS COUNTY TENNIS LEAGUE$1,250
SUTTER HEALTH - CPMC FOUNDATION$1,250
YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN'S RIGHTS$1,000
HIAS$750
JANE'S DUE PROCESS$750
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $66k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $3k → 14%AL OTRO LADO: $2k → 14%WASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%ROOM TO GROW: $250 → 28%EPEC: $15k → 15%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $2k → 14%EPEC: $15k → 15%YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $5k → 14%CAPITAL IDEA: $2k → 10%EPEC: $15k → 15%YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $3k → 14%YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $3k → 14%CHARITY WATER: $1k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
CT
CA
CO
MO
MD
KS
TN
DC
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 37 repeat orgs$159k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

37 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
45

Total granted

$1.1M
$154k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+28%

Still filing today

84%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthAnimalsInternationalArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WW
    WAYSIDE WAIFS INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $698k · revenue +14%
  • SN
    SPAY & NEUTER KANSAS CITY D/B/A PET RESOURCE CENTER OF KANSAS CITY
    7× · 2017–2025 · $142k · revenue +191%
  • PI
    PAWSPERITY INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $45k · revenue +594%

Funded once

  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINSgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $30k · revenue +105%
  • KC
    KANSAS CITY PET PROJECTgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +176%
  • OB
    OPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC
    one grant, 2018 · $20k · revenue +17%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
2
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
3
Kqed Inc

See schedule okqed serves the people of northern california with a community-supported alternative to commercial media, providing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions; convening community dialogue; bringing the arts to everyone;…

Arts & Culture
4
Planned Parenthood North Central States Foundation

To build and maintain financial support for planned parenthood north central states to advance and protect sexual and reproductive health care for all.

Human Services
5
Common Impact Inc

Common impact's mission is to strengthen the capacity of social change organizations, enabling them to better run and scale their programs. through its partnership with companies, common impact taps into the business skills and expertise…

Unclassified
6
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
7
Coop Careers Inc

Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

Education
8
People Inc

People inc. provides health and human services that enrich lives and communities through innovation and supportive services. with a goal to help people achieve greater independence and quality of life, people inc. provides day,…

Human Services
9
Fos Feminista Fund

Fos feminista fund was formed exclusively for charitable purposes to support, foster, aid, and enhance access to contraception, responsible parenthood, reproductive health, and empowerment of women and shall aid and support the activities…

Health
10
The Jewish Women's Archive Inc

The jewish women's archive documents jewish women's stories, elevates their voices, and inspires them to be agents of change.jwa is dedicated to expanding and transforming the historical narrative by restoring jewish women and gender…

Arts & Culture
11
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
12
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Planned Parenthood Great Plains; the most unlike its peers is Charity Global Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

71 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. 71 of the 91 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
70/71
Grantees still filing
43/71
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WAYSIDE WAIFS INC: $698,431 · AnimalsWAYSIDE WAIFS INCSPAY & NEUTER KANSAS CITY D/B/A PET RESOURCE CENTER OF KANSAS CITY: $142,026 · AnimalsSPAY & NEUTER KANSAS CITY D/B/A PET RESOURCE CENTER OF KANSA…+2 more: $25,750 · AnimalsJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $327,167 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF GR…+5 more: $14,250 · PhilanthropyBUILD INC: $15,500 · OtherBUILD INCYALE UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · OtherCARMEL PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · OtherOPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC: $20,103 · OtherOPERATION BRE…HYMAN BRAND HEBREW ACADEMY: $7,000 · OtherPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $7,250 · OtherKINGS COUNTY TENNIS LEAGUE: $7,500 · OtherJOHN HOWARD ASSOCIATION: $7,500 · Other+47 more: $104,098 · Other+47 morePAWSPERITY INC: $45,000 · Human ServicesTHE YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDRENS RIGHTS: $10,750 · Human ServicesWASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $2,500 · Human ServicesMIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $2,500 · Human Services+6 more: $7,265 · Human ServicesHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK: $35,000 · Food & NutritionGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $16,000 · Food & NutritionCentral Texas Food Bank Inc: $3,350 · Food & NutritionPLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINS: $29,626 · HealthRonald McDonald House Global: $14,000 · HealthPETS FOR LIFE INC: $5,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE HEARTLAND INC: $2,500 · Health+4 more: $2,225 · HealthSCHOOLS3: $35,000 · InternationalMADRE INC: $9,750 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC: $6,090 · International+1 more: $1,250 · International
Animals$866,207Philanthropy$341,417Other$198,951Human Services$68,015Food & Nutrition$54,350Health$53,351International$52,090

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWAYSIDE WAIFS INC: $698,431 over 9y, 2.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $327,167 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetSPAY & NEUTER KANSAS CITY D/B/A PET RESOURCE CENTER OF KANSAS CITY: $142,026 over 7y, 1.4% of budgetPAWSPERITY INC: $45,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK: $35,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOOLS3: $35,000 over 9y, 8.4% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINS: $29,626 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKANSAS CITY PET PROJECT: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetOPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC: $20,103 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $16,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD INC: $15,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetRonald McDonald House Global: $14,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDRENS RIGHTS: $10,750 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCARMEL PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMADRE INC: $9,750 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $8,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJOHN HOWARD ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetKINGS COUNTY TENNIS LEAGUE: $7,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $7,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHYMAN BRAND HEBREW ACADEMY: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS BUREAU INC: $6,250 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $6,090 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetONE MILLION DEGREES: $6,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPETS FOR LIFE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMARGARETS VILLAGE: $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budget10000 DEGREES: $3,750 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University: $3,750 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS LILITH FUND: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS INC: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCentral Texas Food Bank Inc: $3,350 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCASA MARIANELLA INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE HEARTLAND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEL PASO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DREAMYARD PROJECT INC: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREFUGEEONE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHARITY GLOBAL INC: $2,015 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO WOMEN IN TRADES: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCapital Investing in Development and Employment of Adults Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLYNN SAGE FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFFWD: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAL OTRO LADO: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFIRST DESCENTS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO SURVIVORS INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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.

Greater Kansas City C…Marion and Henry Bloc…Norman & Elaine Polsk…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Abe & Anna Bograd Mem…Nerman Family Foundat…Oppenstein Brothers F…Chicago Foundation fo…Polk Bros Foundation …American Express Foun…Ewing Marion Kauffman…The Chicago Community…
Greater Kansas City Community FoundationMO19.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation · Norman & Elaine Polsky Family Charitable Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Abe & Anna Bograd Memorial Trust 10030800 · Nerman Family Foundation · Oppenstein Brothers Foundation · Chicago Foundation for Women · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · American Express Foundation · Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • The Sundari Foundation Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
26report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Harold and Marilyn Melcher 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.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 91 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Harold and Marilyn Melcher’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home