· Private foundation
The Jess Merkle 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.
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
- $10k–50k5 grants · $60k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $335k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| KINGS HIGHWAY CHRISTIAN CHURCH | $220,000 |
| SALVATION ARMY OF SHREVEPORT BOSSIER CITY | $115,000 |
| CHRISTIAN SERVICE INSTITUE | $20,000 |
| LOUISIANA UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES | $10,000 |
| COMMUNITY RENEWAL INTERNATIONAL | $10,000 |
| HELPING OTHERS HALFWAY HOUSE | $10,000 |
| HIGHLAND CLUB | $10,000 |
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 (FY22–25, $40k) land where the poverty rate runs at 32%, against an area that typically sits at 20%. 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.
12 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 44% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $220k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CRCOMMUNITY RENEWAL INTERNATIONAL INC7× · 2017–2025 · $110k · revenue +45%
- SAStoner Avenue Bridge House Inc8× · 2017–2024 · $96k · revenue +14% · 26% of their budget
- MLMARTIN LUTHER KING HEALTH CENTER DBA MLK HEALTH CENTER & PHARMACY8× · 2017–2024 · $90k · revenue +16%
Funded once
- SLST LUKES EPISCOPAL MOBILE MEDICAL MINISTRY INCone grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +21%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $9k
- SCSamaritan Counseling Centerone grant, 2020 · $2k · revenue -95%
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.
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.
Provide faith based sober living program for individuals that struggle with addiction and substance abuse
The house of miracles provides women with rehab counseling in a drug and alcohol free environment. their stay is generally three months. upon departure, residents have maintained their sobriety. the program is extremely successful.
Christian drug and alcohol recovery program
The corporation was organized to provide counseling and rehabiltation for individuals with alcohol and substance abuse
Alcohol and drug rehabilitation, counseling, and spiritual guidance.
Recovery House and Addiction Counseling
To provide halfway house & treatment for recovery
Rehabilitation
Marys house mission is to provide transitional living environment which provides residential care, individual and group counceling, assessment
A faith-based, sober living house, for men who are serious about maintaining a life of sobriety from addictive substances.
To provide a safe and healthy environment for the alcoholic/addict and their families to find recovery and outpatient addiction treatment services
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 16 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.
- Who funds Oakwood Home for Women Inc ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY RENEWAL INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds Stoner Avenue Bridge House Inc ↗
- Who funds MARTIN LUTHER KING HEALTH CENTER DBA MLK HEALTH CENTER & PHARMACY ↗
- Who funds HIGHLAND CLUB ↗
- Who funds LOUISIANA UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds ST LUKES EPISCOPAL MOBILE MEDICAL MINISTRY INC ↗
- Who funds Samaritan Counseling Center ↗
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: Community Foundation of North Louisiana · Grayson Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Jess Merkle Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Jess Merkle Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Jess Merkle’s filings →