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The Mere Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Mere 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.

$70k
Granted FY2023
2
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$55k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0181% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$105kHousing & Shelter$57kEducation$55kPhilanthropy$38kFood & Nutrition$30kYouth Development$10kScience & Tech$3kOther$0
02FY2023 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $55k
$55,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$70k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE CENTER FOR ARTS & INNOVATION$55,000
CAMILLUS HOUSE$15,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 9% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY JEWISH STUDIES FUND: $5k → 9%SEE STATEMENT A: $193k → 7%BOCA RATON ARTS DISTRICT EXPLORATORY CORP: $10k → 11%PTA FLORIDA CONGRESS: $5k → 13%SEE ATTACHMENT B: $93k → 7%CHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $10k → 11%SEE ATTACHMENT B: $91k → 7%COMMUNITY CLASSROOM PROJECT: $5k → 11%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.
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 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
University of Miami
—
2
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
3
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
4
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
5
The Merage Institute
Philanthropy
6
Us Middle East Project Inc

The organization's mission is to engage in non partisan analysis of u.s. foreign policy in the middle east, with special emphasis on the middle east peace process, and to present policymakers in the united states, in the region and in the…

International
7
St Mary's University

St. marys university, as a catholic marianist university, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence.

—
8
The Center for the Study of Great Ideas

Philosophical education

Arts & Culture
9
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
10
The New Group Inc

The new group is an artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. while constantly evolving, we maintain an ensemble approach to all our work and an articulated style of emotional…

Arts & Culture
11
Berggruen Institute
Education
12
Columbia University Press

Enhance Columbia University's education mission by acquiring and publishing outstanding original works by scholars and others that contribute to an understanding of global human concerns. Columbia University Press became part of the…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Mad Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Meru Foundation. 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

10 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. 10 of the 15 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CAMILLUS HOUSE INC: $57,000 · OtherCAMILLUS HOUSE INCNORTH BROWARD - PSTA INC: $40,000 · OtherNORTH BROWARD - PSTA INCBOCA BALLET THEATRE: $25,000 · OtherBOCA BALLET THEATREMERU FOUNDATION: $12,500 · OtherMERU FOUNDATIONTHE GURDJIEFF FOUNDATION: $12,500 · OtherTHE GURDJIEFF FOUNDATIONCHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $10,000 · OtherCHILD MIND INSTITUTE+2 more: $10,000 · Other+2 moreTHE CENTER FOR ARTS AND INNOVATION: $65,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR ARTS AND INN…ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY …THE MAD FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · EducationTHE MAD FOUNDA…COMMUNITY CLASSROOM PROJECT INC: $5,000 · EducationCOMMUNITY CLAS…DUKE UNIVERSITY: $5,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSIT…UNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED JE…LOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER INC: $2,500 · Science & Tech
Other$167,000Arts & Culture$75,000Education$40,000Philanthropy$25,000Science & Tech$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE CENTER FOR ARTS AND INNOVATION: $65,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCAMILLUS HOUSE INC: $57,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNORTH BROWARD - PSTA INC: $40,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetTHE MAD FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERU FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 1y, 42% of budgetROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY CLASSROOM PROJECT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 9.6% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER INC: $2,500 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Mere Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Mere 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 15 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $91k of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Mere’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