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The Merlin Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Merlin 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.

$3.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
27
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$1.1M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$21MEducation$7.6MAnimals$3.5MYouth Development$1.4MArts & Culture$527kSocial Science$500kScience & Tech$10kPhilanthropy$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $245k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+4 grants · $2.6M
$50,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$8.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND$1,100,000
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$1,000,000
EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND$250,000
THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY$250,000
HEROES PROJECT$180,000
SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE$100,000
OUTDOOR AFRO$100,000
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES$100,000
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY$100,000
ALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION$100,000
OCEANA$100,000
ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE$50,000
WILDERNESS WORKSHOP$50,000
AMERICAN RIVERS$50,000
WILDERNESS LAND TRUST$50,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 95% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%OUTDOOR AFRO: $100k → 10%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $100k → 10%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1.0M → 14%THE UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $201k → 14%AMERICANS FOR OXFORD: $3.0M → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $2.6M → 28%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: $1.1M → 14%COLORODO OPEN LANDS: $125k → 7%ALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $100k → 10%PRINCETON UNIVERSTIY: $1.3M → 11%JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE: $200k → 6%VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS: $150k → 9%OUTDOOR AFRO: $100k → 10%THE UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $150k → 14%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: $1.0M → 14%JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE: $100k → 6%THE UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $150k → 14%AMERICANS FOR OXFORD: $2.0M → 17%AMERICANS FOR OXFORD: $340k → 17%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 10%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 10%AMERICANS FOR OXFORD: $210k → 17%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 10%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 10%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 10%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $250k → 10%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.1M → 14%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.1M → 14%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.0M → 14%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.0M → 14%OCEANA: $250k → 14%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.6M → 14%WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $1.0M → 14%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $800k → 14%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $1.0M → 17%EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $900k → 17%THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $250k → 14%AFRICAN PARKS: $100k → 17%HEROES PROJECT: $210k → 14%LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS: $100k → 17%HEROES PROJECT: $195k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $188k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $180k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $180k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $175k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $172k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $166k → 14%HEROES PROJECT: $105k → 14%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

AK
VT
WA
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
NC
DC
MS
TX
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$35M · 44 repeat orgs$3.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

44 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 23 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

44
11

Total granted

$35M
$2.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+1%

Still filing today

70%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M 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
EnvironmentAnimalsEducationArts & CultureFood & NutritionCivil RightsOther
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

  • TW
    THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $7.8M · revenue +27%
  • AF
    AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC
    5× · 2017–2022 · $5.6M · revenue +17%
  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    6× · 2020–2025 · $3.0M · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • PU
    PRINCETON UNIVERSTIY
    one grant, 2019 · $1.3M
  • TR
    THE RHODES TRUST
    one grant, 2024 · $500k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $100k
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
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
2
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
3
Cascadia Wildlands

Cascadia wildlands defends and restores cacasia's wild ecosystems in the forests,in the courts, and in the streets. we envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and…

Environment
4
Akashinga Inc

Deliver ecological stability and long-term protection of large-scale wilderness by supporting and empowering local communities.

Animals
5
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.": - count it: our work is…

International
6
National Forest Foundation

The national forest foundation (nff), chartered by congress, turns america's love of nature into meaningful action for 193-million acre national forest system through on the ground program work and grant making activities, and accepts and…

Recreation & Sports
7
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
8
Amazon Conservation Team

The amazon conservation team (act) partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture.

Science & Tech
9
California Wildlife Foundation

The foundation works with diverse groups representing many interests to acquire and restore critical wildlife habitat and protecting species

Animals
10
African Wildlife Foundation Inc

Awf's mission is to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern africa. we work to equip african governments, institutions, business, and communities with the tools, insights, and support they need to define, own, and realize a…

Animals
11
Center for Natural Lands Management

The mission of the center for natural lands management is (a) to conserve native species, their habitat and functioning ecosystems in perpetuity, (b) to own and/or manage lands in an ecologically beneficial manner consistent with local,…

Environment
12
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Wilderness Society; the most unlike its peers is Wildlife Conservation Society. 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

38 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. 38 of the 62 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/38
Grantees still filing
25/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUND: $7,150,000 · OtherEARTHJUSTICE LEAGUE DEFENSE FUNDHEROES PROJECT: $1,571,000 · OtherHEROES PROJECTPRINCETON UNIVERSTIY: $1,250,000 · OtherPRINCETON UNIVERSTIYWORLD WILDLIFE FUND: $1,150,000 · OtherWORLD WILDLIFE FUNDTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,000,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYTHE RHODES TRUST: $500,000 · Other+23 more: $1,513,412 · Other+23 moreTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $7,750,464 · EnvironmentTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETYWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,100,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INCOCEANA INC: $690,000 · EnvironmentASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $600,000 · Environment+15 more: $2,191,000 · Environment+15 moreAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $5,605,000 · EducationAMERICANS FOR OXFOR…UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $600,874 · EducationUC SANTA BARBARA FO…VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS INC: $500,000 · EducationVERMONT COLLEGE OF …+1 more: $4,000 · EducationWildlife Conservation Society: $3,050,000 · AnimalsWildlife Co…JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION: $510,206 · AnimalsJANE GOODAL…+4 more: $185,000 · AnimalsWILLIAM J PALMER PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $135,000 · Recreation & SportsAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OXFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureKINHAVEN MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST: $30,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$14,134,412Environment$13,331,464Education$6,709,874Animals$3,745,206Recreation & Sports$135,000Arts & Culture$52,000Food & Nutrition$30,000

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 budgetTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $7,750,464 over 8y, 4.0% of budgetAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $5,605,000 over 5y, 6.9% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $3,050,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetOCEANA INC: $690,000 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $600,874 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $600,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION: $510,206 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetVERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS INC: $500,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetTHE WILDERNESS LAND TRUST: $281,000 over 7y, 4.3% of budgetWILDERNESS WORKSHOP: $225,000 over 5y, 3.1% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $200,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetOUTDOOR AFRO: $200,000 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetTOMPKINS CONSERVATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOLORADO OPEN LANDS: $195,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHORNE ECOLOGICAL INSTITUTE: $190,000 over 8y, 2.4% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $180,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetOPEN SPACE INSTITUTE INC: $150,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetWILLIAM J PALMER PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $135,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $110,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE: $100,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetREWILD: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $85,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEO WILSON BIODIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $50,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OXFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA INC: $50,000 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetAMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCONSERVATION COLORADO: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILTON ACADEMY: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKINHAVEN MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC ↗
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds OCEANA INC ↗
  • Who funds UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ↗
  • Who funds JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION ↗
  • Who funds VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE WILDERNESS LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds WILDERNESS WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN RIVERS INC ↗
  • Who funds OUTDOOR AFRO ↗
  • Who funds TOMPKINS CONSERVATION ↗
  • Who funds COLORADO OPEN LANDS ↗
  • Who funds THORNE ECOLOGICAL INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds OPEN SPACE INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds WILLIAM J PALMER PARKS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds REWILD ↗
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds EO WILSON BIODIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗

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.

The Nature ConservancyResources Legacy FundColorado Gives Founda…Seattle FoundationVanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…Network for GoodNational Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …
The Nature ConservancyVA15.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Nature Conservancy · Resources Legacy Fund · Colorado Gives Foundation · Seattle Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Merlin Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Merlin 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 0%
  • Milton Academy: 0% of income from government
  • Vermont College of Fine Arts Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Kinhaven Music School Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 Merlin Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Merlin 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 62 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 Merlin’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