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The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2.1M
Granted FY2021
8
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$1.6M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

71% of The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Orange County Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 6 organizations, $2M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

7
’17
8
’18
6
’19
9
’20
6
’21
7
’22
7
’23
4
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$6.9MPhilanthropy$4.3MArts & Culture$1.8MSocial Science$1.7MInternational$400kFood & Nutrition$310kHuman Services$180kReligion$145kOther$0
02FY2021 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $62k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $491k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.6M
$80,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$41M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UC IRVINE SHAPING THE FUTURE CAMPAIGN$1,550,000
THE MERAGE INSTITUTE$215,000
SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS$145,500
C4L KIDS FOUNDATIONS INC$80,000
PACIFIC SYMPHONY$50,000
EL SOL ACADEMY FOUNDATION$25,000
ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART$24,000
JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY$12,875
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 (FY18–23, $145k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $42k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $26k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $26k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $26k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $13k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $13k → 10%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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 16 repeat orgs$810k to everyone else

16 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2021, 8 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
8

Total granted

$11M
$710k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+184%

Still filing today

69%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyHuman ServicesHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2018–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +55%
  • SH
    SAGE HILL SCHOOL
    2× · 2017–2018 · $350k · revenue +70%
  • SC
    Segerstrom Center for the Arts
    5× · 2017–2024 · $336k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • TK
    THE KEY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $400k
  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +3%
  • SM
    ST MARGARETS EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
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
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
2
Orlando Philharmonic
—
3
Los Angeles International Dance Festival
—
4
The Sergio Franchi Music Foundation
Arts & Culture
5
The Kranzberg Arts Foundation
Arts & Culture
6
Oc Players League
Recreation & Sports
7
Orange County School of the Arts

We provide an unparalleled arts and acdademic education in a creative, challenging and nurturing environment to a diverse student body passionate about the arts, preparing them to reach their highest potential.

Education
8
The Honarkar Foundation
Public Benefit
9
Ojai Festivals Ltd

The ojai music festival serves as a creative music laboratory for pioneering new works,championing adventurous programming, and working with today's emerging artists with events during the year and the ojai music festival serves as a…

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
11
House of Sol
Education
12
Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center Inc

The hammer museum at ucla believes in the promise of art and ideas to illuminate our lives and build a more just world.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Orange County Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Simbelle Productions. 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

16 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. 16 of the 27 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
12/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4,337,000 · PhilanthropyORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONTHE MERAGE INSTITUTE: $1,655,000 · PhilanthropyTHE MERAGE INSTITUTEUC IRVINE SHAPING THE FUTURE CAMPAIGN: $4,572,800 · OtherUC IRVINE SHAPING THE FUTURE CAMPAIGNTHE KEY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherTHE KEY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATIONST MARY'S: $300,000 · OtherSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK: $210,000 · Other+8 more: $306,650 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION: $1,111,400 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF …C4L Kids Foundations Inc: $400,000 · EducationC4L Kids Found…SAGE HILL SCHOOL: $350,000 · EducationSAGE HILL SCHO…EL SOL ACADEMY FOUNDATION: $205,000 · EducationEL SOL ACADEMY…SIMBELLE PRODUCTIONS: $800,000 · Arts & CultureSIMBELLE PRO…Segerstrom Center for the Arts: $335,888 · Arts & CultureSegerstrom C…Pacific Symphony: $294,200 · Arts & CulturePacific Symp…ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $251,000 · Arts & CultureORANGE COUNT…+2 more: $60,000 · Arts & CultureJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $145,250 · Human ServicesSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC: $100,000 · Food & NutritionCHOC FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Health
Philanthropy$5,992,000Other$5,789,450Education$2,066,400Arts & Culture$1,741,088Human Services$145,250Food & Nutrition$100,000Health$50,000

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 budgetORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4,337,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetTHE MERAGE INSTITUTE: $1,655,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION: $1,111,400 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetSIMBELLE PRODUCTIONS: $800,000 over 2y, 91% of budgetC4L Kids Foundations Inc: $400,000 over 5y, 80% of budgetSAGE HILL SCHOOL: $350,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSegerstrom Center for the Arts: $335,888 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPacific Symphony: $294,200 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $251,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetEL SOL ACADEMY FOUNDATION: $205,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY: $145,250 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LARRY AND HELEN HOAG FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetORANGE COUNTY MUSIC AND DANCE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCHOC FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFestival Of Arts Of Laguna Beach: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% 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 ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE MERAGE INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SIMBELLE PRODUCTIONS ↗
  • Who funds C4L Kids Foundations Inc ↗
  • Who funds SAGE HILL SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Segerstrom Center for the Arts ↗
  • Who funds Pacific Symphony ↗
  • Who funds ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds EL SOL ACADEMY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE LARRY AND HELEN HOAG FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ORANGE COUNTY MUSIC AND DANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds CHOC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Festival Of Arts Of Laguna Beach ↗

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.

Orange County Communi…Rpm FoundationTarsadia FoundationSamueli FoundationNational Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Orange County Community FoundationCA19.1× affinity7 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Orange County Community Foundation · Rpm Foundation · Tarsadia Foundation · Samueli Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family 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 27 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family’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