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Plinth

· Public charity

United Way of Merced County

We mobilize the caring power of our community to advance health stability and opportunity for all.

$675k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 43% of United Way of Merced County’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 6 grants below total $120,248 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $675,039 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $554,791 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

$19,852
Median grant
1
States reached
$5.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Los Panchos Mexican Seafood Inc$30,000
Prospect Theater Project$23,450
WATCH Resources Inc$19,852
LightBox Theatre Company$18,750
South Modesto Businesses United Inc$16,000
Merced Center for the Performing Ar$12,196
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $47k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WATCH Resources Inc: $20k → 14%Harvest Time: $10k → 19%CATHOLIC CHARITIES: $10k → 19%CENTER OF VISION ENHANCEMENT: $8k → 19%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

35%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$166k · 12 repeat orgs$304k to everyone else

12 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
26

Total granted

$166k
$184k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+140%

Still filing today

42%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $120k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’23’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthCrime & LegalYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • CA
    Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Merced County
    3× · 2017–2021 · $21k · revenue +74%
  • DA
    DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING SERVICE CENTER
    3× · 2017–2020 · $18k · revenue +63%
  • SR
    Sacred Rok
    3× · 2017–2019 · $9k · revenue +99%

Funded once

  • HT
    HARVEST TIME
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue -51%
  • GM
    Growing Merced Foundation
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF MERCED COUNTYgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +876%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Merced County Deputy Sheriff's Associati

The merced county deputy sheriff's association is dedicated to supporting the sworn and non-sworn employees of the merced county sheriff's deparment.

Employment
2
Merced County Sheriffs Posse

Provide search and rescue operationsprovide horse and riders for charitiable parades

—
3
Mission Merced Incorporated

MERCED RESCUE MISSION: MISSION, VISION AND PURPOSE:Our MISSION is to exhibit the love and caring of Jesus Christ; transforming lives for those in our county who are in physcial and spirtual need.Our VISION is to be the hands, feet and…

Youth Development
4
Mary's Mercy Center

Mary's Mercy Center reaffirms the dignity of the poor and marginalized by providing food, clothing, and transitional housing to homeless families and individuals.

Food & Nutrition
5
Merced Lgbtq Alliance

The mission of the Merced LGBTQ+ Alliance is to advocate for the interests of the LGBTQ+ community within Merced County. We celebrate our diversity and advocate for justice and opportunities for members of our vulnerable community. We…

Education
6
Merced College Foundation

To assist and promote the educational services of Merced community college.

Education
7
Merced County Sheriff's Department Community Law Enforcement Office

Merced county sheriff's department community law enforcement office is a non-profit organized to assist the merced county sheriff's department in accomplishing its law enforcement mission, promoting public safety and serving the community…

Crime & Legal
8
Merced County Community Action Board aka Merced County Community Action Agency

To serve, advocate, and collaborate for those in need by developing innovative strategies for self-empowerment.

Public Benefit
9
Merced County Humane Society

To save pets and foster them so they may be adopted, find safe and loving permanent homes for resuce animals.

Animals
10
Merced High School Quarterback Club

Provide financial support to mhs football

—
11
Merced County Academic Decathalon Association Inc

Academic Decathlon Association

—
12
Merced Housing Texas

Merced housing texas mission is to create and strengthen healthy communities byproviding quality, affordable housing with supportive services for individuals,families, and older adults living in low-income households. merced offers three…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Merced Theatre Foundation and the most unlike its peers is South Modesto Businesses Unite. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 22 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number27%3%<5yr12%13%5–10yr16%33%10–20yr18%27%20–35yr11%20%35–55yr17%3%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value27%3%<5yr12%8%5–10yr16%36%10–20yr18%26%20–35yr11%24%35–55yr17%3%55yr+

The field is 27% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% of your grantees by number, and just 3% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 5% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
5%
2/43
the rest of the field
12%
94/786

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

30 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 45 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/30
Grantees still filing
21/30
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Los Panchos Mexican Seafood Inc — $30,000 · OtherLos Panchos Mexican Seafood IncMERCED UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT — $21,500 · OtherMERCED UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTTHE SALVATION ARMY — $20,580 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYSOUTH MODESTO BUSINESSES UNITE — $16,000 · OtherSOUTH MODESTO BUSINESSES UNITEHABITAT FOR HUMANITY WESTSIDE MERCED COUNTY INC — $14,260 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY WESTSIDE MERCED COUNTY INCBOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (MERCED) — $13,500 · OtherBOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (MERCED)Growing Merced Foundation — $10,000 · OtherDOS PALOS YOUTH CRISIS & OUTREACH — $9,824 · OtherTHE MERCED COUNTY FOOD BANK — $15,844 · OtherTHE MERCED COUNTY FOOD BANK+14 more — $90,536 · Other+14 moreProspect Theater Project — $23,450 · Arts & CultureProspect Theater Proje…LIGHTBOX THEATRE COMPANY — $18,750 · Arts & CultureLIGHTBOX THEATRE COMPA…Merced Center for the Performing Arts — $12,196 · Arts & CultureMerced Center for the …MERCED COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL INC — $10,000 · Arts & CultureMERCED COUNTY ARTS COU…MERCED THEATRE FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Arts & CultureMERCED THEATRE FOUNDAT…MERCED SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $8,000 · Arts & CultureMERCED SYMPHONY ASSOCI…KIDS DISCOVERY STATION — $7,500 · Arts & CultureKIDS DISCOVERY STATIONMERCED COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $7,500 · Arts & CultureMERCED COUNTY HISTORIC…WATCH RESOURCES INC — $19,852 · Human ServicesWATCH RESOU…HARVEST TIME — $10,000 · Human ServicesHARVEST TIM…Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fresno — $10,000 · Human ServicesCatholic Ch…CENTER OF VISION ENHANCEMENT — $7,500 · Human ServicesCENTER OF V…DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING SERVICE CENTER — $18,446 · HealthNAMI MERCED COUNTY — $8,500 · HealthAlliance for Community Transformations — $4,000 · HealthCourt Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Merced County — $20,876 · Crime & LegalMERCED RESCUE MISSION — $3,000 · Crime & LegalMARIPOSA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $10,000 · EducationLOVE INC OF GREATER MERCED — $5,000 · EducationTHE MARCOM INSTITUTE — $5,000 · EducationBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF MERCED COUNTY — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentSacred Rok — $9,000 · Youth Development
Other$242,044Arts & Culture$97,396Human Services$47,352Health$30,946Crime & Legal$23,876Education$20,000Youth Development$19,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetProspect Theater Project — $23,450 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetCourt Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Merced County — $20,876 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetWATCH RESOURCES INC — $19,852 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDEAF AND HARD OF HEARING SERVICE CENTER — $18,446 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MERCED COUNTY FOOD BANK — $15,844 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY WESTSIDE MERCED COUNTY INC — $14,260 over 4y, 7.4% of budgetMerced Center for the Performing Arts — $12,196 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetMARIPOSA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF MERCED COUNTY — $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetMERCED COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL INC — $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetMERCED THEATRE FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCatholic Charities of the Diocese of Fresno — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSacred Rok — $9,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetNAMI MERCED COUNTY — $8,500 over 1y, 21% of budgetKIDS DISCOVERY STATION — $7,500 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetMERCED LAO FAMILY COMMUNITY INC — $7,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMERCED COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $7,500 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetLIFELINE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF MERCED COUNTY — $7,500 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetCENTER OF VISION ENHANCEMENT — $7,500 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetMERCED YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION — $7,500 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetRestore Merced — $5,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetLOVE INC OF GREATER MERCED — $5,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTHE MARCOM INSTITUTE — $5,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetMERCED CO HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — $5,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetAlliance for Community Transformations — $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMERCED RESCUE MISSION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Community Foundation …Stewart Family Founda…Ccf Community Initiat…Dignity HealthHattie Givens Testame…The Hatedust Project …Elks Park Scholarship…Sutter Valley Hospita…The California Endowm…ImpactassetsincNetwork for GoodThe Bank of America C…
Community Foundation of Merced CountyCA20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Merced County · Stewart Family Foundation · Ccf Community Initiatives Fund · Dignity Health · Hattie Givens Testamentary Trust · The Hatedust Project Inc · Elks Park Scholarship & Charity Fund · Sutter Valley Hospitals · The California Endowment · Impactassetsinc · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization United Way of Merced County funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 45 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

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

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines