New Jersey · Nonprofit
MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER
MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER (New Jersey) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,252,233 to it, the largest being Princeton Area Community Foundation Inc ($1,368,350). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Mercer Street Friends Center does
Mission
As a multi-faceted human services agency, mercer street friends (msf) dedicated to "nourishing minds and bodies; empowering families and communities," works to reduce hunger and food insecurity, close education gaps, improve the physical and emotional well-being of at-risk populations, and break the cycle of child abuse and neglect in trenton and mercer county. Msf has identified three areas that are core challenges presented by poverty: food, family, and education. As the food bank of mercer county and one of the most well-known new jersey leaders in the community schools movement, mercer street friends offers families support and guidance away from a life of poverty, into a life of self-sufficiency through comprehensive programming and community partnerships in the greater trenton area and throughout mercer county.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education- mercer street friends has served as the lead agency for the community schools initiative in mercer county since 2015. We're working with parents, teachers, case managers, the trenton school district, and community organizations to support students and help them thrive not just in academics, but all aspects of a healthy life.mercer street friends preschool located at 1201 west state street in trenton has been successful in helping parents prepare their children to transition from preschool to kindergarten for more than 30 years. Each year, 90 children receive academic instruction (including early reading activities) and learn social skills helping them feel confident in their ability to do new things.our adult basic education program empowers individuals to build the skills they need to succeed with the goal of earning a new jersey state diploma. We focus on student recruitment and retention, test preparation, and measurable academic progress. Along the journey, we proudly celebrate each milestone and every success our adult students accomplish. Expanded services provided by our community schools in trenton, and how we're working every day to support families in the way…
$3,426,200 spent17% of program spendingFood- as the feeding america food bank of mercer county, mercer street friends is the primary source of government and privately donated food targeted for hunger relief programs throughout the county. The food bank channels millions of meals to a network of more than 150+ food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, meal sites, senior centers, programs for the disabled, and low-income housing sites through a robust network of staff and volunteers. Updated our new 42,000 sq foot food bank at 3 graphics drive in ewing, which allows us to better serve our 150+ pantry partners, providing nearly 7 million meals to over 140,000 mercer county residents.
$15,353,474 spent76% of program spendingFamily- our family services programs give parents the guidance, resources, and encouragement they need to help their children grow and thrive during the important early years of life. Our two home visiting programs - trenton healthy families tip and parents as teachers (pat) program - are part of a full range of support for families with young children.
$1,277,397 spent$9,485 earned by the program6% of program spendingYouth services and other.
$231,082 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $20,288,153.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $9.3M to $18M (+89%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 51% · 2018 57% · 2019 61% · 2020 59% · 2021 57% · 2022 70% · 2023 84% · 2024 64% · 2025 59%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Kenneth Blackwell
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $383k → $541k.
12 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
93% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 67% · 2019 25% · 2020 36% · 2021 49% · 2022 29% · 2023 26% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
41% of MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
61% of MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.0M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from New Jersey funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.
- Department of Education$1.5M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New Jersey
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER?
- MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER (New Jersey) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,252,233 to it, the largest being Princeton Area Community Foundation Inc ($1,368,350). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $5,252,233 in grants to MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER?
- Princeton Area Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,368,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MERCER STREET FRIENDS CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Mercer Street Friends Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 49 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing