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Michigan · Nonprofit

Merit Network Inc

Merit Network Inc (Michigan) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $377,564 to it, the largest being TOYOTA USA FOUNDATION ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$29M
Funders on record
2
Grants received
$378k
Net assets
$309M
1/2 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 1%
01What it does

What Merit Network Inc does

Mission

To advance a future of digital opportunity with abundant network connectivity that enriches research, learning, and vitality for people across Michigan and around the world. We pursue this mission by operating an open, trusted, high-performing network and by sharing knowledge that builds capacity to connect.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. High speed internet connectivity and related services designed to meet the needs of the research and educational community.

    $29,834,020 spent$21,914,972 earned by the program
    82% of program spending
  2. National and local seminars, training and workshops in support of the internet research and educational community.

    $4,914,612 spent$2,940,180 earned by the program
    13% of program spending
  3. Public internet routing registry facilitating information sharing of network routing in the public domain.

    $1,500,079 spent$1,793,437 earned by the program
    4% of program spending
  4. Education oriented service packages providing virtual servers, related software, monitoring, technical support, and funded research.

    $157,210 spent$144,154 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $36,405,921.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($54M) Expenses 100 ($31M) Net assets 100 ($96M)2018 Revenue 69 ($38M) Expenses 99 ($31M) Net assets 107 ($102M)2019 Revenue 219 ($119M) Expenses 97 ($30M) Net assets 200 ($191M)2020 Revenue 53 ($29M) Expenses 102 ($32M) Net assets 196 ($188M)2021 Revenue 44 ($24M) Expenses 93 ($29M) Net assets 208 ($199M)2022 Revenue 62 ($34M) Expenses 117 ($37M) Net assets 189 ($181M)2023 Revenue 76 ($41M) Expenses 136 ($43M) Net assets 184 ($176M)2024 Revenue 281 ($153M) Expenses 136 ($43M) Net assets 314 ($301M)2025 Revenue 53 ($29M) Expenses 126 ($40M) Net assets 323 ($309M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (53)Expenses (126)Net assets (323)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $197M to $317M (+61%).

$110M
$198M
$196M
$192M
$204M
$198M
$197M
$317M
$329M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 3% · 2018 4% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 6% · 2024 6% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

6% of Merit Network Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (30% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 286 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$23M
’17
$6.4M
’18
$89M
’19
−$3.5M
’20
−$5.3M
’21
−$3.0M
’22
−$1.7M
’23
$111M
’24
−$11M
’25
1.5
months of
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.

Chief executive

Roger Blake

President/CEO

Board chair

Joshua Olson

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed222323222324242624
Joined·+2+6+4+5+2+0+4+1
No longer listed·16541023
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

Funder
'21
'24*
'25*
total
funders
1
1
1

1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 Merit Network Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

Merit Network Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

47% 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 Merit Network Inc.

53%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

“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.

Where its funders are

Merit Network Inc draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 1 state in all.

TX

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $178k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Merit Network Inc's revenue fell 47% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−38% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.5mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−8% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 132 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding Merit Network Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.7M on record.

Federal$4.7M
grants $4.7Mcontracts $0
22
23
26
Top agencies
  • Department of Commerce$3.0M
  • National Science Foundation$1.7M

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 Merit Network Inc

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 Michigan

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 8%Fundraising 0%

Governance

12
board members
0%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Part of a family of 15 related entities

  • 3MC Communications LLC · disregarded
  • Triad Telecom LLC · disregarded
  • Flamingo Solutions LLC · disregarded
  • Central Michigan University · exempt
  • Eastern Michigan University · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Merit Network Inc: 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.

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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 Merit Network Inc?
Merit Network Inc (Michigan) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $377,564 to it, the largest being TOYOTA USA FOUNDATION ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Merit Network Inc have?
IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $377,564 in grants to Merit Network Inc, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Merit Network Inc?
TOYOTA USA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Merit Network Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Merit Network →

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 2 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing