Mercury Foundation
Redwood City, CA · EIN 81-4466525. Reported 34 grants totalling $87.2M to 20 organizations across tax years 2020-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Mercury Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $1,000,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500,000 and $2,000,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $15.0M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors | New York, NY | $55.0M | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Planned Parenthood Federation of America | New York, NY | $10.0M | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Planned Parenthood Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | $6,750,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Center for Reproductive Rights | New York, NY | $4,500,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Panthera | New York, NY | $3,000,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Nrdc | New York, NY | $2,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| NAACP Legal Defense and Education | New York, NY | $1,500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council Inc | New York, NY | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund | New York, NY | $750,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Downtown Womens Center | Los Angeles, CA | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Immigrant Legal Resource Center | San Francisco, CA | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Union of Concerned Scientists | Cambridge, MA | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sea Shepherd Conservation Society | Alexandria, VA | $400,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Food Finders | Lakewood, CA | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| World Wildlife Fund Inc | Washington, DC | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Youth Emerging Stronger | Los Angeles, CA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| La Lgbt Center | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Fflv USA | The Woodlands, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Kitten Rescue | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Westridge School | Pasadena, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
5 of 20 (25%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 100%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 25 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 14 | $17.6M | $500,000 |
| 2021 | 4 | $20.5M | $2,500,000 |
| 2022 | 5 | $22.5M | $2,000,000 |
| 2023 | 11 | $26.5M | $1,500,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 89% of this one's giving went to organizations in New York. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Mercury Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: C/O Baker Tilly 3 Lagoon Dr Ste 400, Redwood City, CA, 94065. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 81-4466525 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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