Dini Merz is a Program Director for both the Proteus Fund's Peace and Security program and the CarEth Foundation, the latter of which is an arm of the Proteus Fund. Prior to joining the Proteus/Careth Foundations in March 2003, Merz was the Program Director for the Tremaine Foundation, where she focused her energies on that organization's Learning Disabilities, Arts, and Environment program areas. Before her tenure at Tremaine, she was an environmental policy consultant for Public Sector Consultants.

Merz serves as a board member and treasurer of the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, which is a small grant-making program for New England-based activists. The program is designed to support grassroots environmental initiatives in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; its grants are intended to fuel civic engagement, local activism, and social change.