Skip to content
Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
41
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$600k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$13MHealth$4.0MPhilanthropy$2.0MHuman Services$1.4MRecreation & Sports$898kCommunity Improvement$674kArts & Culture$492kFood & Nutrition$464kOther$0
02FY2024 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k17 grants · $55k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $240k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $752k
  • $250k+5 grants · $2.4M
$13,625
Median grant
2
States reached
$31M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLBY COLLEGE$600,173
MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED$500,000
KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM$500,000
BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND$398,225
MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED$395,000
MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC$248,038
CHILDRENS DISCOVERY MUSEUM$200,000
10TH MOUNTAIN SKI CLUB$100,000
MAINE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT #46$93,750
THOMAS COLLEGE$60,346
KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$50,000
CENTRAL MAINE COMMUNITY BETTERMENT COLLABORATIVE$31,600
Individual grant recipient$25,697
KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$25,000
FRIENDS OF QUARRY ROAD$25,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 76% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PROSPERITYME: $83k → 7%PROSPERITYME: $83k → 7%MAINE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION: $45k → 7%HOPE ACTS: $40k → 7%GOOD WILL HOME ASSOCIATION: $12k → 15%GOOD WILL HOME ASSOCIATION: $2k → 15%KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $500k → 12%KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $100k → 12%KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $100k → 12%KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $100k → 12%HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS OF WATERVILLE AREA: $1k → 12%HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS OF WATERVILLE AREA: $1k → 12%KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $500 → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
NH
MT
NY
MA
CA
MD
SC
DC
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 7% of Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20M · 66 repeat orgs$2.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +44% for those funded once.

66 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2024, 45 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

66
63

Total granted

$20M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+44%

Still filing today

79%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • The President and Trustees of Colby College
    7× · 2017–2024 · $8.5M · revenue +37%
  • GOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY THE GOVERNOR'S ACADEMY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.2M · revenue +51%
  • MG
    MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED
    3× · 2021–2023 · $1.3M · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • MH
    MAINEGENERAL HEALTH
    one grant, 2020 · $151k
  • BC
    BOYS&GIRLS CLUBS OF KENNEBEC VALLEY
    one grant, 2022 · $150k · revenue -17%
  • EP
    EASTPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY
    one grant, 2023 · $71k · revenue +3% · 30% of their budget
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Maine Media College

Maine Media Workshops & College educates and inspires visual artists and storytellers to achieve their creative potential. We provide lifelong learning opportunities for those pursuing the fine arts and media-related professions. We are…

—
2
Maine Maritime Museum

To connect people to the past, present, and future of Maine's waterways and their global reach.

Arts & Culture
3
Midcoast Conservancy

The mission of Midcoast Conservancy is to protect vital lands and waters on a scale that matters and to inspire wonder and action on behalf of all species and the Earth.

Environment
4
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
5
Maine Historical Society

Maine Historical Society, founded in 1822, is a private non-profit whose mission is to preserve and share Maine's story. Based in Portland, we work closely with communities and partners throughout the state, and serve a statewide and…

Arts & Culture
6
MaineGeneral Health

To enhance, every day, the health of our patients, our families and our communities. We do that through a range of health care services for people of all ages, in a variety of care settings.

Health
7
Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve

The mission of the mount desert land & garden preserve is to conserve and share the beauty of our historic lands and gardens.

—
8
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
9
Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries

Secure a sustainable future for fisheries and fishing communities in Eastern Maine and beyond.

Science & Tech
10
Maine Donor Alliance Fund

To build a permanent and powerful progressive movement in Maine. We will promote a healthy, just, equitable democracy through research, engagement, and education of Maine's citizens. We will engage in democracy expansion, voter engagement,…

Education
11
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Inc

The mission of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Inc. is to inspire meaningful connections among people and nature and promote plant conservation through horticulture, education, and plant science.

Environment
12
Abbe Museum

To illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations' heritage, living cultures, and homelands.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Maine Community Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Elliotsville Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

103 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 103 of the 141 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
31
Early backer (in before they grew)
102/103
Grantees still filing
81/103
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The President and Trustees of Colby College: $8,461,210 · EducationThe President and Trustees of Colby CollegeGOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY THE GOVERNOR'S ACADEMY: $3,237,719 · EducationGOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY THE GOVERNOR'S ACADEMYTHOMAS COLLEGE: $678,810 · Education+19 more: $472,277 · EducationBRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S FAULKNER HOSPITAL: $1,500,000 · OtherBRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S FAULKNE…MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $895,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORP…UNITED STATES BIATHLON ASSOCIATION: $531,500 · OtherUNITED STATES BIATHLON ASSO…Jobs for Maine's Graduates Inc: $203,800 · OtherPiscataquis County Economic Development Council: $200,000 · OtherCOASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $250,000 · Other+76 more: $2,213,799 · Other+76 moreBNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $1,344,225 · PhilanthropyBNY MELLO…Maine Community Foundation Inc: $495,538 · PhilanthropyMaine Com…Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $100,000 · Philanthropy+4 more: $57,290 · PhilanthropyMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $1,314,978 · HealthFOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY INC: $160,000 · Health+4 more: $41,086 · HealthKENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $800,500 · Human ServicesPROSPERITYME: $257,499 · Human ServicesMAINE IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS COALITION: $45,000 · Human ServicesHope Acts: $40,000 · Human Services+3 more: $36,070 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $200,000 · Arts & CultureRAYE'S MUSTARD MILL MUSEUM: $50,000 · Arts & CultureWALDO THEATRE INC: $43,000 · Arts & CultureESPLANADE ASSOCIATION INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureCAPITAL AREA NEW MAINERS PROJECT: $21,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $43,150 · Arts & CultureGood Shepherd Food Bank: $320,000 · Food & NutritionHEART OF MAINE RESOURCE CENTER: $50,000 · Food & NutritionMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION: $21,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more: $2,500 · Food & Nutrition
Education$12,850,016Other$5,794,099Philanthropy$1,997,053Health$1,516,064Human Services$1,179,069Arts & Culture$397,150Food & Nutrition$393,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10k$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $8,461,210 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetGOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY THE GOVERNOR'S ACADEMY: $3,237,719 over 8y, 3.3% of budgetBNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $1,344,225 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $1,314,978 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $800,500 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetTHOMAS COLLEGE: $678,810 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetUNITED STATES BIATHLON ASSOCIATION: $531,500 over 5y, 19% of budgetMaine Community Foundation Inc: $495,538 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGood Shepherd Food Bank: $320,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPROSPERITYME: $257,499 over 5y, 15% of budgetCOASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $250,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJobs for Maine's Graduates Inc: $203,800 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetPiscataquis County Economic Development Council: $200,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $200,000 over 1y, 37% of budgetFOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY INC: $160,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS&GIRLS CLUBS OF KENNEBEC VALLEY: $150,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetCENTRAL MAINE COMMUNITY BETTERMENT COLLABORATIVE: $125,484 over 3y, 31% of budgetFriends of Quarry Road: $120,000 over 3y, 38% of budgetMAINE CHILDREN'S HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $115,000 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetKennebec Valley Community College Foundation: $104,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $100,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budget10TH MOUNTAIN SKI CLUB d/b/a FORT KENT OUTDOOR CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetUniversity of Maine Foundation: $80,303 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetEASTPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY: $71,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetPROJECT HOME DBA QUALITY HOUSING COALITION: $65,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetEDUCARE CENTRAL MAINE: $62,531 over 6y, 8.2% of budgetNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL: $62,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMAINE GRAIN ALLIANCE: $61,645 over 6y, 8.2% of budgetCIEE Inc: $59,802 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WINDOW DRESSERS INC: $50,000 over 3y, 6.1% of budgetHEART OF MAINE RESOURCE CENTER: $50,000 over 2y, 48% of budgetRAYE'S MUSTARD MILL MUSEUM: $50,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetTHE RED SOX FOUNDATION INC: $47,290 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetST THOMAS MORE PLAY GROUP INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetMAINE IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS COALITION: $45,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF FONDATION DE FRANCE INC: $44,626 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetWALDO THEATRE INC: $43,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetCHARLES RIVER CONSERVANCY INC: $42,111 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetHope Acts: $40,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetESPLANADE ASSOCIATION INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $34,450 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBozeman Deaconess Health Services: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetQUODDY TIDES FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetELLIOTSVILLE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetChewonki Foundation Inc: $21,675 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $21,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION: $21,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCAPITAL AREA NEW MAINERS PROJECT: $21,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Maine Community Found…Bangor Savings Bank F…Kennebec Savings Bank…Davis Family Foundati…Harold Alfond Foundat…Lunder FoundationElmina B Sewall Found…John T Gorman Foundat…Sam L Cohen FoundationOnion FoundationLibra FoundationFranklin Savings Bank…
Maine Community Foundation IncME86.3× affinity56 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Kennebec Savings Bank Foundation · Davis Family Foundation · Harold Alfond Foundation · Lunder Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · John T Gorman Foundation · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Onion Foundation · Libra Foundation · Franklin Savings Bank Community Development Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 140%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • The Sports Museum of New England Inc: 5% of income from government
  • The Red Sox Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Governor Dummer Academy the Governor's Academy: 1% of income from government
  • Worcester Art Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Williams College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
14get no government money at all
24report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 141 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Bill and Joan Alfond Family’s filings →

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 endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home