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Bowdoin College at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Bowdoin College

It is the mission of the college to engage students of uncommon promise in an intense full-time education of their minds, exploration of their creative faculties, and development of their social and leadership abilities in a four-year course of study and residence that concludes with a baccalaureate degree in the liberal arts.

$72M
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$606k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0183% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Public Benefit$4.1MCommunity Improvement$192kPhilanthropy$136kCivil Rights$98kReligion$65kArts & Culture$60kHousing & Shelter$43kCrime & Legal$38kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $685,630, the rows itemized in this filing. The $71,645,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $70,959,370 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $72k
  • $250k+1 grant · $606k
$21,900
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.6B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TOWN OF BRUNSWICK$606,230
BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION$30,000
Individual grant recipient$21,900
TEDFORD HOUSING$20,000
UNITED WAY OF MID COAST MAINE$7,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 2% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIDES FOUNDATION: $73k → 10%SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $10k → 14%NAACP: $45k → 19%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $762k → 7%UNITED WAY OF MID COAST MAINE: $11k → 9%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $19k → 11%THE DEMPSEY CENTER: $10k → 13%COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION: $25k → 17%NAACP EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS: $9k → 19%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $606k → 7%UNITED WAY OF MID COAST MAINE: $10k → 9%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $498k → 7%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $492k → 7%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $486k → 7%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $471k → 7%SIX RIVERS YOUTH SPORTS INC: $10k → 9%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $467k → 7%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $172k → 7%TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $167k → 7%FIRST PARISH CHURCH: $50k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $30k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $25k → 7%BRUNSWICK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $25k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $25k → 7%TEDFORD HOUSING: $23k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $20k → 7%TEDFORD HOUSING: $20k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $17k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $17k → 7%FIRST PARISH CHURCH: $15k → 7%BRUNSWICK AMERICAN LEGION: $13k → 7%BRUNSWICK AMERICAN LEGION: $13k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $12k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $10k → 7%BRUNSWICK DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION: $10k → 7%PEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 7%MAINE INITIATIVES: $38k → 7%CREATIVE PORTLAND: $25k → 7%THE MITCHELL INSTITUTE: $10k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $22k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $21k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $21k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $20k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $20k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $10k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $10k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $10k → 7%TOWN OF HARPSWELL: $9k → 7%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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.5M · 6 repeat orgs$314k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +60% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
15

Total granted

$4.5M
$314k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+60%
+2%

Still filing today

50%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Civil RightsArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentRecreation & SportsSocial ScienceOther
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

  • TO
    TOWN OF BRUNSWICK
    9× · 2017–2025 · $4.1M
  • BD
    Brunswick Downtown Association
    9× · 2017–2025 · $167k · revenue +60%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    9× · 2017–2025 · $142k

Funded once

  • TU
    THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • NA
    NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
    one grant, 2021 · $45k · revenue -2%
  • RF
    Resources for Organizing and Social Change
    one grant, 2021 · $37k · revenue +15%
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 Philanthropy Center

The Maine Philanthropy Center (MPC) is the state's leading resource that provides opportunity, leadership and support to advance the effectiveness of philanthropy in Maine and its ability to make a meaningful difference. It helps grant…

Education
2
Maine & Company

Maine & Company is a private, non-profit business development sales organization. Its purpose is to improve Maine's success in attracting new business and expanding and retaining existing business by providing a focused, statewide sales…

—
3
Coastal Enterprises Inc

Cei integrates financing, small business and industry expertise, and policy solutions to grow a vibrant future for people and communities with low income in maine and rural regions.

Housing & Shelter
4
Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting

To deliver fearless, independent, citizen-supported, nonpartisan journalism that informs mainers about the issues impacting our state and inspires them to take action. through investigative and in-depth stories, we engage readers to…

Arts & Culture
5
Maine Development Foundation

The mission of the Maine Development Foundation is to foster sustainable, long-term economic growth for Maine. Its programs stimulate new ideas, help develop Maine's leaders, and provide common ground for solving problems and advancing…

Community Improvement
6
Maine Afl-Cio

To promote and ensure workers' rights

—
7
Maine Association of Nonprofits

Our mission is to strengthen the leadership, voice, and organizational effectiveness of our state's nonprofit organizations so they can better enrich the quality of community and personal life in Maine.

Community Improvement
8
Manufacturers Association of Maine

The manufacturers association of maine is dedicated to promoting and strengthening manufacturing in maine as an informative voice for the state's manufacturing community.

—
9
Maine Council on Aging

A broad multi-disciplinary network that works to ensure we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives as we age in our homes and communities. With the voices of people with lived experience, we work on policy issues related to…

Unclassified
10
Portland Public Library

Portland Public Library is a welcoming cultural center that brings people together and connects them with trusted resources, ideas, experiences, and information. We build a stronger community by inspiring learning, creativity, and…

Education
11
Maine Center for Economic Policy

The maine center for economic policy provides citizens, policymakers, advocates, and media with credible and rigorous economic analysis that advances economic justice and prosperity for all maine people.

Social Science
12
Maine Jewish Film Festival

The Maine Jewish Film Festival celebrates filmmakinginspiring conversation through the lens of global Jewish experience. Innovative programming invites a diverse statewide audience into the dialogue. Many of our programs include guest…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Naacp Empowerment Programs Inc; the most unlike its peers is Smithsonian Institution. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

19 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 19 of the 24 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
12/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TOWN OF BRUNSWICK: $4,120,542 · OtherTOWN OF BRUNSWICK+13 more: $411,709 · Other+13 moreBrunswick Downtown Association: $166,850 · EnvironmentTIDES FOUNDATION: $73,413 · PhilanthropyMaine Community Foundation Inc: $19,390 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE: $44,933 · Civil RightsNAACP EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS INC: $9,102 · Civil RightsNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $7,256 · Civil RightsBRUNSWICK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $25,000 · Community ImprovementCREATIVE PORTLAND CORPORATION: $25,000 · Community ImprovementTEDFORD HOUSING: $42,500 · Housing & ShelterMAINE INITIATIVESINC: $38,138 · Crime & Legal
Other$4,532,251Environment$166,850Philanthropy$92,803Civil Rights$61,291Community Improvement$50,000Housing & Shelter$42,500Crime & Legal$38,138

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBrunswick Downtown Association: $166,850 over 9y, 7.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $73,413 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE: $44,933 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MID COAST MAINE INC: $43,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTEDFORD HOUSING: $42,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetMAINE INITIATIVESINC: $38,138 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetResources for Organizing and Social Change: $36,983 over 1y, 22% of budgetMAINE INSIDE OUT: $25,226 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetCREATIVE PORTLAND CORPORATION: $25,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMaine Community Foundation Inc: $19,390 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSIX RIVERS YOUTH SPORTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSenator George J Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetDempsey Center for Quality Cancer Care: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNAACP EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS INC: $9,102 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $7,256 over 1y, 0.0% 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…Sam L Cohen FoundationElmina B Sewall Found…The Alfred M Senter F…Maine Health Access F…John T Gorman Foundat…ImpactassetsincOnion FoundationTd Charitable Foundat…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…
Maine Community Foundation IncME26.5× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · The Alfred M Senter Fund Trust · Maine Health Access Foundation Inc · John T Gorman Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Onion Foundation · Td Charitable Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 Bowdoin College funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bowdoin College. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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.

    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 24 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bowdoin College’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