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Davis Family Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Davis Family Foundation

To provide grants to colleges, universities, and other educational institutions; to hospitals and other health organizations with a primary interest in programs designed to increase the effectiveness or decrease the cost of medical care; and organizations whose customary and primary activity is to promote music, theater, drama, history,…

$3.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
92
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$400k
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.

Arts & Culture$5.6MHealth$5.4MEducation$5.3MYouth Development$977kEnvironment$692kHuman Services$674kScience & Tech$394kRecreation & Sports$280kOther$0
02FY2024 · 92 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $92k
  • $10k–50k66 grants · $1.3M
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+2 grants · $652k
$20,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$100M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Sweetser$400,000
Northeastern University$252,188
University of Maine System Inc$170,060
Great Schools Partnership Inc$161,756
Lifeflight Foundation$150,000
Woodfords Family Services$150,000
Maine College of Art & Design$100,000
STEM Coliseum and Learning Center$100,000
American Red Cross of Northern New England$100,000
Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute$75,000
Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems$60,144
President and Trustees of Bates College$57,000
Husson University$50,000
Mid-Coast Health Net DBA Knox County Health Clinic$50,000
Hurricane Island Foundation$40,000
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, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 18% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Girls Who Code Inc: $10k → 17%North American Family Institute Inc: $10k → 7%Northern Lighthouse Inc: $7k → 15%American Red Cross of Northern New England: $100k → 7%American National Red Cross: $45k → 7%Kieve-Wavus Education Inc: $6k → 9%Learning Works: $25k → 7%American Red Cross of Maine: $25k → 7%Good Will-Hinckley Home Association: $12k → 15%Bangor Young Mens Christian Association: $50k → 15%LearningWorks: $25k → 7%Belfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $12k → 13%Wayfinder Schools: $10k → 11%Belfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $10k → 13%Special Children's Friends: $10k → 11%Wayfinder Schools: $10k → 11%Belfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $7k → 13%Penquis Community Action Program Inc: $23k → 15%Northern Lighthouse Inc: $16k → 15%Aroostook Agency on Aging: $15k → 15%Coastal Kids Preschool: $14k → 9%Coastal Kids Preschool: $12k → 9%Sweetser: $400k → 9%Sweetser: $20k → 9%Sweetser: $15k → 9%Hospice of Southern Maine: $50k → 7%Hospice of Southern Maine: $45k → 7%Southern Maine Agency on Aging: $35k → 7%Opiate-Free Island Partnership Inc: $10k → 11%Hospice of Southern Maine: $15k → 7%Castine Early Learning Center dba Community Childhood Learning Place: $17k → 11%The Opportunity Alliance: $40k → 7%Opportunity Alliance: $25k → 7%Wayfinder Schools: $10k → 7%LearningWorks: $10k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $75k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $50k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $50k → 7%Olympia Snowe Womens Leadership Institute: $50k → 7%Preble Street: $25k → 7%Mayo Street Arts: $15k → 7%Mayo Street Arts: $10k → 7%Catherine Morrill Day Nursery: $8k → 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.
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 6% of Davis Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in ME; by stated purpose, 92%.

Davis Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.1% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$15M · 211 repeat orgs$5.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

211 repeat relationships: 55 still active in FY2024, 156 since wound down; 37 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

211
237

Total granted

$15M
$4.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+19%

Still filing today

91%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $767k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentCommunity 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

  • M
    MaineHealth
    5× · 2018–2023 · $692k · revenue +205%
  • Great Schools Partnership Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $510k · revenue +0%
  • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2022–2024 · $352k · revenue +32%

Funded once

  • TJ
    THE JACKSON LABORATORY
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +24%
  • PB
    Penobscot Bay Medical Center
    one grant, 2018 · $100k · revenue -73%
  • AH
    Acadia Hospital Corp Northern Light Acadia Hospitalgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +37%
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 Museum of Photographic Arts

The mission of the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts is to inspire, engage and educate through the exhibition, preservation and collection of photographic works. The Museums programs address contemporary, historical, cultural and…

Arts & Culture
2
Maine Arts Academy

The Academy is dedicated to academic excellence, commitment to the performing arts, leadership, integrity, and a virtuous code of conduct, all of which prepare students to meet the demands of a contemporary world through thoughtful…

Education
3
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
4
Maine Film Center

To enrich, educate, and entertain the community through film and art.

—
5
Monhegan Memorial Library

To maintain a library proving lending services to all residents of Monhegan Island, ME.

Education
6
Maine Lighthouse Museum

The mission of the Maine Lighthouse Museum is to educate the public regarding the long-standing traditions, heroism and progress of America's Lighthouse and Lifesaving services and the United States Coast Guard through the conservation and…

Arts & Culture
7
New England Museum of Telephony
—
8
Maine Forestry Museum

Preserve the cultural heritage of forestry and conservation in the state of Maine and to educate visitors on the contributions of logging and the logging industry to the growth of Maine.

—
9
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Industrial Heritage Trust

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum preserves and operates hstoric two-foot gauge railroad equipment for the education and enjoyment of the public.

Science & Tech
10
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
11
Bridgton Public Library

Public library

Education
12
Lyme Public Hall and Local History Archives Inc

Lyme public hall & local history archives, inc. is an historical organization preserving the history of the town and its lifeways in addition to being a community center.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine; the most unlike its peers is First Amendment Museum At the Gannett House. 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

419 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. 419 of the 485 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.

20
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
118
Early backer (in before they grew)
404/419
Grantees still filing
280/419
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges: $557,590 · EducationThe Foundation for Maine's Com…Great Schools Partnership Inc: $510,421 · EducationGreat Schools Partnership IncNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $352,188 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITYWOODFORDS FAMILY SERVICES: $225,000 · EducationWOODFORDS FAMILY SERVICESUniversity of New England: $225,000 · EducationUniversity of New EnglandLET'S GET READY INC: $200,000 · EducationMaine Mathematics & Science Alliance: $152,500 · EducationTHE CHALLENGER LEARNING CNTR OF ME: $150,000 · Education+33 more: $1,842,905 · Education+33 moreMaineHealth: $691,837 · HealthMaineHealthLifeFlight Foundation: $250,000 · HealthLifeFlight FoundationAROOSTOOK MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES INC: $240,000 · HealthAROOSTOOK MENTAL HEALTH SERVI…Mercy Hospital Northern Light Mercy Hospital: $200,000 · HealthEastern Maine Medical Center Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Cen: $159,676 · HealthChildren's Center Early Intervention & Family Support: $135,000 · HealthTHE AROOSTOOK MEDICAL CENTER NORTHERN LIGHT AR GOULD HOSPITAL: $135,000 · Health+31 more: $2,233,033 · Health+31 moreTATE HOUSE MUSEUM: $75,153 · Arts & CultureJohnson Hall Inc: $75,000 · Arts & Culture+47 more: $2,067,824 · Arts & Culture+47 moreUNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM INC: $501,805 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MAINE SY…GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $130,000 · Other+50 more: $2,527,689 · Other+50 moreSweetser: $435,000 · Human ServicesOlympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $225,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $170,000 · Human ServicesHospice of Southern Maine: $110,000 · Human ServicesThe Opportunity Alliance: $65,000 · Human ServicesLEARNINGWORKS: $60,000 · Human ServicesBANGOR YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $50,000 · Human Services+3 more: $94,000 · Human ServicesTHE HURRICANE ISLAND FOUNDATION: $155,000 · Youth DevelopmentAUGUSTA TEEN CENTER OF THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $110,000 · Youth DevelopmentBoys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine: $103,910 · Youth DevelopmentTREE STREET YOUTH INC: $80,000 · Youth DevelopmentMy Place Teen Center Inc: $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentAPEX YOUTH CONNECTION: $48,647 · Youth DevelopmentThe Telling Room: $41,000 · Youth DevelopmentWOOD ISLAND LIFE SAVING STATION ASSOCIATION: $100,000 · EnvironmentCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens Inc: $95,000 · EnvironmentEcology Education Inc: $94,110 · Environment
Education$4,215,604Health$4,044,546Arts & Culture$2,217,977Other$3,159,494Human Services$1,209,000Youth Development$588,557Environment$289,110

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMaineHealth: $691,837 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges: $557,590 over 4y, 4.6% of budgetGreat Schools Partnership Inc: $510,421 over 3y, 6.3% of budgetSweetser: $435,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $352,188 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLifeFlight Foundation: $250,000 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetAROOSTOOK MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES INC: $240,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetOlympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $225,000 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetWOODFORDS FAMILY SERVICES: $225,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUniversity of New England: $225,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMercy Hospital Northern Light Mercy Hospital: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLET'S GET READY INC: $200,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $170,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEastern Maine Medical Center Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Cen: $159,676 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HURRICANE ISLAND FOUNDATION: $155,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetMaine Mathematics & Science Alliance: $152,500 over 4y, 3.5% of budgetTHE CHALLENGER LEARNING CNTR OF ME: $150,000 over 3y, 27% of budgetNORTH YARMOUTH ACADEMY: $138,387 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetChildren's Center Early Intervention & Family Support: $135,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetTHE AROOSTOOK MEDICAL CENTER NORTHERN LIGHT AR GOULD HOSPITAL: $135,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $130,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMORRISON CENTER: $125,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMID-COAST HEALTH NET INC: $122,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetMILESTONE RECOVERY: $120,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetCENTRAL MAINE HEALTHCARE CORPORATION: $120,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $120,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTrustees of Saint Joseph's College Saint Joseph's College of Maine: $116,349 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $116,224 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSt Mary's Regional Medical Center: $113,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHospice of Southern Maine: $110,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetAUGUSTA TEEN CENTER OF THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $110,000 over 2y, 41% of budgetCharles A Dean Memorial Hospital Northern Light CA Dean Hospital: $105,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine: $103,910 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetPortland Public Library: $100,800 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHE JACKSON LABORATORY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOUNT DESERT ISLAND HOSPITAL: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWOOD ISLAND LIFE SAVING STATION ASSOCIATION: $100,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetPenobscot Bay Medical Center: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAcadia Hospital Corp Northern Light Acadia Hospital: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTEM Coliseum and Learning Center: $100,000 over 1y, 80% of budgetTHE BLUE HILL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL NORTHERN LIGHT BLUE HILL HOSPITAL: $100,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens Inc: $95,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetEcology Education Inc: $94,110 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetPenobscot Community Health Center: $92,840 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetVNA Home Health & Hospice Northern Light Home Care & Hospice: $90,840 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF MAINE INC: $90,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetMaine Coast Regional Health Facilities Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital: $85,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC: $85,000 over 2y, 0.2% 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…Onion FoundationStephen & Tabitha Kin…Morton-Kelly Charitab…Fisher Charitable Fou…Bangor Savings Bank F…Sam L Cohen FoundationLibra FoundationSimmons Foundation - …John T Gorman Foundat…Maine Humanities Coun…Virginia Hodgkins Som…
Maine Community Foundation IncME220.7× affinity325 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Onion Foundation · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Libra Foundation · Simmons Foundation - PerkinsThompson · John T Gorman Foundation · Maine Humanities Council · Virginia Hodgkins Somers 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 Davis Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Davis Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Society for the Preservation of New Engl: 2% of income from government
  • Quinnipiac University: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
72report 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 Davis Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Davis 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 485 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Davis 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