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Elsie & William Viles Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Elsie & William Viles Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$860k
Granted FY2025still arriving
46
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$160k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$1.0MAnimals$933kArts & Culture$586kEducation$576kEnvironment$554kReligion$427kFood & Nutrition$134kPublic Benefit$112kOther$0
02FY2025 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k35 grants · $142k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $94k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $624k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Kennebec Valley Humane Society$159,800
MaineGeneral Health$159,800
Maine State Museum$79,900
Viles Arboretum$79,900
South Parish Congregational Church$79,900
Cony High School$64,977
Augusta Food Bank$25,000
Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges$24,000
City of Augusta$20,200
Kennebec Land Trust$15,000
Children's Center Early Intervention and Family Support$10,000
Hubbard Free Library$8,500
Augusta Boys and Girls Club$7,500
Friends of the Kennebec River Rail Trail$7,500
Winthrop Food Pantry$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:

Its human-services grants (FY23–25, $38k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 87% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Eastern Area Agency on Aging: $2k → 15%Coastal Kids Preschool: $5k → 9%YMCA State of Maine: $10k → 12%YMCA State of Maine: $3k → 12%Neighbors Driving Neighbors: $5k → 12%Neighbors Driving Neighbors: $4k → 12%Spectrum Generations: $10k → 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.
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.2M · 35 repeat orgs$342k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

35 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 20 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
35

Total granted

$4.2M
$256k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+18%

Still filing today

60%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $85k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesAnimalsOther
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

  • KV
    KENNEBEC VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $874k · revenue +93%
  • VA
    Viles Arboretum
    6× · 2020–2025 · $435k · revenue +77% · 31% of their budget
  • AF
    AUGUSTA FOOD BANK
    6× · 2020–2025 · $115k · revenue +101%

Funded once

  • MH
    MaineGeneral Health - Cancer Care
    one grant, 2024 · $25k
  • VW
    VAUGHAN WOODS AND HISTORIC HOMESTEAD
    one grant, 2024 · $20k · revenue 0%
  • KV
    KENNEBEC VALLEY FAMILY DENTISTRYgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +50%
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
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
2
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
3
Kennebunk Land Trust

Kennebunk Land Trust's mission is to permanently conserve and steward land to benefit natural and human communities.

Environment
4
Lincolnville Historical Society

To preserve collect and digitize the archive of the town of Lincolnville Maine's history ecology flora and fauna

Unclassified
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
Maine Tourism Association

The Association's primary mission is to keep the tourism insdustry sustainable by providing visitors and residents with tourism information, to develop travel, tourism, and advocacy, and to promote workforce development in Maine.

—
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
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
9
Kennebec Estuary Land Trust

The mission of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust is to conserve, restore, and instill appreciation of the land and water resources of the Kennebec Estuary for the benefit of today's communities and future generations.

Environment
10
Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative

The Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative (EMCI) is a non-profit organization with broad conservation interests that seeks to: 1) Foster environmentally sustainable communities of the eastern Maine coast; 2) Encourage an appreciation of…

Animals
11
Penobscot River Trails Inc
Environment
12
Piscataquog Land Conservancy

The Piscataquog Land Conservancy is a nonprofit land conservation organization founded in 1970. Its purpose is to conserve the natural and scenic environment of the Piscataquog, Souhegan and Nashua River watershed communities of southern…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midcoast Conservancy; the most unlike its peers is Neighbors Driving Neighbors. 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

64 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. 64 of the 90 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
63/64
Grantees still filing
41/64
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MaineGeneral Health: $864,000 · OtherMaineGeneral HealthSouth Parish Congregational Church: $424,500 · OtherSouth Parish Congregational ChurchState of Maine: $424,500 · OtherState of MaineCony High School: $370,692 · OtherCony High SchoolAugusta School Department: $112,450 · Other+51 more: $467,285 · Other+51 moreKENNEBEC VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY: $874,000 · AnimalsKENNEBEC VALLEY HUMANE…+3 more: $23,000 · AnimalsViles Arboretum: $434,500 · EnvironmentViles Arboret…FRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK: $35,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF BA…THE KENNEBEC LAND TRUST: $22,500 · Environment+8 more: $40,000 · Environment+8 moreThe Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges: $135,000 · EducationPINE TREE SOCIETY INC: $10,000 · EducationHUBBARD FREE LIBRARY: $8,500 · EducationGARDINER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $8,500 · EducationWINTHROP PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $7,500 · Education+3 more: $7,500 · EducationAUGUSTA FOOD BANK: $115,000 · Food & NutritionWINTHROP FOOD PANTRY: $7,500 · Food & NutritionChildren's Center Early Intervention & Family Support: $85,000 · HealthKENNEBEC VALLEY FAMILY DENTISTRY: $20,000 · HealthLifeFlight Foundation: $5,000 · HealthAnchor ME Harbor: $4,000 · Health+2 more: $3,500 · HealthBOYS&GIRLS CLUBS OF KENNEBEC VALLEY: $60,000 · Youth DevelopmentHARDY GIRLS HEALTHY WOMEN INC: $4,000 · Youth DevelopmentMAINE BOYS TO MEN: $2,500 · Youth Development
Other$2,663,427Animals$897,000Environment$532,000Education$177,000Food & Nutrition$122,500Health$117,500Youth Development$66,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKENNEBEC VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY: $874,000 over 6y, 14% of budgetViles Arboretum: $434,500 over 6y, 31% of budgetThe Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges: $135,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetAUGUSTA FOOD BANK: $115,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetChildren's Center Early Intervention & Family Support: $85,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetBOYS&GIRLS CLUBS OF KENNEBEC VALLEY: $60,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetKENNEBEC HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $42,825 over 5y, 10% of budgetFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK: $35,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetTHE KENNEBEC LAND TRUST: $22,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSPORTSMAN'S ALLIANCE OF MAINE: $20,500 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetVAUGHAN WOODS AND HISTORIC HOMESTEAD: $20,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetKENNEBEC VALLEY FAMILY DENTISTRY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPEACE RIDGE SANCTUARY: $14,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE THEATER AT MONMOUTH: $14,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetPINELAND SUZUKI SCHOOL: $12,758 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $12,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetAUGUSTA DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE: $10,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetSPECTRUM GENERATIONS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF KENNEBEC VALLEY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetVictoria Mansion: $10,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetPINE TREE SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Susan L Curtis Foundation: $9,900 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMAINE STATE MUSIC THEATRE: $9,400 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNEIGHBORS DRIVING NEIGHBORS: $8,999 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetHUBBARD FREE LIBRARY: $8,500 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetGARDINER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $8,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMidcoast Conservancy: $7,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMAINE STATE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMaine Center for Coastal Fisheries: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE KENNEBEC RIVER RAIL TRAIL INC: $7,500 over 1y, 40% of budgetWINTHROP PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 2y, 10% of budgetWINTHROP FOOD PANTRY: $7,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetKennebec Valley YMCA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ALLAGASH WILDERNESS WATERWAY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetCOASTAL KIDS PRESCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLifeFlight Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPENQUIS CAP INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJohnson Hall Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHARDY GIRLS HEALTHY WOMEN INC: $4,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetVolunteers of America Northern New England: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: $3,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetMaine Mathematics & Science Alliance: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMAINE BOYS TO MEN: $2,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE COBBOSSEE WATERSHED: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE KITA CENTERINC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMID-COAST HEALTH NET INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWOMEN FOR HEALTHY RURAL LIVING: $1,500 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

  • Who funds KENNEBEC VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Viles Arboretum ↗
  • Who funds The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges ↗
  • Who funds AUGUSTA FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds Children's Center Early Intervention & Family Support ↗
  • Who funds BOYS&GIRLS CLUBS OF KENNEBEC VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds KENNEBEC HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK ↗
  • Who funds THE KENNEBEC LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds SPORTSMAN'S ALLIANCE OF MAINE ↗
  • Who funds VAUGHAN WOODS AND HISTORIC HOMESTEAD ↗
  • Who funds KENNEBEC VALLEY FAMILY DENTISTRY ↗
  • Who funds PEACE RIDGE SANCTUARY ↗
  • Who funds THE THEATER AT MONMOUTH ↗
  • Who funds PINELAND SUZUKI SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds AUGUSTA DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds SPECTRUM GENERATIONS ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF KENNEBEC VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds Victoria Mansion ↗
  • Who funds PINE TREE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds The Susan L Curtis Foundation ↗
  • Who funds MAINE STATE MUSIC THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds NEIGHBORS DRIVING NEIGHBORS ↗
  • Who funds HUBBARD FREE LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds GARDINER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ↗

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…Kennebec Savings Bank…Davis Family Foundati…Bangor Savings Bank F…Elmina B Sewall Found…Fisher Charitable Fou…Onion FoundationMorton-Kelly Charitab…Stephen & Tabitha Kin…Libra FoundationReny Charitable Found…Simmons Foundation - …
Maine Community Foundation IncME82.1× affinity49 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Kennebec Savings Bank Foundation · Davis Family Foundation · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Onion Foundation · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc · Libra Foundation · Reny Charitable Foundation · Simmons Foundation - PerkinsThompson

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 Elsie & William Viles Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Elsie & William Viles Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    18report 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 Elsie & William Viles Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Elsie & William Viles 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 90 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Elsie & William Viles’ 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