Skip to content
Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy

Focusmaine propels the growth of maine's most promising industries and transforms maine into a hub for top talent.

$2.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$763k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Food & Nutrition$6.2MEmployment$1.8MCommunity Improvement$1.8MAnimals$1.3MHousing & Shelter$733kHealth$684kEducation$166kEnvironment$27kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $1,921,580, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,145,984 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $224,404 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 · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $28k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $403k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.5M
$215,870
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS$762,947
EDUCATE MAINE$375,846
COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC$351,121
MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION$215,870
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY$123,848
NEW ENGLAND OCEAN CLUSTER LLC$63,768
THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC$28,180
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 35% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%AVIGO SOLUTIONS: $215k → 8%NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $124k → 16%FACILITY LOGIX BUILDING PERFORMANCE: $13k → 8%MARK DVOROZNIAK: $10k → 7%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $321k → 9%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $254k → 12%SATISH TADIKONDA: $162k → 8%NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $42k → 16%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $382k → 7%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $264k → 9%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $235k → 12%AVIGO: $120k → 8%THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $28k → 16%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $351k → 7%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $216k → 12%AVIGO SOLUTIONS: $108k → 8%THIRD SECTOR: $14k → 16%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $339k → 7%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $197k → 12%SATISH TADIKONDA: $54k → 8%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $278k → 7%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $192k → 12%COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $269k → 7%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $188k → 12%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $163k → 12%MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $148k → 12%EDUCATE MAINE: $376k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $360k → 7%GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $359k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $299k → 7%GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $295k → 7%GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $240k → 7%MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT: $225k → 7%GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $198k → 7%GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $195k → 7%MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT: $178k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $171k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $160k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $159k → 7%MAINE & CO: $155k → 7%MAINE & CO: $133k → 7%MAINE & CO: $100k → 7%EDUCATE MAINE: $83k → 7%NEW ENGLAND OCEAN CLUSTER LLC: $64k → 7%NEW ENGLAND OCEAN CLUSTER LLC: $58k → 7%NEW ENGLAND OCEAN CLUSTER LLC: $33k → 7%LIVE WORK MAINE: $100k → 7%ETHOS MARKETING & DESIGN: $59k → 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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 14 repeat orgs$354k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against -30% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
15

Total granted

$12M
$354k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
-30%

Still filing today

64%
7%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
Community ImprovementEducationHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionAnimalsOther
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

  • MC
    MAINE CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT DBA MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS
    8× · 2017–2024 · $4.2M · revenue +412% · 84% of their budget
  • CE
    COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $2.2M · revenue +60%
  • EM
    Educate Maine
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +200%

Funded once

  • AS
    AVIGO SOLUTIONS
    one grant, 2020 · $108k
  • LW
    LIVE WORK MAINE INC
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue -30%
  • LC
    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    one grant, 2018 · $25k
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 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
2
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.

—
3
Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Maine MEP's mission is to facilitate economic development by providing the necessary services to Maine's small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises (SMES) to enable them to be resilient and thrive in the ever-changing market…

Community Improvement
4
Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center

To strengthen the competitive position on the development and commercialization of new marketable species of finfish, shellfish, and sea vegetables by developing technology to lower industry cost and provide education.

Food & Nutrition
5
Business Education Partnership Foundation

Connecting people, training and employment

Employment
6
Maine State Chamber of Commerce

Enhance the business climate, the quality of life, and economic wellbeing of the businesses and people of maine

—
7
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
8
Maine Environmental Education Association

The maine environmental education association enhances and amplifies the efforts of individuals and organizations building environmental awareness, appreciation, understanding and action in maine.

—
9
Maine Medical Association

To support maine physicians, advance the quality of medicine in maine, and promote the health of all maine people.

—
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
Northern Maine Development Commission

To serve the northern Maine region with effective regional community planning and economic development.

Community Improvement
12
Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy

Focusmaine propels the growth of maine's most promising industries and transforms maine into a hub for top talent.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Coastal Enterprises Inc; the most unlike its peers is Biotechnology Association of Maine Bioscience Association of Maine. 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

10 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. 10 of the 29 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
9/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MAINE CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT DBA MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS: $4,201,009 · OtherMAINE CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT DBA MAINE …Maine & Company: $388,576 · OtherMaine & CompanyAVIGO SOLUTIONS: $335,129 · OtherAVIGO SOLUTIONSSATISH TADIKONDA: $216,000 · Other+17 more: $586,555 · Other+17 moreCOASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $2,203,743 · Housing & ShelterCOASTAL ENTERPRISES…Educate Maine: $1,608,226 · EducationEducate MaineNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $165,774 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UN…MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $1,593,915 · Food & NutritionMAINE AQUACULT…GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $1,287,009 · AnimalsGULF OF MAI…LIVE WORK MAINE INC: $100,000 · Community ImprovementBiotechnology Association of Maine Bioscience Association of Maine: $52,078 · Community ImprovementTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $42,463 · Community Improvement
Other$5,727,269Housing & Shelter$2,203,743Education$1,774,000Food & Nutrition$1,593,915Animals$1,287,009Community Improvement$194,541

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 budgetMAINE CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT DBA MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS: $4,201,009 over 8y, 84% of budgetCOASTAL ENTERPRISES INC: $2,203,743 over 7y, 3.6% of budgetEducate Maine: $1,608,226 over 7y, 19% of budgetMAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION: $1,593,915 over 8y, 66% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $1,287,009 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetMaine & Company: $388,576 over 3y, 22% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $165,774 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLIVE WORK MAINE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetBiotechnology Association of Maine Bioscience Association of Maine: $52,078 over 2y, 10% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $42,463 over 2y, 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.

  • Who funds MAINE CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT DBA MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS ↗
  • Who funds COASTAL ENTERPRISES INC ↗
  • Who funds Educate Maine ↗
  • Who funds MAINE AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Maine & Company ↗
  • Who funds NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds LIVE WORK MAINE INC ↗
  • Who funds Biotechnology Association of Maine Bioscience Association of Maine ↗
  • Who funds THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC ↗

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Maine Technology Inst…
Maine Technology InstituteME23.2× affinity9 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Technology Institute

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 Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 29 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 Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy’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