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· Private foundation

John Sage Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$162k
Granted FY2025still arriving
27
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Environment$556kAnimals$60kScience & Tech$32kEducation$24kHuman Services$23kArts & Culture$19kRecreation & Sports$13kHealth$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k24 grants · $132k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $30k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES$10,000
SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MAINE$10,000
HIGH PEAKS ALLIANCE$10,000
COBALT$9,000
MERRYMEETING BAY TROUT UNLIMITED$8,000
MAINE APPALACHAIN TRAIL LAND TRUST$8,000
COASTAL MOUNTAINS LAND TRUST$7,500
ALLAGASH WILDERNESS WATERWAY FOUNDATION$7,500
FALMOUTH LAND TRUST$7,500
COASTAL RIVERS CONSERVATION TRUST$7,000
LAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE$6,500
KENNEBEC LAND TRUST$5,000
VILES ARBORETUM$5,000
QUEERLY ME$5,000
CAPE ELIZABETH LAND TRUST$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY24–25, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%QUEERLY ME: $5k → 7%YORK READY FOR CLIMATE ACTION: $3k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$449k · 32 repeat orgs$311k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +42% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.

32 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
48

Total granted

$449k
$214k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
0%

Still filing today

91%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $98k 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
EnvironmentAnimalsEducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • Midcoast Conservancy
    6× · 2017–2025 · $49k · revenue +16%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK
    7× · 2017–2025 · $32k · revenue +49%
  • FB
    Frenchman Bay Conservancy
    2× · 2018–2023 · $26k · revenue +287%

Funded once

  • SW
    SOMERSET WOODS TRUSTEES
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
  • SR
    SEBASTICOOK REGIONAL LAND TRUST
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
  • SC
    SOMERSET COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
    one grant, 2018 · $8k

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
2
Kennebunk Land Trust

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

Environment
3
Boothbay Region Land Trust

To conserve for the public benefit natural habitat, scenic beauty, and working land of the Boothbay region of Maine by providing stewardship, public access, and environmental programs.

Environment
4
Islesboro Islands Trust

The mission of Islesboro Islands Trust is to enhance the quality of residents' lives through the preservation of open space, educate all residents as to the value of the island's natural ecosystems, and act as an environmental advocate on…

Philanthropy
5
Royal River Conservation Trust

The royal river conservation trust (rrct) is a regional land trust working primarily in seven maine municipalities. the trust owns,cares for, and stewards land and conservation easements to protect land and water resources for the general…

Environment
6
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…

—
7
Mahoosuc Land Trust Inc

To protect and conserve land and traditional land uses including farming, recreation, significant habitats, scenery, and water resources for the benefit of the public. The organization facilitates community-based conservation.

Environment
8
Presumpscot Regional Land Trust

We engage with communities to conserve, steward, and provide access to local lands and clean water for current and future generations to enjoy.

—
9
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
10
Upper Saco Valley Land Trust

The Organization works with local landowners to permanently protect natural land and waters that define its community and enrich the quality of life by purchasing, managing, negotiating and developing conservations easements in the Upper…

Food & Nutrition
11
Harpswell Heritage Land Trust

Land Conservation, Trails and Public Access, Education

Environment
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midcoast Conservancy and the most unlike its peers is York Ready for Climate Action. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyAnimal Rescue and SanctuaryMaine Grantmaking Foundatio…Affordable Housing ProvidersFamily Philanthropic Founda…Lake Watershed ConservationMaine Community Development
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number16%3%<5yr13%5%5–10yr20%19%10–20yr20%30%20–35yr15%31%35–55yr17%12%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value16%1%<5yr13%2%5–10yr20%16%10–20yr20%31%20–35yr15%33%35–55yr17%16%55yr+

The field is 16% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 9% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/78
the rest of the field
9%
580/6,504

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 73 of the 96 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
70/73
Grantees still filing
41/73
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Midcoast Conservancy — $49,000 · EnvironmentMidcoast ConservancyFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK — $31,500 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARKFrenchman Bay Conservancy — $26,300 · EnvironmentFrenchman Bay ConservancyTHE ALLAGASH WILDERNESS WATERWAY FOUNDATION — $23,500 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND — $21,000 · EnvironmentCoastal Mountains Land Trust — $17,500 · Environment30 Mile River Watershed Association — $17,500 · EnvironmentLAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE - MAINE VOLUNTEER LAKE MONITORING PROGRAM — $15,600 · Environment+39 more — $263,950 · Environment+39 moreMAINE APPALACHAIN TRAIL LAND TRUST — $19,000 · OtherMAINE APPALACHAIN TRAIL LAND…Cobscook Community Learning Center — $17,500 · OtherCobscook Community Learning …SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MAINE — $16,000 · OtherSAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MA…COBALT — $14,000 · OtherCOBALTSOMERSET COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT — $8,000 · OtherMERRYMEETING BAY TROUT UNLIMITED — $8,000 · OtherWOMEN FOR HEALTHY RURAL LIVING — $10,000 · Other+26 more — $99,700 · Other+26 moreDOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION — $12,500 · AnimalsGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $8,000 · AnimalsDOWNEAST INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC — $5,000 · AnimalsTHE CENTER FOR WILDLIFE — $4,500 · AnimalsAtlantic Salmon Federation (US) Inc — $2,000 · AnimalsMarine Mammals of Maine — $13,750 · Arts & CultureWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION — $5,500 · Arts & CultureMAINE NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATORY — $5,000 · Arts & CultureMAINE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING — $3,000 · Arts & CultureUnity Environmental University — $7,500 · EducationTrustees of Saint Joseph's College Saint Joseph's College of Maine — $5,460 · EducationWhite Pine Programs — $2,500 · EducationMaine Philanthropy Center — $1,230 · EducationBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences — $13,500 · Science & TechHIGH PEAKS ALLIANCE — $10,000 · Recreation & SportsEastern Trail Alliance — $2,500 · Recreation & Sports
Environment$465,850Other$192,200Animals$32,000Arts & Culture$27,250Education$16,690Science & Tech$13,500Recreation & Sports$12,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMidcoast Conservancy — $49,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK — $31,500 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetFrenchman Bay Conservancy — $26,300 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ALLAGASH WILDERNESS WATERWAY FOUNDATION — $23,500 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND — $21,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCoastal Mountains Land Trust — $17,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budget30 Mile River Watershed Association — $17,500 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetCobscook Community Learning Center — $17,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetLAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE - MAINE VOLUNTEER LAKE MONITORING PROGRAM — $15,600 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetNORTHEAST WILDERNESS TRUST CORPORATION — $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMarine Mammals of Maine — $13,750 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences — $13,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKENNEBEC ESTUARY LAND TRUST — $12,700 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBLUE HILL HERITAGE TRUST — $12,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetForest Society of Maine — $12,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION — $12,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGREATER LOVELL LAND TRUST INC — $12,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetHIGH PEAKS ALLIANCE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMaine Appalachian Trail Land Trust — $10,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetWOMEN FOR HEALTHY RURAL LIVING — $10,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetSOMERSET WOODS TRUSTEES — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMaine Coast Heritage Trust — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSEBASTICOOK REGIONAL LAND TRUST — $10,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetMAINE TREE FOUNDATION — $9,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetBrunswick-Topsham Land Trust Inc — $8,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetANDROSCOGGIN LAND TRUST INC — $8,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHREE RIVERS LAND TRUST — $7,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWild Seed Project — $7,500 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetFALMOUTH CONSERVATION TRUST DBA FALMOUTH LAND TRUST — $7,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUnity Environmental University — $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCoastal Rivers Conservation Trust — $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHINA REGION LAKES ALLIANCE — $6,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetMaine Audubon Society — $6,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION — $5,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTrustees of Saint Joseph's College Saint Joseph's College of Maine — $5,460 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCape Elizabeth Land Trust — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE KENNEBEC LAND TRUST — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLoon Echo Land Trust Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINLAND WOODS TRAILS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetWOODIE WHEATON LAND TRUST — $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMAINE NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATORY — $5,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetQUEERLY ME — $5,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetDOWNEAST INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChebeague & Cumberland Land Trust — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHOMPSON LAKE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATION INC — $5,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetMaine Farmland Trust — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Davis Conservation Fo…Maine Community Found…Onion FoundationMorton-Kelly Charitab…Elmina B Sewall Found…Quimby Family Foundat…The Nature ConservancyMomentum ConservationFields Pond Foundatio…Maine Coast Heritage …Horizon Foundation IncStephen & Tabitha Kin…
Davis Conservation FoundationME109.8× affinity51 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Davis Conservation Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Onion Foundation · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Quimby Family Foundation · The Nature Conservancy · Momentum Conservation · Fields Pond Foundation Inc · Maine Coast Heritage Trust · Horizon Foundation Inc · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization John Sage Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Northeast Wilderness Trust Corporation — 2% of income from government
  • Appalachian Mountain Club — 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
22report 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

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to John Sage Foundation?

Find your warmest path to John Sage 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 96 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines