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Maine Humanities Council at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Maine Humanities Council

The MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL (the council) is a not-for profit corporation that is funded primarily by grants from the national endowment for the humanities (neh) and contributions from the public.

$145k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$8k
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 2023.

Arts & Culture$513kEducation$323kHuman Services$34kYouth Development$28kHealth$26kFood & Nutrition$22kHousing & Shelter$20kCivil Rights$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 13 grants below total $95,643, the rows itemized in this filing. The $144,876 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $49,233 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.
$7,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$8,000
OUT MAINE$7,500
WILD BLUEBERRY HERITAGE CENTER$7,500
ABBE MUSEUM$7,500
ARTIVISM IN MAINE$7,500
INDIGO ARTS ALLIANCE$7,500
ATLANTIC BLACK BOX$7,500
SAFE VOICES$7,500
MAINE TRANSGENDER NETWORK$7,500
MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM$7,500
HILL ARTS$7,250
NIBEZUN$7,000
HARDY GIRLS HEALTHY WOMERN RESOURCE CENTER$5,893
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 (FY21–23, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 29% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%TOGETHER PLACE PEER RUN RECOVERY CENTER: $6k → 15%GATEWAY COMMUNITY SERVICES MAINE: $8k → 7%MAYO STREET ARTS: $7k → 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.

38%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$421k · 29 repeat orgs$684k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
90

Total granted

$421k
$624k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%
+30%

Still filing today

76%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 37% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $60k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • IA
    Indigo Arts Alliance
    4× · 2021–2025 · $29k · revenue +245%
  • AM
    Abbe Museum
    5× · 2018–2025 · $25k · revenue +46%
  • WC
    WABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION
    3× · 2020–2025 · $20k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • MW
    MAINE WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS ALLIANgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +51%
  • SP
    SPEAKING PLACEgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $14k · revenue +185%
  • CC
    Cumberland County Food Security Council
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue -8%
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
Monhegan Memorial Library

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

Education
3
Bangor Historical Society

Bangor Historical Society's Mission is to share the region's rich history with the community and its visitors through research, education and programs.

—
4
Bowdoinham Public Library

To provide and maintain a public library which provides free services and programming to the residents of Bowdoinham (pop. c. 3000), lends books and other media, offers educational and reading programs for children, youth and people of all…

Education
5
Lincolnville Historical Society

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

Unclassified
6
Buck Memorial Library

Library Services

—
7
Bangor Public Library Association

To provide free library services to the residents of the bangor area.

—
8
Western Maine Play Museum

Our mission is to inspire children, connect families, and build community through exploration, learning, and play.

Arts & Culture
9
Mcarthur Library Association

Mission is to connect the Biddeford community with materials, programs, services, and other informational and cultural resources enabling fuller, better, and richer lives.

Education
10
Peabody Memorial Library

Our mission is to provide services cultural activities technology education and to act as a social resource to improve the quality of life in our area

—
11
Chebeague Island Library

Operation of a community library on chebeague island, maine.

Education
12
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
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.
04the grantee network

94 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. 94 of the 127 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)
33
Early backer (in before they grew)
91/94
Grantees still filing
65/94
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

+65 more: $518,991 · Other+65 moreIndigo Arts Alliance: $28,500 · Arts & CultureIndigo Arts AllianceAbbe Museum: $25,227 · Arts & CultureAbbe MuseumWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION: $19,727 · Arts & CultureWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION CO…Wild Blueberry Heritage Center: $14,750 · Arts & CulturePENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY: $14,000 · Arts & CultureMAINE-WABANAKI REACH: $13,314 · Arts & CultureBRICK STORE MUSEUM INC: $12,800 · Arts & CultureMAINE MUSEUM OF INNOVATION LEARNING AND LABOR: $12,727 · Arts & CultureCenter Theatre Inc: $12,727 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $11,000 · Arts & Culture+23 more: $156,907 · Arts & Culture+23 moreISLAND READERS & WRITERS AN INITIATIVE FOR MAINE CHILDREN: $14,912 · EducationISLAND READERS & …PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF BATES COLLEGE: $13,500 · EducationPRESIDENT AND TRU…The President and Trustees of Colby College: $13,000 · EducationThe President and…DORCAS LIBRARY ASSOC: $12,727 · EducationDORCAS LIBRARY AS…Wilton Free Public Library: $12,727 · EducationWilton Free Publi…STONINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $12,727 · EducationSTONINGTON PUBLIC…BRIDGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $7,500 · EducationCOMMUNITY LIBRARY: $7,500 · EducationLITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF FRANKLIN AND SOMERSET COUNTIES: $7,500 · EducationPORTER MEMORIAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $7,500 · EducationFRIENDS OF SOLDIERS MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $7,500 · EducationLONG LAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $7,500 · EducationWHITEFIELD LIBRARY: $7,500 · EducationEASTPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY: $7,461 · EducationLITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF KENNEBEC: $7,200 · EducationHenry D Moore Parish House and Library: $7,000 · EducationNAPLES PUBLIC LIBRARY: $6,000 · Education+2 more: $10,227 · Education+2 moreThe Telling Room: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentHARDY GIRLS HEALTHY WOMEN INC: $13,393 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BORDER TOWNS: $5,814 · Youth DevelopmentGateway Community Services Maine: $7,500 · Human ServicesMAYO STREET ARTS: $6,713 · Human ServicesMAINE MENTAL HEALTH CONNECTIONS INC: $5,800 · Human ServicesMaine Access Points: $7,500 · HealthHEALTHY ACADIA: $7,490 · HealthWABANAKI HEALTH & WELLNESS NPC: $5,000 · HealthMAINE ADULT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $19,577 · Housing & Shelter
Other$518,991Arts & Culture$321,679Education$169,981Youth Development$34,207Human Services$20,013Health$19,990Housing & Shelter$19,577

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 budgetIndigo Arts Alliance: $28,500 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetAbbe Museum: $25,227 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION: $19,727 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetMAINE ADULT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $19,577 over 3y, 7.4% of budgetMAINE WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS ALLIAN: $15,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetThe Telling Room: $15,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetISLAND READERS & WRITERS AN INITIATIVE FOR MAINE CHILDREN: $14,912 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetWild Blueberry Heritage Center: $14,750 over 2y, 6.4% of budgetPENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY: $14,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetPRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF BATES COLLEGE: $13,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHARDY GIRLS HEALTHY WOMEN INC: $13,393 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetMAINE-WABANAKI REACH: $13,314 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $13,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRICK STORE MUSEUM INC: $12,800 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetLADDER TO THE MOON NETWORK: $12,755 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetMAINE MUSEUM OF INNOVATION LEARNING AND LABOR: $12,727 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetCenter Theatre Inc: $12,727 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTURNER PUBLIC LIBRARY PORTLAND TRUST COMPANY MANAGER: $12,727 over 2y, 13% of budgetWilton Free Public Library: $12,727 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetSTONINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $12,727 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetMOUNT DESERT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $11,900 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCumberland County Food Security Council: $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTERRA MOTO INC Art At Work: $7,500 over 1y, 23% of budgetBRIDGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $7,500 over 1y, 14% of budgetGateway Community Services Maine: $7,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY LIBRARY: $7,500 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetWorld Affairs Council of Maine: $7,500 over 1y, 10% of budgetCobscook Community Learning Center: $7,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCORNISH LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 1y, 10% of budgetPEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $7,500 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetOGUNQUIT MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $7,500 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetPORTLAND MEDIA CENTER: $7,500 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetMonhegan Historical & Cultural Museum Association: $7,500 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCommittee to Restore the Abyssinian Meeting House: $7,500 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetCLASSICAL UPRISING: $7,500 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetVictoria Mansion: $7,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPORTLAND OVATIONS: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFoundation for Portland Public Schools: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPIHCINTU: $7,500 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetPORTER MEMORIAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetUnion of Maine Visual Artists Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 13% of budgetOUT Maine: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMAINE INSIDE OUT: $7,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetLONG LAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $7,500 over 1y, 20% of budgetSPRINGVALE PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetMaine Access Points: $7,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSafe Voices: $7,500 over 1y, 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…Davis Family Foundati…Onion FoundationStephen & Tabitha Kin…Morton-Kelly Charitab…Elmina B Sewall Found…Sam L Cohen FoundationMaine InitiativesincBangor Savings Bank F…Libra FoundationFisher Charitable Fou…Quimby Family Foundat…
Maine Community Foundation IncME109.2× affinity77 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Davis Family Foundation · Onion Foundation · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Maine Initiativesinc · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Libra Foundation · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Quimby Family Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
26report 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.

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 127 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

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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