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Maine Justice Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Maine Justice Foundation

The mission of the MAINE JUSTICE FOUNDATION is to sustain, promote, and partner with legal aid providers and social justice organizations to inspire and support fairness and justice in maine.

$3.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.2M
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 2025.

Crime & Legal$17MCivil Rights$94kArts & Culture$20kYouth Development$17kHealth$7kHuman Services$7kPublic Benefit$7k
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $50k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $338k
  • $250k+5 grants · $3.4M
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$9.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT$1,205,252
PINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE$605,482
MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT$598,602
LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY$503,219
IMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECT$469,812
CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC$192,653
PINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE$145,800
MAINE INSIDE OUT$10,000
ME COMM ON PUBLIC DEFENSE SERVICES$10,000
IMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECT$10,000
LADDER TO THE MOON NETWORK$10,000
EQUALITY MAINE FOUNDATION$7,142
ALFOND YOUTH & COMM CENTER$7,142
MABEL WADSWORTH CENTER$7,142
KINDLING COLLECTIVE$7,142
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 66% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $193k → 7%OUT MAINE: $10k → 11%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $599k → 12%MABEL WADSWORTH CENTER: $7k → 15%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $147k → 7%OUT MAINE: $7k → 11%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $503k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $60k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $449k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $58k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $416k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $57k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $319k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $54k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $311k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $53k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $284k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $53k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $279k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $46k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $274k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $46k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $273k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $37k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $265k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $13k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $263k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $12k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $251k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $7k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $247k → 12%CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC: $7k → 7%LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY: $231k → 12%VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT: $1.2M → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $226k → 12%VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT: $878k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PARTNERS: $206k → 12%MAINE TRANSNET: $10k → 7%MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PROJECT: $199k → 12%EQUALITY COMMUNITY CENTER: $7k → 7%ALFOND YOUTH & COMM CENTER: $10k → 12%KINDLING COLLECTIVE: $7k → 7%ALFOND YOUTH & COMM CENTER: $7k → 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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$17M · 12 repeat orgs$41k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +0% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
2

Total granted

$17M
$20k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+0%

Still filing today

92%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k 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
Crime & LegalPublic BenefitEducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • PT
    PINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $6.8M · revenue +101%
  • LS
    LEGAL SERVICES FOR MAINE ELDERS INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.9M · revenue +62%
  • ME
    Maine Equal Justice Partners
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.7M · revenue +44%

Funded once

  • MT
    MAINE TRANSGENDER NETWORK INC
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
  • NA
    NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +0%
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
EqualityMaine

EqualityMaine works to protect and advance full equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Mainers by creating an inclusive and intersectional movement through political action, community building, education,…

Civil Rights
2
Maine Justice Foundation

The mission of the maine justice foundation is to sustain, promote, and partner with legal aid providers and social justice organizations to inspire and support fairness and justice in maine.

Crime & Legal
3
Maine Afl-Cio

To promote and ensure workers' rights

—
4
Maine Donor Alliance Fund

To build a permanent and powerful progressive movement in Maine. We will promote a healthy, just, equitable democracy through research, engagement, and education of Maine's citizens. We will engage in democracy expansion, voter engagement,…

Education
5
Maine Council on Aging

A broad multi-disciplinary network that works to ensure we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives as we age in our homes and communities. With the voices of people with lived experience, we work on policy issues related to…

Unclassified
6
Maine Pretrial Services

Provide low-income defendants assistance in obtaining pretrial release and supervision.

—
7
Maine Access Immigrant Network

MAIN serves as a bridge and cultural broker for multilingual access to health and social services for immigrants, refugees, and asylees in our community.

Human Services
8
Maine Donor Alliance

To build a permanent and powerful social change movement in Maine, supported by a network of committed donors.

Civil Rights
9
Maine Access Points

To recognize the resiliency of people who use drugs and to work in collaboration to create access points for overdose prevention and harm reduction services in Maine.

Health
10
Maine Media College

Maine Media Workshops & College educates and inspires visual artists and storytellers to achieve their creative potential. We provide lifelong learning opportunities for those pursuing the fine arts and media-related professions. We are…

—
11
Maine Jewish Film Festival

The Maine Jewish Film Festival celebrates filmmakinginspiring conversation through the lens of global Jewish experience. Innovative programming invites a diverse statewide audience into the dialogue. Many of our programs include guest…

Arts & Culture
12
Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center

The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center serves as a hub of collaboration that strengthens the immigrant community through language acquisition, economic integration and civic engagement.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Legal Services for Maine Elders Inc; the most unlike its peers is National Association of Social Workers. 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

16 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. 16 of the 17 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/16
Grantees still filing
10/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC: $6,775,810 · Crime & LegalPINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE INCLEGAL SERVICES FOR MAINE ELDERS INC: $2,887,950 · Crime & LegalLEGAL SERVICES FOR MAINE ELDERS INCMaine Equal Justice Partners: $2,705,465 · Crime & LegalMaine Equal Justice PartnersVLP Inc: $2,083,493 · Crime & LegalVLP IncIMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $2,014,146 · Crime & LegalIMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECTUNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $843,022 · EducationState of Maine: $20,000 · OtherMAINE TRANSGENDER NETWORK INC: $10,000 · OtherNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS: $10,000 · OtherEQUALITY COMMUNITY CENTER: $7,142 · OtherALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $17,142 · OtherMABEL WADSWORTH WOMEN'S HEALTH CTR: $7,142 · OtherLADDER TO THE MOON NETWORK: $20,000 · Public BenefitNOPI INC: $7,142 · Public BenefitMAINE INSIDE OUT: $20,000 · Arts & CultureOUT Maine: $17,142 · PhilanthropyEqualityMaine Foundation: $17,142 · Human Services
Crime & Legal$16,466,864Education$843,022Other$71,426Public Benefit$27,142Arts & Culture$20,000Philanthropy$17,142Human Services$17,142

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC: $6,775,810 over 9y, 13% of budgetLEGAL SERVICES FOR MAINE ELDERS INC: $2,887,950 over 9y, 15% of budgetMaine Equal Justice Partners: $2,705,465 over 9y, 20% of budgetVLP Inc: $2,083,493 over 2y, 72% of budgetIMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $2,014,146 over 9y, 12% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MAINE SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $843,022 over 9y, 18% of budgetMAINE INSIDE OUT: $20,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetLADDER TO THE MOON NETWORK: $20,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetOUT Maine: $17,142 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetEqualityMaine Foundation: $17,142 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $17,142 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMABEL WADSWORTH WOMEN'S HEALTH CTR: $7,142 over 1y, 0.5% 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…John T Gorman Foundat…Sam L Cohen FoundationMaine Health Access F…Elmina B Sewall Found…Onion FoundationMaine Womens FundThe Bob Crewe Foundat…The Widgeon Point Cha…Albert B Glickman Fam…Maine InitiativesincGill Foundation
Maine Community Foundation IncME34.3× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · John T Gorman Foundation · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Maine Health Access Foundation Inc · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Onion Foundation · Maine Womens Fund · The Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation · The Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation · Albert B Glickman Family Foundation · Maine Initiativesinc · Gill 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 Justice Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Maine Justice Foundation. 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%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 14%
  • Nopi Inc: 14% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 17 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

Play a game based on Maine Justice’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