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Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
123
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$1.7MEnvironment$901kEducation$253kYouth Development$143kFood & Nutrition$120kRecreation & Sports$80kScience & Tech$78kHuman Services$70kOther$0
02FY2025 · 123 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k47 grants · $270k
  • $10k–50k75 grants · $981k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Preble Street$50,000
Maine Preservation$20,000
Maine Historical Society$20,000
Wabanaki Community Foundation$20,000
Bomazeen Land Trust$20,000
Indigo Arts Alliance$20,000
Maine Humanities Council$20,000
Friends of the Veterans' Memorial Library$20,000
Greater Portland Landmarks$20,000
Maine Environmental Education Association$20,000
Maine Farmland Trust$15,000
Pejepscot Historical Society (dba Pejepscot History Center)$15,000
Scarborough Land Trust$15,000
Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education$15,000
Downeast Salmon Federation$15,000
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 (FY25–25, $95k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 11% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Belfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $10k → 13%Portland Parks Conservancy: $10k → 7%Preble Street: $50k → 7%Preble Street: $15k → 7%Mayo Street Arts: $10k → 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 10% of Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Morton-Kelly Charitable Trustlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.1M · 72 repeat orgs$1.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

72 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 68 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

72
81

Total granted

$2.1M
$953k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
0%

Still filing today

89%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $680k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’22’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’22’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • MS
    Maine Seacoast Mission
    3× · 2020–2025 · $70k · revenue +98%
  • MH
    MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    3× · 2020–2025 · $70k · revenue +37%
  • Portland Museum of Art
    3× · 2020–2025 · $65k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • GS
    Good Shepherd Food Bankgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $40k · revenue +50%
  • EC
    EDDINGTON-CLIFTON CIVIC CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • BH
    BLUE HILL HERITAGE TRUSTgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +92%
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
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
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
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…

—
6
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.

—
7
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
8
Somerset Woods Trustees

To conserve lands with significant ecological or cultural resources and manage them in a sustainable way for public benefit.

Environment
9
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…

—
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
Maine Rivers

Maine Rivers is a statewide advocacy organization. Our mission is to protect, restore and enhance the ecological health of Maine's river systems. We support and direct efforts to conserve and improve the health of Maine's rivers and…

Environment
12
Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust

Our mission is to permanently conserve and steward natural resources across our island and mainland communities for the benefit of current and future generations.

—
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 Classical Uprising. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

168 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. 168 of the 221 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)
38
Early backer (in before they grew)
165/168
Grantees still filing
88/168
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE OF MAINE: $110,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE OF MAIN…MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $70,000 · Arts & CultureMAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETYPortland Museum of Art: $65,000 · Arts & CulturePortland Museum of ArtPORTLAND STAGE COMPANY: $65,000 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND STAGE COMPANYMAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL: $60,000 · Arts & CultureSCHOODIC ARTS FOR ALL: $50,000 · Arts & CultureWATERFALL ARTS: $45,000 · Arts & Culture+46 more: $739,500 · Arts & Culture+46 moreMaine Seacoast Mission: $70,000 · OtherMaine Seacoast MissionEASTPORT ARTS CENTER: $47,500 · OtherPEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $45,000 · Other+80 more: $1,088,000 · Other+80 moreTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $47,500 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC…LAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE - MAINE VOLUNTEER LAKE MONITORING PROGRAM: $35,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY: $33,000 · EnvironmentEcology Education Inc: $32,500 · EnvironmentWild Seed Project: $30,000 · EnvironmentAppalachian Mountain Club: $29,500 · EnvironmentNatural Resources Council of Maine Inc: $27,500 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK: $25,000 · EnvironmentFALMOUTH CONSERVATION TRUST DBA FALMOUTH LAND TRUST: $23,000 · Environment+28 more: $378,000 · Environment+28 morePREBLE STREET: $65,000 · Human ServicesMAYO STREET ARTS: $47,500 · Human ServicesBelfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $20,000 · Human ServicesPortland Parks Conservancy: $10,000 · Human ServicesPROSPERITYME: $10,000 · Human ServicesOlympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $10,000 · Human ServicesLEARNINGWORKS: $10,000 · Human ServicesMaine Mathematics & Science Alliance: $30,000 · EducationISLAND READERS & WRITERS AN INITIATIVE FOR MAINE CHILDREN: $17,500 · EducationMILLINOCKET MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15,000 · EducationMaine Philanthropy Center: $10,000 · EducationSide x Side Inc: $10,000 · EducationTHE FRANKLIN LIBRARY: $10,000 · EducationLiteracy Volunteers of Bangor: $10,000 · EducationPortland Public Library: $10,000 · EducationGARDINER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $10,000 · EducationUPSTANDER PROJECT INC: $10,000 · EducationRural Aspirations Project: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $10,000 · EducationGood Shepherd Food Bank: $40,000 · Food & NutritionMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION: $30,000 · Food & NutritionMaine Farmland Trust: $30,000 · Food & NutritionHEART OF MAINE RESOURCE CENTER: $10,000 · Food & NutritionGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $50,000 · AnimalsDOWNEAST INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC: $35,000 · AnimalsDOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION: $15,000 · Animals
Arts & Culture$1,204,500Other$1,250,500Environment$661,000Human Services$172,500Education$152,500Food & Nutrition$110,000Animals$100,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE OF MAINE: $110,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMaine Seacoast Mission: $70,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetMAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $70,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetPREBLE STREET: $65,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPortland Museum of Art: $65,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetPORTLAND STAGE COMPANY: $65,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetMAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL: $60,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSCHOODIC ARTS FOR ALL: $50,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $47,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEASTPORT ARTS CENTER: $47,500 over 3y, 7.4% of budgetMAYO STREET ARTS: $47,500 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetPEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $45,000 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetWATERFALL ARTS: $45,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetIndigo Arts Alliance: $40,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetBOMAZEEN LAND TRUST: $40,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLAND PEACE FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetGood Shepherd Food Bank: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE - MAINE VOLUNTEER LAKE MONITORING PROGRAM: $35,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetCobscook Community Learning Center: $35,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetDOWNEAST INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC: $35,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY: $33,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetEcology Education Inc: $32,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEastern Trail Alliance: $30,000 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetAROOSTOOK ARTS & EDUCATION CENTER WINTERGREEN ARTS CENTER: $30,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetMaine Farmland Trust: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMaine Mathematics & Science Alliance: $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWild Seed Project: $30,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetAppalachian Mountain Club: $29,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNatural Resources Council of Maine Inc: $27,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetJohnson Hall Inc: $25,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetMaine Appalachian Trail Club: $25,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTEAR CAP WORKSHOPS: $25,000 over 3y, 8.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK: $25,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetBRICK STORE MUSEUM INC: $24,500 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetFALMOUTH CONSERVATION TRUST DBA FALMOUTH LAND TRUST: $23,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetOPERA MAINE: $22,500 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetPENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY: $22,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetCENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART: $21,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetPORTLAND CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL: $21,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetMAINE PRESERVATION: $20,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetGREATER PORTLAND LANDMARKS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE STRAND THEATRE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetBLUE HILL HERITAGE TRUST: $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetWABANAKI COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetKENNEBEC ESTUARY LAND TRUST: $20,000 over 3y, 0.6% 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.

Onion FoundationMaine Community Found…Davis Family Foundati…Elmina B Sewall Found…Davis Conservation Fo…Stephen & Tabitha Kin…Fisher Charitable Fou…Horizon Foundation IncSam L Cohen FoundationQuimby Family Foundat…Bangor Savings Bank F…Simmons Foundation - …
Onion FoundationME182.2× affinity94 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Onion Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Davis Family Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Davis Conservation Foundation · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Horizon Foundation Inc · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Quimby Family Foundation · Bangor Savings Bank 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 Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Appalachian Mountain Club: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
29report 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 Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust 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 221 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 Morton-Kelly’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