Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Roger K Berle Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$91k
Granted FY2025still arriving
30
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What you fund
0196% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Arts & Culture$277kEducation$162kEnvironment$100kYouth Development$55kFood & Nutrition$33kHealth$29kHousing & Shelter$26kRecreation & Sports$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 30 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k27 grants · $56k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $35k
$2,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$743k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTING$15,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE FOUNDATION$10,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF SOUTHERN MAINE$10,000
BOWDOIN COLLEGE$9,200
PORTLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$5,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
PORTLAND PARKS CONSERVANCY$5,000
CLIFF ISLAND CORP FOR ACE$3,500
THE ISLAND INSTITUTE$3,000
FULL PLATES FULL POTENTIAL$2,500
GOOD SHEPHERD FOOD BANK$2,500
WAYNFLETE SCHOOL$2,500
PORTLAND TRAILS$2,500
MAINE COAST FISHERMENS ASSOCIATION$2,500
FRIENDS OF FORT GORGES$2,500
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 (FY17–25, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 28% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%LEARNING WORKS: $1k → 12%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $1k → 14%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $500 → 14%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $500 → 14%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $500 → 14%SMYAL: $1k → 14%SMYAL: $1k → 14%SMYAL: $1k → 14%SMYAL: $1k → 14%LEARNING WORKS: $500 → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $3k → 7%PREBLE STREET: $2k → 7%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.

Which US states your grants reach

ME
MI
NY
MA
IA
NJ
CA
VA
DC

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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$695k · 46 repeat orgs$79k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +72% since the first grant, against +14% for the ones you funded once.

46 repeat relationships — 22 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

46
21

Total granted

$695k
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+72%
+14%

Still filing today

76%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $22k 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
EnvironmentArts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentOther

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

  • BC
    Bowdoin College
    9× · 2017–2025 · $64k · revenue +94%
  • MP
    Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $60k · revenue +88%
  • BG
    Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine
    7× · 2017–2025 · $50k · revenue +341%

Funded once

  • AN
    American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branchesgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +46%
  • MT
    MAINE TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS
    one grant, 2024 · $10k
  • CF
    CELTINO FOUNDATION CHARITABLE TRUST
    one grant, 2021 · $10k

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
Midcoast Conservancy

The mission of Midcoast Conservancy is to protect vital lands and waters on a scale that matters and to inspire wonder and action on behalf of all species and the Earth.

Environment
2
Maine Farmland Trust

Maine Farmland Trust protects farmland, supports farmers, and advances the future of farming.

Food & Nutrition
3
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
4
Maine Maritime Museum

To connect people to the past, present, and future of Maine's waterways and their global reach.

Arts & Culture
5
Coastal Mountains Land Trust

We conserve land permanently to benefit the natural and human communities of western the Penobscot Bay region.

Environment
6
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
7
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…

8
Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust

To preserve and protect land surrounding the appalachian trail in maine for public benefit.

Environment
9
Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries

Secure a sustainable future for fisheries and fishing communities in Eastern Maine and beyond.

Science & Tech
10
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
11
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.

12
Kennebunk Land Trust

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

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Maine Seacoast Mission and the most unlike its peers is Earthjustice. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 38 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%0%<5yr14%4%5–10yr20%14%10–20yr20%22%20–35yr15%29%35–55yr14%31%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%0%<5yr14%5%5–10yr20%5%10–20yr20%25%20–35yr15%23%35–55yr14%42%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 2% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%1/54
the rest of the field
11%
4,046/36,656

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

51 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 51 of the 76 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)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/51
Grantees still filing
33/51
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE — $40,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINEPORTLAND MEDIA CENTER — $37,000 · OtherPORTLAND MEDIA CENTERCLIFF ISLAND CORP FOR ACE — $29,100 · OtherCLIFF ISLAND CORP FOR ACEIndividual grant recipient — $15,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION — $12,500 · OtherMAINE TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS — $10,000 · OtherCELTINO FOUNDATION CHARITABLE TRUST — $10,000 · OtherUniversity of Southern Maine Foundation — $10,000 · Other+28 more — $76,984 · Other+28 morePORTLAND MAINE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — $65,000 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND MAINE SYMPHONY ORCHEST…Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation — $59,500 · Arts & CultureMaine Public Broadcasting Corpo…SPACE Gallery — $42,500 · Arts & CultureSPACE GalleryFRIENDS OF FORT GORGES — $28,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF FORT GORGES+7 more — $17,250 · Arts & Culture+7 moreBowdoin College — $63,700 · EducationBowdoin CollegeIsland Institute — $34,000 · EducationIsland InstituteWAYNFLETE SCHOOL — $22,000 · EducationWAYNFLETE SCHOOLFalmouth Memorial Library Association — $7,000 · EducationNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL — $4,500 · Education+1 more — $1,500 · EducationPORTLAND TRAILS — $16,500 · EnvironmentMaine Coast Heritage Trust — $11,000 · EnvironmentMaine Island Trail Association — $6,500 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY — $5,813 · EnvironmentMaine Audubon Society — $4,000 · EnvironmentForest Society of Maine — $3,500 · EnvironmentMAINE COAST FISHERMENS ASSN — $2,500 · Environment+5 more — $4,250 · EnvironmentPREBLE STREET — $19,500 · Human ServicesPortland Parks Conservancy — $13,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $10,000 · Human ServicesSMYAL Inc — $4,000 · Human ServicesMIRIAM'S KITCHEN — $2,500 · Human ServicesLEARNINGWORKS — $1,750 · Human Services+1 more — $1,500 · Human ServicesBoys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine — $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentFULL PLATES FULL POTENTIAL — $18,000 · Food & NutritionGood Shepherd Food Bank — $14,500 · Food & Nutrition+1 more — $500 · Food & Nutrition
Other$240,584Arts & Culture$212,250Education$132,700Environment$54,063Human Services$52,250Youth Development$50,000Food & Nutrition$33,000

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 budgetPORTLAND MAINE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — $65,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetBowdoin College — $63,700 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Public Broadcasting Corporation — $59,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine — $50,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetSPACE Gallery — $42,500 over 8y, 1.3% of budgetPORTLAND MEDIA CENTER — $37,000 over 8y, 2.5% of budgetIsland Institute — $34,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF FORT GORGES — $28,000 over 9y, 14% of budgetWAYNFLETE SCHOOL — $22,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetPREBLE STREET — $19,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFULL PLATES FULL POTENTIAL — $18,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetPORTLAND TRAILS — $16,500 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetGood Shepherd Food Bank — $14,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPortland Parks Conservancy — $13,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetMaine Coast Heritage Trust — $11,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Southern Maine Foundation — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFalmouth Memorial Library Association — $7,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMaine Island Trail Association — $6,500 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY — $5,813 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC IN THE SOMERSET HILLS INC — $5,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetPortland Museum of Art — $5,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL — $4,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetOCEANSIDE CONSERVATION TRUST — $4,250 over 8y, 1.4% of budgetSMYAL Inc — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Audubon Society — $4,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetThe Genesis Fund — $3,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetForest Society of Maine — $3,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $3,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMIRIAM'S KITCHEN — $2,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCAMDEN CONFERENCE — $2,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetFriends of Katahdin Woods & Waters — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLEARNINGWORKS — $1,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHROUGH THESE DOORS — $1,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY EQUALITY — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHORAL ART SOCIETY — $1,250 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFALMOUTH CONSERVATION TRUST DBA FALMOUTH LAND TRUST — $1,250 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMaine Seacoast Mission — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPresumpscot Regional Land Trust — $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget317 Main St Community Center Inc — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBICYCLE COALITION OF MAINE — $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAINE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAINE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE — $500 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

  • Who funds PORTLAND MAINE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
  • Who funds Bowdoin College
  • Who funds Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation
  • Who funds Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine
  • Who funds SPACE Gallery
  • Who funds PORTLAND MEDIA CENTER
  • Who funds Island Institute
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF FORT GORGES
  • Who funds WAYNFLETE SCHOOL
  • Who funds PREBLE STREET
  • Who funds FULL PLATES FULL POTENTIAL
  • Who funds PORTLAND TRAILS
  • Who funds Good Shepherd Food Bank
  • Who funds Portland Parks Conservancy
  • Who funds Maine Coast Heritage Trust
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches
  • Who funds University of Southern Maine Foundation
  • Who funds Falmouth Memorial Library Association
  • Who funds Maine Island Trail Association
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY
  • Who funds MUSIC IN THE SOMERSET HILLS INC
  • Who funds Portland Museum of Art
  • Who funds UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF
  • Who funds NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
  • Who funds OCEANSIDE CONSERVATION TRUST
  • Who funds SMYAL Inc
  • Who funds Maine Audubon Society

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.

Maine Community Foundation IncME51.9× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Horizon Foundation Inc · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Onion Foundation · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · The Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation · Libra Foundation · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Murray Charitable Trust · Davis Conservation Foundation · 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 Roger K Berle Charitable Trust 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
202122232425
no gov · 30%1%4%8%15%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    17report 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, FY2025

    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 Roger K Berle Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Roger K Berle 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 76 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