· Private foundation
Rural Futures Fund
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k1 grant · $328
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
- $250k+1 grant · $311k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Rural Youth Institute | $310,666 |
| University of Maine | $10,000 |
| Maine Philanthropy Center | $328 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–17, $126k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +67% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $328 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MSMaine Seacoast Mission5× · 2017–2024 · $476k · revenue +76%
- CFChewonki Foundation Inc4× · 2017–2022 · $435k · revenue +6%
- RYRural Youth Institute3× · 2023–2025 · $418k · revenue +460% · 52% of their budget
Funded once
- SOSEEDS OF INDEPENDENCEone grant, 2017 · $130k · revenue -85% · 47% of their budget
- KWKieve Wavus Education Incone grant, 2017 · $126k · revenue +25%
- MYMAINE YOUTH ALLIANCE DBA THE GAME LOFTone grant, 2017 · $126k
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.
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.
Secure a sustainable future for fisheries and fishing communities in Eastern Maine and beyond.
To provide access to outdoor gear and know-how through a collaborative, equity-centered approach.
The mission of the ecology learning center is to deeply root students in Maine's ecological & cultural landscapes, foster authentic real-world learning through mentorship & craft, and cultivate compassionate and resilient leaders prepared…
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…
To connect Maine students to life-changing outdoor experiences.
MaineAEYC promotes high-quality early learning for each and every child, birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and…
MCAN catalyzes transformative education and action in response to the climate crisis. We seek to honor, unite and amplify the voices of youth, frontline communities, and others historically excluded from the climate conversation and…
To work with individuals and organizations from the public and private sectors to help drive Maine's $3 billion outdoor recreation economy to create a brighter future for our state.
The Institute, through a public and private partnership, shall encourage, promote, stimulate and support research and development activity leading to the commercialization of new products and services in Maine's technology-intensive…
The mission of the Mount Desert Island YMCA is to develop community, character, personal growth and wellness in spirit, mind, and body for the greater Mount Desert Island community.
Role models (bigs) in one-to-one friendships in seven counties throughout Eastern, Coastal, and Central Maine. They partner with parents, in conjunction with over 30 schools and hundreds of volunteers and generous partners in our community…
Youth Outdoor Education
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 14 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · John T Gorman Foundation · Onion Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Rural Futures Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rural Futures Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Rural Futures Fund?
Find your warmest path to Rural Futures Fund 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.
Play a game based on Rural Futures’ filings →