Skip to content
The Mimi Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Mimi Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$475k
Granted FY2022
36
Grants FY2022
3
States reached
$106k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

74% of The Mimi Foundation’s FY2023 grant dollars went to Maine Community Foundation Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year The Mimi Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 27 organizations, $475k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

34
’20
31
’21
27
’22
4
’23

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2023.

Philanthropy$4.9MArts & Culture$1.9MEducation$345kHealth$246kHuman Services$93kRecreation & Sports$80kYouth Development$56kAnimals$38kOther$0
02FY2022 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k24 grants · $87k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $201k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $187k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Penobscot Theatre Company$105,500
MaineHealth (fbo Maine Behavioral Healthcare)$81,500
Husson University Gracie Theatre$45,000
Boothbay Region YMCA$40,000
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England$25,000
Maine Huts & Trails$25,000
Hospice of Southern Maine$15,000
Telling Room$11,000
Bangor Symphony Orchestra$10,000
North Baldwin Animal Shelter$10,000
Maine Appalachian Trail Club$10,000
Maine Recovery Fund$10,000
A Company of Girls$6,000
University of Southern Maine$5,000
Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland$5,000
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 (FY20–23, $70k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 9% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Next Step Domestic Violence Project: $1k → 11%Bangor Region YMCA: $3k → 15%Hospice of Southern Maine: $15k → 7%Bangor Region YMCA: $3k → 15%Hospice of Southern Maine: $8k → 7%Hospice of Southern Maine: $5k → 7%Maine Recovery Fund: $10k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $6k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $5k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $5k → 7%Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $5k → 7%Maine Recovery Fund: $3k → 7%Maine Needs: $2k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 25 repeat orgs$332k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2022, 5 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call). Read against FY2022, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
37

Total granted

$2.5M
$153k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+28%

Still filing today

84%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23
HealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsAnimalsEducationOther
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
    PENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY
    4× · 2020–2023 · $455k · revenue +36%
  • BS
    BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
    4× · 2020–2023 · $356k · revenue +8% · 33% of their budget
  • YM
    Young Men's Christian Association Boothbay Region
    3× · 2020–2022 · $60k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • AH
    American Heart Association Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +33%
  • MB
    MAINE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue -75%
  • GS
    Good Shepherd Food Bankgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $11k · revenue +50%
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 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…

—
2
Maine GearShare

To provide access to outdoor gear and know-how through a collaborative, equity-centered approach.

Recreation & Sports
3
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
4
Penobscot Bay Medical Center

Penobscot Bay Medical Center (PBMC) is an acute care hospital that offers inpatient and outpatient care, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative services, patient and community education, and a full range of specialty services through…

—
5
Maine & Company

Maine & Company is a private, non-profit business development sales organization. Its purpose is to improve Maine's success in attracting new business and expanding and retaining existing business by providing a focused, statewide sales…

—
6
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
7
MaineGeneral Health

To enhance, every day, the health of our patients, our families and our communities. We do that through a range of health care services for people of all ages, in a variety of care settings.

Health
8
Maine Medical Association

To support maine physicians, advance the quality of medicine in maine, and promote the health of all maine people.

—
9
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine

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…

—
10
Autism Society of Maine d/b/a Asm

The Autism Society of Maine provides education and resources to support the valued lives of individuals on the autism spectrum and their families.

Human Services
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
Maine Arts Academy

The Academy is dedicated to academic excellence, commitment to the performing arts, leadership, integrity, and a virtuous code of conduct, all of which prepare students to meet the demands of a contemporary world through thoughtful…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Grieving Children; the most unlike its peers is North Baldwin Animal Shelter Inc. 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

65 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. 65 of the 81 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)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
64/65
Grantees still filing
54/65
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Maine Community Foundation Inc: $4,872,500 · PhilanthropyMaine Community Foundation IncHusson University Gracie Theatre: $1,045,000 · OtherHusson University Gracie…University of Maine at Orono: $297,500 · OtherUniversity of Maine at O…MaineHealth (fbo Maine Behavioral Healthcare): $81,500 · OtherYoung Men's Christian Association Boothbay Region: $60,000 · Other+40 more: $183,700 · Other+40 morePENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY: $455,000 · Arts & CulturePENOBSCOT TH…BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $356,250 · Arts & CultureBANGOR SYMPH…CHILDREN'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE OF MAINE: $50,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S M…+5 more: $12,000 · Arts & CultureAmerican Heart Association Inc: $50,000 · HealthPlanned Parenthood of Northern New England Inc: $25,000 · HealthSanctuary on Church Street: $5,000 · HealthNAMI MAINE: $5,000 · HealthMaineHealth: $5,000 · Health+5 more: $7,000 · HealthHospice of Southern Maine: $27,500 · Human ServicesOlympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $21,000 · Human ServicesUnited Recovery Fund: $12,500 · Human ServicesBANGOR YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $5,500 · Human ServicesPARTNERS FOR PEACE: $5,000 · Human ServicesTHROUGH THESE DOORS: $5,000 · Human Services+2 more: $3,000 · Human ServicesMaine Huts & Trails: $35,000 · EducationPINE TREE SOCIETY INC: $17,600 · EducationHusson University: $10,000 · EducationUniversity of Maine Foundation: $5,000 · Education+1 more: $1,000 · EducationNORTH BALDWIN ANIMAL SHELTER INC: $10,000 · AnimalsANIMAL REFUGE LEAGUE OF GREATER PORTLAND: $10,000 · AnimalsSOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS OF HANCOCK COUNT: $7,000 · AnimalsBangor Humane Society: $5,000 · Animals+1 more: $1,000 · Animals
Philanthropy$4,872,500Other$1,667,700Arts & Culture$873,250Health$97,000Human Services$79,500Education$68,600Animals$33,000

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 budgetMaine Community Foundation Inc: $4,872,500 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetPENOBSCOT THEATRE COMPANY: $455,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetBANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $356,250 over 4y, 33% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association Boothbay Region: $60,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE OF MAINE: $50,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Huts & Trails: $35,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetHospice of Southern Maine: $27,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Northern New England Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOlympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute: $21,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPINE TREE SOCIETY INC: $17,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Recovery Fund: $12,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMAINE JUSTICE FOUNDATION: $11,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Telling Room: $11,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetGood Shepherd Food Bank: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH BALDWIN ANIMAL SHELTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetNEW ENGLAND MUSIC CAMP ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMaine Appalachian Trail Club: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetHusson University: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetANIMAL REFUGE LEAGUE OF GREATER PORTLAND: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLocker Project: $7,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS OF HANCOCK COUNT: $7,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetCAMP BEECH CLIFF: $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetA Company of Girls: $6,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetBANGOR YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $5,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPARTNERS FOR PEACE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHROUGH THESE DOORS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBangor Humane Society: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSanctuary on Church Street: $5,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetMy Place Teen Center Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHOSPICE REGATTA OF MAINE: $5,000 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetUniversity of Maine Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAMI MAINE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMaineHealth: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Audubon Society: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPortland Community Squash: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCAMP SUNSHINE AT SEBAGO LAKE INC: $5,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHOSPICE VOLUNTEERS OF HANCOCK COUNTY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMONSPACE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPortland School of Ballet: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMaine Needs Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAINE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFULL PLATES FULL POTENTIAL: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRonald McDonald House Charities of Maine Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMaine Seacoast Mission: $1,400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Susan L Curtis Foundation: $1,300 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE GATHERING PLACE: $1,000 over 1y, 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.

Maine Community Found…Sam L Cohen FoundationBangor Savings Bank F…Davis Family Foundati…Elmina B Sewall Found…Fisher Charitable Fou…Simmons Foundation - …Onion FoundationJohn T Gorman Foundat…Libra FoundationSaco & Biddeford Savi…Stephen & Tabitha Kin…
Maine Community Foundation IncME90× affinity51 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Sam L Cohen Foundation · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Davis Family Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Simmons Foundation - PerkinsThompson · Onion Foundation · John T Gorman Foundation · Libra Foundation · Saco & Biddeford Savings Charitable Foundation · Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc

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 The Mimi Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Mimi Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
20report 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 The Mimi Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Mimi Foundation 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 81 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Mimi’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