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· Public charity

The President and Trustees of Colby College

to provide a rigorous and transformative liberal arts education that prepares students to become thoughtful, engaged citizens.

$74M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$85k
Largest
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.

Arts & Culture$692kPublic Benefit$551kCommunity Improvement$494kRecreation & Sports$80kReligion$57kYouth Development$31kFood & Nutrition$30kHealth$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $252,194, the rows itemized in this filing. The $74,302,194 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $74,050,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $68k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $166k
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.5B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Central Maine Growth Council$84,766
Town of St George$81,293
Waterville Creates$41,500
Friends of Quarry Road$15,000
Alfond Youth Center$11,500
Archives of American Art Journal$6,416
Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce$6,000
Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets$5,719
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 (FY21–21, $9k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%National Black Child Development Institute: $9k → 8%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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 13 repeat orgs$200k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
16

Total granted

$1.8M
$188k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+12%

Still filing today

62%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $12k 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
Arts & CultureEducationCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • CM
    Central Maine Growth Council
    9× · 2017–2025 · $441k · revenue +816%
  • WC
    WATERVILLE CREATES
    9× · 2017–2025 · $412k · revenue +372%
  • CV
    Carrabassett Valley Academy
    2× · 2017–2018 · $50k · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • WM
    WATERVILLE MAIN STREET
    one grant, 2017 · $30k
  • KV
    KENNEBEC VALLEY DENTAL COALITION
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +12%
  • University of Chicago
    one grant, 2024 · $15k · revenue +15%
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
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
2
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…

—
3
Northern Maine Development Commission

To serve the northern Maine region with effective regional community planning and economic development.

Community Improvement
4
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
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
Manufacturers Association of Maine

The manufacturers association of maine is dedicated to promoting and strengthening manufacturing in maine as an informative voice for the state's manufacturing community.

—
7
Maine State Chamber of Commerce

Enhance the business climate, the quality of life, and economic wellbeing of the businesses and people of maine

—
8
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
9
Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center

To strengthen the competitive position on the development and commercialization of new marketable species of finfish, shellfish, and sea vegetables by developing technology to lower industry cost and provide education.

Food & Nutrition
10
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
11
Maine Citizens for Clean Elections

MCCE is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization working to ensure that Maine's campaign finance laws, elections, and government serve the public interest, both in principal and practice.

Civil Rights
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 Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting; the most unlike its peers is Smithsonian Institution. 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

25 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. 25 of the 31 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/25
Grantees still filing
14/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITY OF WATERVILLE: $297,500 · OtherCITY OF WATERVILLETown of St George: $253,879 · OtherTown of St GeorgeWATERVILLE OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION: $123,495 · OtherWATERVILLE OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONMAINE FILM CENTER: $91,347 · OtherMAINE FILM CENTERCONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL: $56,500 · OtherCONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL+13 more: $140,279 · Other+13 moreWATERVILLE CREATES: $411,905 · Arts & CultureWATERVILLE CREATESCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $30,200 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSE…+3 more: $24,954 · Arts & Culture+3 moreCentral Maine Growth Council: $441,090 · Community ImprovementCentral Maine Growth Coun…+1 more: $10,000 · Community ImprovementCarrabassett Valley Academy: $50,000 · EducationUniversity of Chicago: $15,000 · EducationMAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $10,000 · EducationALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $31,150 · Youth DevelopmentFriends of Quarry Road: $30,000 · Recreation & SportsKENNEBEC VALLEY DENTAL COALITION: $25,000 · Health
Other$963,000Arts & Culture$467,059Community Improvement$451,090Education$75,000Youth Development$31,150Recreation & Sports$30,000Health$25,000

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 budgetCentral Maine Growth Council: $441,090 over 9y, 25% of budgetWATERVILLE CREATES: $411,905 over 9y, 3.6% of budgetWATERVILLE OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION: $123,495 over 4y, 31% of budgetMAINE FILM CENTER: $91,347 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetCarrabassett Valley Academy: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $31,150 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $30,200 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetWATERVILLE MAIN STREET: $30,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetFriends of Quarry Road: $30,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetKENNEBEC VALLEY DENTAL COALITION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMID-MAINE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $13,180 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetMaine National Guard Foundation Fund: $11,822 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetMAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKennebec Valley Council of Governments: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKENNEBEC MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMAINE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $9,606 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $9,295 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAINE INSIDE OUT: $8,538 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetWATERVILLE AREA SOUP KITCHEN: $7,800 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetMid-Maine Homeless Shelter Inc: $7,293 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $6,416 over 1y, 0.0% 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 Foundation IncME34.6× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation · Kennebec Savings Bank Foundation · Raymond J and Mary C Reisert Foundation Inc · Harold Alfond Foundation · Lunder Foundation · Onion Foundation · Davis Family Foundation · The Borman Family Foundation · Waterville Area Women's Club · Franklin Savings Bank Community Development Foundation · United Way of Kennebec Valley

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 President and Trustees of Colby College funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The President and Trustees of Colby College. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    4report 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.

    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 31 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

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