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Unity Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Unity Foundation

Unity Foundation is a supporting organization for two public charities.

$90k
Granted FY2023
6
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2023.

Education$163kHuman Services$107kEmployment$95kArts & Culture$78kEnvironment$68kYouth Development$55kInternational$40kHousing & Shelter$15kOther$0
02FY2023 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 6 grants below total $85,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $90,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $5,000 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.
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$238k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Children's Discovery Museum$25,000
Avesta Housing$15,000
Local Media Foundation - BDN$15,000
Points North Insitute$10,000
Rural Aspirations Project$10,000
Camden Conference$10,000
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 (FY17–23, $147k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Local Media Foundation - BDN: $15k → 13%Belfast Area Child Care Services: $15k → 13%Good Will Home Association: $80k → 15%Waldo YMCA: $10k → 13%Good Will Home Association: $10k → 15%Waldo County YMCA: $10k → 13%Waldo County YMCA: $7k → 13%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.

51%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$325k · 6 repeat orgs$311k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2023, 4 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
11

Total granted

$325k
$246k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+58%
+78%

Still filing today

100%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $65k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Human ServicesArts & CultureEducationEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentHealthOther
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

  • JF
    Jobs for Maine's Graduates Inc
    2× · 2017–2018 · $95k · revenue +107%
  • CC
    CAMDEN CONFERENCE
    5× · 2017–2023 · $73k · revenue +51%
  • WC
    Waldo County YMCA
    3× · 2018–2022 · $27k · revenue +58%

Funded once

  • TC
    THOMAS COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +27%
  • BB
    Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine
    one grant, 2021 · $33k · revenue -23%
  • TG
    THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue +27%
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 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
3
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…

—
4
Maine Film Center

To enrich, educate, and entertain the community through film and art.

—
5
Maine GearShare

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

Recreation & Sports
6
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
7
Coastal Enterprises Inc

Cei integrates financing, small business and industry expertise, and policy solutions to grow a vibrant future for people and communities in maine and rural regions.

Housing & Shelter
8
The Camden Childrens House Montessori School

Founded in 1979, the Childrens House Montessori School cultivates curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in young learners, while nurturing a sense of care for each other, the environment, and the world.

Education
9
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
10
Abbe Museum

To illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations' heritage, living cultures, and homelands.

Arts & Culture
11
Fork Food Lab

Fork Food Lab is a nonprofit food business incubator and shared commercial kitchen focused on growing the local food economy. We support the growth of sustainable Maine-based businesses by providing entrepreneurs with work space,…

Environment
12
Wolfe's Neck Farm Foundation

The mission of Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & The Environment is to transform our relationship with farming and food for a healthier planet.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Maine; the most unlike its peers is Growsmart Maine. 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

18 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. 18 of the 21 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
16/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Jobs for Maine's Graduates Inc: $95,160 · OtherJobs for Maine's Graduates IncCAMDEN CONFERENCE: $72,500 · OtherCAMDEN CONFERENCEBig Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine: $33,000 · OtherBig Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-MaineEcology Learning Center: $15,000 · OtherEcology Learning CenterMAINE MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $12,000 · OtherMaine Film Center: $10,000 · Other+3 more: $20,740 · Other+3 moreGood Will Home Association: $90,000 · Human ServicesGood Will Home AssociationWaldo County YMCA: $27,150 · Human ServicesWaldo County YMCALOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Human ServicesLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATIONBelfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $15,000 · Human ServicesBelfast Area Child Care Se…THOMAS COLLEGE: $100,000 · EducationTHOMAS COLLEGERural Aspirations Project: $10,000 · EducationRural Aspirations P…CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $25,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S …WATERVILLE CREATES: $20,500 · Arts & CultureWATERVILLE …Points North Institute: $20,000 · Arts & CulturePoints Nort…THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $30,000 · EmploymentAVESTA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterGROWSMART MAINE: $10,500 · Environment
Other$258,400Human Services$147,150Education$110,000Arts & Culture$65,500Employment$30,000Housing & Shelter$15,000Environment$10,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHOMAS COLLEGE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJobs for Maine's Graduates Inc: $95,160 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGood Will Home Association: $90,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetCAMDEN CONFERENCE: $72,500 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine: $33,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetTHE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWaldo County YMCA: $27,150 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetCHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $25,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetWATERVILLE CREATES: $20,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetPoints North Institute: $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetAVESTA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEcology Learning Center: $15,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetBelfast Area Child Care Services Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetGROWSMART MAINE: $10,500 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetRural Aspirations Project: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetALFOND YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTER: $7,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MAINE: $5,740 over 1y, 0.3% 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…Bangor Savings Bank F…Davis Family Foundati…Bill and Joan Alfond …Kennebec Savings Bank…Harold Alfond Foundat…Machias Savings Bank …Lunder FoundationFranklin Savings Bank…Fisher Charitable Fou…Onion FoundationElmina B Sewall Found…
Maine Community Foundation IncME31.9× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Bangor Savings Bank Foundation · Davis Family Foundation · Bill and Joan Alfond Family Foundation · Kennebec Savings Bank Foundation · Harold Alfond Foundation · Machias Savings Bank Community Development Foundation · Lunder Foundation · Franklin Savings Bank Community Development Foundation · Fisher Charitable Foundation · Onion Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 21 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $150k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

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    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