Maine · Nonprofit
30 Mile River Watershed Association
30 Mile River Watershed Association (Maine) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $588,676 to it, the largest being THE GESS FOUNDATION ($117,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $409k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $589k
- Net assets
- $533k
What 30 Mile River Watershed Association does
Mission
The mission of the 30 Mile River Watershed Association (30 Mile) is to work as a community for clean and healthy lakes, ponds and streams in our watershed. Since 2008, 30 Mile has led efforts to protect these waters from the growing threats of invasive species, development, and climate change.30 Mile partners with local lake associations and towns to protect over 20 lakes and ponds, implementing a wide variety of programs and initiatives that could not be done by a single group alone. 30 Mile also partners with lake organizations around the state to advocate for statewide environmental protections and support. Our lakes and ponds are public treasures that provide valuable economic, recreational, social, and emotional value to residents and visitors. Now, more than ever, these fragile places are facing their greatest threats from invasive species, watershed development, and climate change.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Aquatic Invasive Species: Prevention, Early Detection, and Management:Invasive species are one of the biggest threats in our watershed. Courtesy boat inspectors (CBIs) are our "first line of defense" in preventing invasive species hitchhiking on boats and trailers from entering our lakes. Our CBIs include both paid staff and volunteers. They work at public boat launches throughout the watershed checking boats and trailers for invasives, and also educating boaters. In 2024, CBIs conducted 3,801 inspections. Although it is rare for our CBIs to find an invasive, all it takes is one hitchhiking species to start an infestation and ruin a lake (continues on schedule O).In 2024, nearly 100 volunteers from nine lakes and ponds across the watershed completed surveys for invasive aquatic plants. Annual plant surveys are critical for catching new infestations early. Staff provide key support to each volunteer plant patrol team through identification expertise, training, and survey assistance.For the 4th season, our staff continued managing invasive milfoil in Androscoggin Lake, surveying 260+ hours and removing all milfoil found. This effort has successfully prevented its spread. We also…
$85,912 spent35% of program spendingWater Quality Monitoring:Through our monitoring program, we collect extensive data to track the health of our lakes and ponds. Every two weeks, from May through October, we measure water clarity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and other indicators of water quality. We analyze the data and produce an annual report for each lake and pond. This data helps us identify trends in declining water quality to address at-risk areas before it's too late. In 2024, our 9th season of monitoring, we monitored 13 lakes and ponds, completing 115 monitoring trips. We worked alongside 35 dedicated volunteers who assisted us with both data collection and on-water transportation (continues on schedule O). In 2024, 30 Mile also conducted a fourth season of intensified monitoring on Androscoggin Lake, which suffered from lake-wide algal blooms in 2021, 2023 and 2024. In response to the blooms, this program included extensive monitoring of the lake, its tributaries, and the Dead River to better understand the dynamics of phosphorus. We work closely with Maine DEP to analyze collected data to help us determine the best strategies to address the problem.
$59,393 spent24% of program spendingLand Use Management: To protect water quality in the watershed's lakes, ponds and streams, 30 Mile implements a variety of programs and projects. Providing technical support, guidance, and education for towns, landowners and road associations to promote lake protection is a key goal. In 2024, we began a two-year project on Androscoggin Lake, funded in part through a $150K grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, and administered by Maine DEP in partnership with EPA. In 2024, we were awarded a $64K grant for Parker Pond through the same grant program. These grants fund projects to help communities restore and protect priority waters (continues on schedule O) by reducing erosion and polluted runoff. Through this work, we are able to bring significant funding and technical expertise to towns, road associations and landowners to take on important lake-protection projects that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Further supporting this goal, 30 Mile wrote two successful grant proposals for the Town of Vienna to address key road crossings that have repeatedly suffered from severe washouts and road failures, and that significantly threaten…
$51,497 spent21% of program spendingCommunity Engagement: A significant part of our work aims to engage the community through education and raising awareness about lake protection and the role each person can play. A major tool in this effort is our monthly email newsletter, which has 1650 subscribers and a high open rate of 61% (the average is only 39% for nonprofits). We also communicate through social media, and frequent articles in lake association newsletters, town reports, and more. We maintain a dynamic website. We engage in-person with the public through presentations at lake association, town, and road association annual meetings; select board meetings; and special events. We hold free workshops on topics including invasive plants and LakeSmart, and conduct free on-site lake property assessments. We also hold our Annual Paddle Trek, a 15-mile guided paddle where participants explore many of the lakes, ponds and streams in our watershed. To greatly expand our in-person connection with our community and our ability to provide educational opportunities, in 2022 we embarked on an exciting project to develop a new center for lake protection in Mt. Vernon Village. By revitalizing an abandoned building in the…
$48,374 spent20% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $245,176.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $78k to $341k (+338%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 10% · 2020 57% · 2021 10% · 2022 5% · 2023 13% · 2024 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of 30 Mile River Watershed Association’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Lidie Robbins
Executive Director
Board chair
Nancy Hemphill
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $15k → $143k.
8 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of 30 Mile River Watershed Association’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
30 Mile River Watershed Association has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
57% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund 30 Mile River Watershed Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 43% · 2019 53% · 2020 32% · 2021 51% · 2022 23% · 2023 43% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
55% of 30 Mile River Watershed Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
52% of 30 Mile River Watershed Association's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $283k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $306k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
30 Mile River Watershed Association runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like 30 Mile River Watershed Association
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 30 Mile River Watershed Association: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds 30 Mile River Watershed Association?
- 30 Mile River Watershed Association (Maine) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $588,676 to it, the largest being THE GESS FOUNDATION ($117,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does 30 Mile River Watershed Association have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $588,676 in grants to 30 Mile River Watershed Association, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of 30 Mile River Watershed Association?
- THE GESS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $117,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like 30 Mile River Watershed Association find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds 30 Mile River Watershed Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 18 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing