Maine · Nonprofit
ABBE MUSEUM
ABBE MUSEUM (Maine) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,444,748 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($700,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Abbe Museum does
Mission
To illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support forWabanaki Nations heritage, living cultures, and homelands.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Operation of a contemporary museum primarily located in the heart ofdowntown Bar Harbor, Maine focusing on the understanding andappreciation of the State of Maines Native American heritage, culture,history, and archaeology. The Museums collections, exhibitions, andprograms focus on Native American traditions in Maine and explore thebroader Native American experience, past and present. The history andcultures of Maines Native American people, the Wabanaki, are showcasedthrough changing exhibitions, special events, collection management andeducational workshops for children and adults. Visitors find dynamicand stimulating exhibitions and activities interspersed with spaces forquiet reflection. In addition, the Abbe operates its historictrailside museum in Acadia National Park that is currently under
$1,147,261 spent$792,696 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,147,261.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.8M to $4.2M (−13%).
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: 2021 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of ABBE MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Carolyn Rapkievian
Co-chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $112k → $827k.
7 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 ABBE MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 funders by total. 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
ABBE MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 35% · 2019 51% · 2020 60% · 2021 24% · 2022 30% · 2023 60% — growing more concentrated.
“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
68% of ABBE MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
ABBE MUSEUM draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 14 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $398k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
ABBE MUSEUM is better cushioned than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding ABBE MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $299k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$222k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$50k
- Department of the Interior$27k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ABBE MUSEUM
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 ABBE MUSEUM: 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 ABBE MUSEUM?
- ABBE MUSEUM (Maine) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,444,748 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($700,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ABBE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $2,444,748 in grants to ABBE MUSEUM, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ABBE MUSEUM?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $700,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ABBE MUSEUM 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 Abbe Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 43 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing