Maine · Nonprofit
BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER
BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER (Maine) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $934,965 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($236,610). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $556k
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $935k
- Net assets
- $963k
What Boothbay Sea and Science Center does
Mission
The mission of the Boothbay Sea and Science Center is the advancement of sailing, boating and ocean sciences by minimizing economic and physical obstacles and further to develop independence, self-confidence, teamwork and volunteerism in the participants. To inspire individuals to strenghten themselves and their community through the enjoyment of the sea. Bssc's vision is to provide a community sea and science education center that offers equal and affordable access to the waterfront for youth through sailing, boating, and marine science experiential learning programs and activities not provided by other regional organizations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
For 14 summers Boothbay Sea and Science Center (bssc) has been putting kids in boats and building a program that teaches them, first-hand, about the sea. Linekin bay and its shoreline are its classrooms. By touching, seeing and doing, kids learn about wind and sail trim, tides and currents, the wide variety of marine organisms that make the bay their home, and the importance of good stewardship of shoreline resources. Bssc continues to develop programs that embrace boating, sailing, and ocean science activities, including summer programs at their linekin bay campus at 12 carter rd in east boothbay, maine and in 25 schools in 9 maine counties. Through these programs bssc instills in youngsters not only a deeper understanding of the ocean on which they sail, but also how to safely enjoy, respect, and protect maine's magnificent and naturally beautiful sea and land so that they remain healthy places to live.
$370,558 spent$165,197 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $370,558.
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 2022 to 2023, from $719k to $1.8M (+148%).
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: 2020 60% · 2021 22% · 2023 6% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $35k → $180k.
8 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER’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
BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
44% 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 BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 43% · 2019 57% · 2020 45% · 2021 29% · 2022 33% · 2023 25% — 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
71% of BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $395k 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
BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 17,450 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER: 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 BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER?
- BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER (Maine) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $934,965 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($236,610). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $934,965 in grants to BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $236,610 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER 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 Boothbay Sea and Science Center →
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 20 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