Maine · Nonprofit
CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE
CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE (Maine) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $181,120 to it, the largest being MERRYMEETING BAY TRUST ($50,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $108k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $181k
- Net assets
- $0
What Cathance River Education Alliance does
Mission
CREA works to deepen ecological awareness through nature-based learning by students, educators, and the public; to promote environmental stewardship; and to foster wise use of the Cathance River Nature Preserve.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
School Programs:CREA provides nature-based science programs for public school students to advance science learning, engage learners, and promote care for the natural world. In the first six months of 2023, CREA educators: worked with teachers to develop hands-on science units which will reach over 2,000 students in grades K-5; provided 2 professional development sessions for 70 elementary teachers to facilitate teaching using new, inquiry-based science methods; taught place-based science lessons to 30 classes at our Ecology Center, reaching over 550 elementary students.
$40,926 spent43% of program spendingCREA Summer Camp:Camp inspires healthy development and care for the natural world by immersing children ages 6 16 in nature-based discovery, science, art, and play in community with their peers. We also provide leadership training to counselors-in-training (14-16 yr olds) and our counselors. In the first six months of 2023, we filled all 256 slots for 2023 camp and signed up 22 Counselors-in-Training. Twelve camper scholarships were awarded. We ran one week of camp as CREA and the remaining seven weeks as BTLT following the merger on 7/1/23.
$30,530 spent32% of program spendingCommunity Programs:CREA provides the community with multiple opportunities to learn about the natural world and promotes sustainability and good stewardship of land and natural resources. Programs include interpretive nature walks, family programs, weekly open house hours at our Ecology Center, and virtual speakers, all free and open to the public. In the first six months of 2023, CREA ran 15 community programs attended by 518 people ranging in age from preschoolers to elders.
$24,651 spent26% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $96,107.
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.
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 $381k to $330k (−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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Caroline Eliot
Executive director
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $25k → $12k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE’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
CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
59% 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 CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 44% · 2021 45% · 2022 55% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.
“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
38% of CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE'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
95% of CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE's grant income comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Organizations like CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE
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.
Public support
98%
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 CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE: 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 CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE?
- CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE (Maine) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $181,120 to it, the largest being MERRYMEETING BAY TRUST ($50,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $181,120 in grants to CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE?
- MERRYMEETING BAY TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CATHANCE RIVER EDUCATION ALLIANCE 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 Cathance River Education Alliance →
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 10 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