Maine · Nonprofit
Chewonki Foundation Inc
Chewonki Foundation Inc (Maine) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,692,041 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($2,625,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.0M
- Funders on record
- 96
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Chewonki Foundation Inc does
Mission
Chewonki inspires transformative growth, teaches appreciation and stewardship of the natural world, and challenges people to build thriving, sustainable communities throughout their lives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Camp Chewonki - provides a residential camp program for all genders focused on nature, sustainability, outdoor skills, community building, and outdoor expeditions. There is also a leadership expedition-based program for older youth that travels to the woods and waters of Maine, along its rocky coast, and into Canada's northern forest and waters.
$1,436,313 spent$1,701,550 earned by the program24% of program spendingChewonki Schools - Maine coast semester at Chewonki is a challenging academic semester (two groups each year) for 45 highly motivated and academically capable 11th-grade students from around the country and abroad.
$2,997,265 spentof which $1,308,345 as grants$1,908,600 earned by the program50% of program spendingEducation Partnership The outdoor program for schools offers environmental education as part of day trips, overnight encampments, and outdoor trip programs in Maine and New England for school groups. The educational goals emphasize compassion for one another, building self-confidence, and stewardship of the natural world. Chewonki science educators teach natural history programs to more than 20,000 students each year throughout Maine. Chewonki partners in more depth with two local school districts (Bath and Wiscasset) to facilitate active, outdoor, and community-connected learning throughout the Pre-K-12 program.
$1,307,433 spent$867,323 earned by the program22% of program spendingOther Program Services Includes the Big Eddy Campground and Debsconeag Lake Camp, fundraising, store activity, farm operations, and programing under the environmental living and learning for Maine students collaborative.
$293,827 spent$252,471 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,034,838.
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 2018 to 2019, from $22M to $26M (+17%).
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 8% · 2023 8% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
32% of Chewonki Foundation Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% 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
Andre Heard
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $545k → $684k.
18 of 96 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 62% 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 Chewonki Foundation Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 96 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
Chewonki Foundation Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
62% 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 Chewonki Foundation Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 18% · 2019 70% · 2020 33% · 2021 19% · 2022 16% · 2023 27% — 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
52% of Chewonki Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
62% of Chewonki Foundation Inc'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 $4.4M that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 19 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
Chewonki Foundation Inc receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $12M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Chewonki Foundation Inc
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
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 Chewonki Foundation Inc: 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 Chewonki Foundation Inc?
- Chewonki Foundation Inc (Maine) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,692,041 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($2,625,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Chewonki Foundation Inc have?
- IRS filings report 96 organizations giving $11,692,041 in grants to Chewonki Foundation Inc, 72 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Chewonki Foundation Inc?
- THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,625,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Chewonki Foundation Inc 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.
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 96 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