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Maine · Nonprofit

DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC

DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC (Maine) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $1,626,597 to it, the largest being Friends of Acadia ($1,626,597). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$5.3M
Funders on record
1
Grants received
$1.6M
Net assets
$7.3M
1/1 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 6%
01What it does

What Downeast Transportation Inc does

Mission

To provide fixed route, public transportation service in and around hancock county, maine in order to give rural communities improved access to work, shopping, medical. Human and government services

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Year-round county-wide bus service - downeast transportation provides popular year-round shopping trips to ellsworth and bangor, and in-town shuttle service for bucksport, ellsworth, bar harbor and southwest harbor

    $639,527 spent$357,044 earned by the program
    13% of program spending
  2. Island explorer - an alternatively fueled bus system in and around acadia national park. This is one of the most successful rural transportation systems in the u.s. The island explorer features twelve bus routes linking hotels, inn, and campgrounds with destinations in acadia national park and neighboring village centers. Clean propane-powered vehicles offer mount desert island visitors and residents free transportation to hiking trails, carriage roads, island beaches, and in-town shops and restaurants.

    $3,826,432 spent$152,995 earned by the program
    75% of program spending
  3. Commuter program - in 2003, downeast transportation began a very successful jobs access and reverse commute program in partnership with the jackson laboratory, hancock county's largest employer. This federal program addresses the unique transportation challenges faced by welfare recipients and low-income persons seeking to obtain and maintain employment.

    $649,004 spent$343,380 earned by the program
    13% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,114,963.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($3.9M) Expenses 100 ($4.0M) Net assets 100 ($6.2M)2021 Revenue 124 ($4.8M) Expenses 71 ($2.9M) Net assets 131 ($8.2M)2022 Revenue 145 ($5.6M) Expenses 110 ($4.5M) Net assets 150 ($9.3M)2023 Revenue 134 ($5.2M) Expenses 126 ($5.1M) Net assets 151 ($9.4M)2024 Revenue 118 ($4.6M) Expenses 142 ($5.7M) Net assets 133 ($8.3M)2025 Revenue 137 ($5.3M) Expenses 156 ($6.3M) Net assets 117 ($7.3M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (137)Expenses (156)Net assets (117)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $8.7M to $11M (+24%).

$9.3M
$8.4M
$9.7M
$9.9M
$8.7M
$11M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 80% · 2021 93% · 2022 81% · 2023 70% · 2024 73% · 2025 77%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$166k
’20
$1.9M
’21
$1.2M
’22
$96k
’23
−$1.2M
’24
−$965k
’25
3.0
months of
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.

202020212022202320242025
Listed9910101111
Joined·+0+1+0+1+1
No longer listed·00001
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $209k → $297k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'21
'22
'23
'24*
total
Friends of Acadiaunclassified
$1.6M
funders
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

From the IRS filings of DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC’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.

Where its funders are

100% of DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC's grant income comes from Maine funders.

ME

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’21
’22
’23
Maine out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21.3M on record.

Federal$21.3M
grants $21.3Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$21.3M

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 DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

81% of spending goes to programs.

Program 81%Management 19%Fundraising 0%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

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 DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION 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.

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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 DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC?
DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC (Maine) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $1,626,597 to it, the largest being Friends of Acadia ($1,626,597). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC have?
IRS filings report 1 organization giving $1,626,597 in grants to DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION INC?
Friends of Acadia is the largest funder on record, with $1,626,597 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like DOWNEAST TRANSPORTATION 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.

Play a game about who funds Downeast Transportation →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 1 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