Maine · Nonprofit
ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $270,563 to it, the largest being Maine Development Foundation ($192,063). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $83k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $271k
- Net assets
- $755k
What Ellsworth Historical Society does
Mission
Formed in 1978, the mission of the Ellsworth Historical Society is to spark an appreciation and understanding of our diverse local heritage, its context and living history within and beyond ellsworth and hancock county. Through the collection, preservation, interpretation and exhibition of artifactual and documentary materials, history buildings, cultural practices and other intangible heritage, the Ellsworth Historical Society will contribute to public education, research and the collective identity of our community and region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ehs collects, preserves, and digitizes artifacts, photographs, and ephemera documenting ellsworth and hancock county's history, and collaborates with fifteen regional historical societies and museums as a contributing partner of the history trust, to ensure the public has online access to these regional historical resources.
$29,844 spent83% of program spendingEhs researches the people, places, and events of ellsworth and hancock county, sharing findings through public lectures, workshops, and educational programs. Additionally, ehs fosters regional collaboration by publishing research articles from local historical societies in the downeast heritage quarterly (now, chronicle), enriching and increasing public engagement with history.
$583 spent2% of program spendingEhs is leading the rehabilitation of the 1886 old hancock county sheriff's home and jail, a national register-listed landmark. With exterior masonry fully repointed and funding secured for slate roof restoration, ehs is advancing its mission to preserve this rare example of a combined residence and jail. This initiative not only safeguards the building's architectural integrity but also reimagines it as the hancock county cultural heritage center, ensuring its continued relevance as a historical, educational, and community resource.
$5,428 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $35,855.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $712k to $755k (+6%).
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: 2024 88% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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
2022 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $38k → $20k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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
ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Maine funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $68k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Government funding ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $500k on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$500k
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 ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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
97%
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 ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 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 ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $270,563 to it, the largest being Maine Development Foundation ($192,063). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $270,563 in grants to ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- Maine Development Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $192,063 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ELLSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 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 Ellsworth Historical Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 4 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