Maine · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY
FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY (Maine) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,795,566 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($996,050). 45 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 FY2026
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 77
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Friends of Casco Bay does
Mission
To improve and protect the environmental health of casco bay, maine.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
The baykeeping program through advocacy, stewardship, and technical assistance prevents pollution, protects critical habitats and marine life, strengthens enforcement and accountability, by working with individuals, businesses, municipalities, regulartory agencies, community groups, and other scientists.
$583,147 spent62% of program spendingThe science program provides a wide variety of water quality monitoring efforts across the bay using data sondes and sensors, including three continuous monitoring stations that collect data every 15 minutes, 365 days a year, seasonal spatial sampling at more than 20 sites around the bay, and periodic investigations of specific regions of the bay. In addition, volunteers are trained to collect observations about algal blooms, sea level rise, erosion, wildlife, trash, and pollution in the casco bay watershed using an observing network app.
$288,948 spent31% of program spendingThe vessel pumpout program removes sewage from boats and provides outreach and education to boat owners, boatyards, marinas and municipalities about the need to increase the use and availability of shoreside pumpout facilities and to comply with the federal "no discharge area" status of casco bay.
$74,399 spent$2,650 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $946,494.
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 2020 to 2021, from $2.2M to $2.9M (+29%).
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: 2017 16% · 2018 13% · 2019 11% · 2020 8% · 2021 5% · 2022 22% · 2023 10% · 2024 9% · 2025 11% · 2026 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 10 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $134k → $534k.
12 of 77 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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 77 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
FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 36% 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
69% 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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 46% · 2019 45% · 2020 44% · 2021 40% · 2022 36% · 2023 65% — 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
53% of FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY'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 $1.1M that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY's revenue grew 113% between 2017 and 2026.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,226 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2026
Organizations like FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY
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
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY: 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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY?
- FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY (Maine) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,795,566 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($996,050). 45 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 FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY have?
- IRS filings report 77 organizations giving $2,795,566 in grants to FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY, 45 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY?
- Maine Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $996,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY 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 Friends of Casco Bay →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 77 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