Maine · Nonprofit
Lives in the Balance Inc
Lives in the Balance Inc (Maine) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,052,639 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($311,100). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $777k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $862k
What Lives in the Balance Inc does
Mission
The mission of Lives in the Balance is to provide vital, accessible resources and programs to caregivers of behaviorally challenging kids; to bring the plight of these kids into the public consciousness; to address and identify the systemic issues that cause many of these kids to slip through the cracks; and to promote parenting and disciplinary practices that foster the positive side of human nature in all children.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Outreach: Our outreach program provides vast free resources for caregivers and workshops and training programs for parents, educators, mental health professionals, and the medical community. Additionally, the outreach program hosts an annual international summit and an annual mental health conference for educators, caregivers, and medical and health care professionals.
$937,036 spent$1,154,175 earned by the program89% of program spendingAdvocacy: Our advocacy program aims to heighten awareness of counterproductive disciplinary practices in families, schools, and therapeutic facilities through a variety of media, including documentary films. Additionally, the advocacy program cultivates and supports local advocates and aims to increase knowledge and understanding of issues -- including disproportionality -- affecting at-risk kids across the county.
$121,440 spent11% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,058,476.
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 $565k to $979k (+73%).
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: 2020 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of Lives in the Balance Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (76% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $95k → $164k.
9 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 Lives in the Balance 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.
How concentrated its funding is
Lives in the Balance Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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
71% 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 Lives in the Balance Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 43% · 2019 36% · 2020 67% · 2021 45% · 2022 49% · 2023 50% — diversifying over time.
“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
33% of Lives in the Balance Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
71% of Lives in the Balance 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 $301k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $751k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
Lives in the Balance Inc is better cushioned than half of the 297 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 297 social science nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding Lives in the Balance Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $306 on record.
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$306
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 Lives in the Balance 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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Lives in the Balance 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 Lives in the Balance Inc?
- Lives in the Balance Inc (Maine) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,052,639 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($311,100). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Lives in the Balance Inc have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,052,639 in grants to Lives in the Balance Inc, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Lives in the Balance Inc?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $311,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Lives in the Balance 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 Lives in the Balance →
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 17 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