Maine · Nonprofit
Maine Charitable Mechanic Association
Maine Charitable Mechanic Association (Maine) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $272,857 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($115,568). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $936k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $273k
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Maine Charitable Mechanic Association does
Mission
Mechanics' Hall is a member-supported historic cultural hub and library that brings together big ideas, bold creativity, and vibrant community. We connect exceptional thinkers and artists to enrich intellectual life, celebrate the arts, and spark meaningful connection.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
HISTORIC PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS AND BUILDING: Mechanics' Hall maintains its archive collections and landmark building to enrich the lives of all who visit. Renowned for its Italianate architecture, the Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for National Significance. Mechanics' houses a unique archival collection, highlighting the historical significance of the Hall and its founders since 1815, particularly in documenting the 18th- and 19th-century history of books and literary culture in Portland, Maine. The Restoration and Preservation Committee, an experienced volunteer committee overseeing the building, furnishings, and grounds of Mechanics' Hall, prioritizes elective repairs and capital improvements, and offers recommendations to the Board of Directors.
$47,274 spent$93,874 earned by the program18% of program spendingPUBLIC PROGRAMS:Mechanics' Hall presents year-round literary, cultural, educational, and arts programs that engage the public and advance access to books, ideas, history, and the arts. Programs include author talks and book launches, writing and reading groups, lectures, workshops, classical music and dance performances, and tours of the historic building. During the most recent fiscal year, Mechanics' Hall presented 146 public events, including 70 free events, and supported more than 537 artists. Its public arts and humanities programs reached more than 7,642 people of all ages, representing an approximately 117% increase in participation over the prior fiscal year. These programs provide opportunities for artists, writers, performers, scholars, and community members to share their work and ideas while connecting the public to Mechanics' Hall and its mission.
$199,966 spent$37,950 earned by the program77% of program spendingCIRCULATING LIBRARY:Mechanics' Hall maintains the eighth-oldest member-supported library in the country, which advances its historic mission of the "diffusion of useful knowledge" by providing public access to a diverse collection of contemporary and classic literature, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The collection serves readers, researchers, and the broader community and is accessible on-site and through an online catalog. Library resources are complemented by over 50 literary and educational programs per year.
$12,911 spent$7,500 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $260,151.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2025 to 2026, from $1.2M to $1.5M (+27%).
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: 2026 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Annie Leahy
Executive Director
Board chair
William Stauffer
Board President
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $27k → $35k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 Maine Charitable Mechanic Association’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
Maine Charitable Mechanic Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 Maine Charitable Mechanic Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 100% · 2019 84% · 2020 100% · 2021 51% · 2022 46% · 2023 43% — 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.
How long its funders stay
20% of Maine Charitable Mechanic Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 30% 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
59% of Maine Charitable Mechanic Association'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 $111k that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $162k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.
Government funding Maine Charitable Mechanic Association receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.9M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$2.9M
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 Maine Charitable Mechanic Association
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
40% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
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 Maine Charitable Mechanic Association: 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 Maine Charitable Mechanic Association?
- Maine Charitable Mechanic Association (Maine) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $272,857 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($115,568). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Maine Charitable Mechanic Association have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $272,857 in grants to Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Maine Charitable Mechanic Association?
- Maine Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $115,568 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Maine Charitable Mechanic Association 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 FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 10 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