Maine · Nonprofit
Maine Farmland Trust
Maine Farmland Trust (Maine) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,076,536 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($22,791,187). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.3M
- Funders on record
- 118
- Grants received
- $34M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Maine Farmland Trust does
Mission
Maine Farmland Trust protects farmland, supports farmers, and advances the future of farming.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
FARMLAND PROTECTION: Permanently protected farmland through acceptance of donated agricultural conservation easements, purchase of agricultural conservation easements, and purchase, protection, and resale of farms. This year, MFT completed 10 land protection projects, protecting 1,837 acres of land.
$2,921,872 spentof which $413,702 as grants$7,374 earned by the program45% of program spendingSTEWARDSHIP: The Stewardship program is responsible for monitoring protected farmland to ensure that the conservation values of the property are protected forever. This period, MFT completed annual easement monitoring for 304 easements, covering over 45,215 acres.
$629,026 spent$500 earned by the program10% of program spendingEDUCATION & OUTREACH: Provided workshops, presentations, regional meetings and displays at agricultural and related events to present both general and technical information about MFT's work. Hosted a variety of events to increase public awareness about the challenges farmers face and educate about MFT's work to protect farmland and support Maine farms through our programs and policy efforts.
$588,292 spent$1,748 earned by the program9% of program spendingFARMLAND ACCESS: Collaborated with external partners to address systemic and individual farmland access and transfer challenges. Operated FarmLink, which matches prospective farmers with landowners that have farms available for lease or sale. This period, through our FarmLink program, 642 acres of farmland remained in farming or were brought into production by new farmers through 5 farm links.FARM BUSINESS PLANNING: Directly supported farmers with business planning, offering training and technical assistance to farmers. This period, our farm business planning program served 65 unique farm businesses with 90 engagements in workshops, technical assistance and grants.CLIMATE: Improved viability of farms through increased understanding of their land and adaptation to climate risks and connecting to resources. This period, our Climate Resilience team supported 57 farm businesses with technical assistance support and/or climate resilience grants.PFAS RESPONSE: Directly supported farmers affected by PFAS by providing education, technical assistance, and grants to support farms affected by PFAS. This period, 11 farms were directly supported with PFAS related grants.POLICY & RESEARCH:…
$2,360,744 spentof which $678,060 as grants$22,322 earned by the program36% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,499,934.
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 2018 to 2019, from $26M to $30M (+14%).
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: 2018 9% · 2020 9% · 2021 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of Maine Farmland Trust’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Dave Colson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 30 funders to 47 funders, grant income rose $2.0M → $5.5M.
15 of 118 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 Farmland Trust’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 118 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
Maine Farmland Trust leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
75% 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 Farmland Trust.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 77% · 2019 54% · 2020 77% · 2021 20% · 2022 82% · 2023 86% — 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
55% of Maine Farmland Trust's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
70% of Maine Farmland Trust'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 $10M that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 20 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $24M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Maine Farmland Trust runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 605 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 605 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Maine Farmland Trust receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.1M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$3.1M
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 Farmland Trust
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
59%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Maine Farmland Trust: 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 Farmland Trust?
- Maine Farmland Trust (Maine) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,076,536 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($22,791,187). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Maine Farmland Trust have?
- IRS filings report 118 organizations giving $34,076,536 in grants to Maine Farmland Trust, 81 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Maine Farmland Trust?
- Maine Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $22,791,187 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Maine Farmland Trust 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 118 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