Maine · Nonprofit
MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL
MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL (Maine) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $670,198 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($291,736). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $670k
- Net assets
- $4.3M
What Maine Humanities Council does
Mission
The Maine Humanities Council (the council) is a not-for profit corporation that is funded primarily by grants from the national endowment for the humanities (neh) and contributions from the public. The council conducts public programs in maine that use the humanities to create connections, foster agency, and inspire increased civic engagement. The council also provides grants to other nonprofit organizations conducting public humanities programs in maine.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The harriet p. Henry center for the book - the center for the book is maine's affiliate of the library of congress center for the book, and serves as the Maine Humanities Council's programming arm. The council's programs are divided between the following two groups:book group programs: multi-ssession facilitated reading and discussion programs presented in partnership with public libraries, adult education departments, veteran serving organizations, workplaces, and other partner organizations throughout the state.non-book group programs: speaker programs, poetry readings, and other humanities-based community discussion programming using books, poetry, history, and big ideas to create opportunity for meaningful connection and positive change in communities throughout the state.
$1,105,663 spent$6,540 earned by the program84% of program spendingCommunity history, regrants, and technical assistance - this represents the council's grant program, its partnerships with other cultural agencies, and services provided directly to the cultural community in maine.
$205,449 spentof which $144,876 as grants16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,311,112.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.7M to $3.5M (−25%).
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 73% · 2018 64% · 2019 72% · 2020 78% · 2021 76% · 2022 83% · 2023 79% · 2024 61% · 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Samaa Abdurraqib
Executive director
Board chair
Paul Buck
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $90k → $49k.
2 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL’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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
64% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 43% · 2019 53% · 2020 49% · 2021 28% · 2022 56% · 2023 24% — 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
10% of MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $82k 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.
Against its field
MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL's revenue grew 32% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.8M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$8.8M
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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL: 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
- MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL (Maine) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $670,198 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($291,736). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $670,198 in grants to MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
- FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $291,736 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL 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 24 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