Maine · Nonprofit
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (Maine) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,709,145 to it, the largest being SCOTT R MACKENZIE FOUNDATION INC ($1,750,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $5.7M
- Net assets
- $26M
What Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory does
Mission
To improve human health by discovering fundamental mechanisms of tissue repair, aging and regeneration, translating our discoveries for the benefit of medicine and society, and developing the next generation of scientific leaders.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Research: Our scientists study a broad array of research models to identify the cellular basis for regeneration and aging in humans and how environmental toxins such as arsenic and PFAS impact our susceptibility to disease. Our goal is to develop new therapeutic approaches to enhance our ability to repair cellular damage and resist the degenerative changes that occur with age.In 2024, we welcomed a new faculty member Dr. Emily Spaulding, whose outstanding research on the cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health. We were awarded a total of $30,821,832 in multi-year federal grant funding in 2024, including renewal of the largest state-wide research and training network connecting 17 academic and research institutions in Maine. Our scientists collaborated with 20 visiting scientists and continued to expand our early-stage drug discovery and translational research activities through MDI Biosciences.
$10,606,970 spentof which $1,700,883 as grants$87,624 earned by the program79% of program spendingEducation:The MDI Biological Laboratory provides hands-on biomedical training to hundreds of students and professional from all around the world each year. 2024 was a milestone year for MDI Biological Laboratory as we celebrated the renewal of our Maine INBRE grant, a collaborative effort of 17 education and research institutions working to boost the State's research capacity and create a bioscience workforce in Maine.In 2024, we welcomed a new innovative course to campus, ReBilD: Emerging Leaders in Regenerative Biology and Development which explored multiple models for both developmental and regenerative biology through comparative biology experiments. This course was one of 21 courses and conferences hosted by MDI Bio Lab over the course of the year. We welcomed 27 master's and Ph.D. students from 14 countries, in addition to 22 undergraduate summer fellowship students. Our citizen science program facilitated 328 projects through Anecdata.org, identifying harmful algal cells in Frenchman Bay, testing well water and soil samples for the presence of arsenic, and other toxins.
$2,810,862 spentof which $2,198,625 as grants$1,004,801 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,417,832.
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 $30M to $34M (+15%).
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 71% · 2018 64% · 2019 65% · 2020 72% · 2021 49% · 2022 77% · 2023 56% · 2024 41%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (52% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Board chair
Alan W Kornberg Esq
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $126k → $1.1M.
15 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
54% 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 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 45% · 2019 42% · 2020 78% · 2021 51% · 2022 52% · 2023 42% — 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
29% of Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory draws 89% 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. $2.4M 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
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 149 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 149 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $85.3M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$84.1M
- National Science Foundation$1.3M
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 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory: 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 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory?
- Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (Maine) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,709,145 to it, the largest being SCOTT R MACKENZIE FOUNDATION INC ($1,750,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $5,709,145 in grants to Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory?
- SCOTT R MACKENZIE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 37 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