Maine · Nonprofit
PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM
PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM (Maine) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,599,242 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($283,150). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $917k
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $7.0M
What Penobscot Marine Museum does
Mission
Penobscot Marine Museum inspires curiosity and fosters understanding about life and work on the maine coast to encourage stewardship of our communities and the sea.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The curatorial department occupies portions of 13 buildings, which house the museum's collection of approximately 10,000 artifacts. Those items not displayed are stored in a secure climate controlled environment. A computerized database is used to manage the artifacts. The library houses a collection of over 12,000 books including pamphlets, documents, original correspondence and genealogical records. The library photographic collection contains over 300,000 images of maritime and regional photographs. All library collections are housed in a 4,500 sq ft climate controlled building. Library collections are available for research, and the majority of photographs in the collection have been digitized and made available through a searchable online database. Nearly 5,000 visitors toured the museum this year. Both changing and traveling exhibits are developed and promoted each year.
$554,200 spent$36,149 earned by the program75% of program spendingThe education department offers programs throughout the year that engage learners of all ages with the museum's mission. One campus building is specifically designated as an interactive learning and activity area, and hands-on components are built into other exhibits as well. The education department offers lecture series, hands-on workshops, school field trips, guided tours, and community outreach.
$189,560 spent$20,327 earned by the program25% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $743,760.
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 $7.1M to $8.0M (+12%).
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: 2019 3% · 2020 1% · 2021 21% · 2022 7% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $83k → $276k.
7 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
44% 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 PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 37% · 2019 37% · 2020 23% · 2021 27% · 2022 17% · 2023 15% — 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
45% of PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $608k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 19 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $67k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$67k
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 PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM: 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 PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM?
- PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM (Maine) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,599,242 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($283,150). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $1,599,242 in grants to PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM?
- Maine Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $283,150 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM 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 Penobscot Marine Museum →
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 45 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