Skip to content

Maine · Nonprofit

Points North Institute

Points North Institute (Maine) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,416,272 to it, the largest being THE SKOLL FOUNDATION ($315,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.8M
Funders on record
42
Grants received
$2.4M
Net assets
$1.1M
32/42 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 32%
01What it does

What Points North Institute does

Mission

Points North Institute inspires and supports the creators and audiences of documentary media.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. The Points North Institute is a launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. We build a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders and local audiences, forming a creative hub where stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped. Our programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a growing suite of artist development initiatives: retreats, residencies, workshops and fellowships that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice.

    $1,734,083 spentof which $465,700 as grants$629,070 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,734,083.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($602k) Expenses 100 ($727k) Net assets 100 ($394k)2018 Revenue 118 ($713k) Expenses 116 ($845k) Net assets 66 ($262k)2019 Revenue 161 ($969k) Expenses 123 ($898k) Net assets 84 ($332k)2020 Revenue 192 ($1.2M) Expenses 116 ($845k) Net assets 163 ($641k)2021 Revenue 294 ($1.8M) Expenses 172 ($1.3M) Net assets 294 ($1.2M)2022 Revenue 337 ($2.0M) Expenses 224 ($1.6M) Net assets 396 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 320 ($1.9M) Expenses 257 ($1.9M) Net assets 422 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 299 ($1.8M) Expenses 328 ($2.4M) Net assets 278 ($1.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (299)Expenses (328)Net assets (278)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $1.9M to $1.3M (−29%).

$400k
$264k
$337k
$793k
$1.3M
$1.8M
$1.9M
$1.3M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 7% · 2023 9% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

62% of Points North Institute’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$125k
’17
−$132k
’18
$70k
’19
$308k
’20
$519k
’21
$402k
’22
$58k
’23
−$588k
’24
4.5
months of
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

Caroline von Kuhn

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1615151716141211
Joined·+4+8+3+2+5+1+1
No longer listed·5813732
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $32k → $307k.

7 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 Points North Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 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

Points North Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left

34% 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 Points North Institute.

13%
largest funder
36%
top three
~15
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 20% · 2019 27% · 2020 24% · 2021 53% · 2022 24% · 2023 16% — 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

63% of Points North Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

Points North Institute draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 13 states in all.

ME
WA
IL
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
CA
DE
NM
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maine out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $566k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Points North Institute has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−33% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.5mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding Points North Institute receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $580k on record.

Federal$580k
grants $580kcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$580k

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 Points North Institute

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 18%Fundraising 10%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

94%

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 Points North Institute: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Points North Institute?
Points North Institute (Maine) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,416,272 to it, the largest being THE SKOLL FOUNDATION ($315,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Points North Institute have?
IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $2,416,272 in grants to Points North Institute, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Points North Institute?
THE SKOLL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $315,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Points North Institute 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 42 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