Maine · Nonprofit
Rural Youth Institute
Rural Youth Institute (Maine) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,000 to it, the largest being PETER ALFOND FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $597k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $105k
- Net assets
- $625k
What Rural Youth Institute does
Mission
The Rural Youth Institute is dedicated to enhancing rural youth development by strengthening the leadership and capacity of professionals working with young people. By bridging research and practice, the Rural Youth Institute seeks to innovate youth development by offering immersive learning labs, transformative research, comprehensive training and strategic advocacy to strengthen youth-serving organizations. By employing evidence-based strategies, the Rural Youth Institute aims to foster innovation in the youth development field to elevate the aspirations of rural youth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Rural Youth Institute (the "Institute") employs evidence-based strategies, fosters innovation, and provides opportunities for young people in rural communities to explore pathways towards a successful future. The Institute operates as a think tank and a "do tank" by: - Collaborating with strategic partners, such as educational institutions, youth organizations, and community stakeholders; - Overseeing research, program development, and coordination throughout the region; and - Engaging and advocating for social changes that aligns with the Institute's mission and goals. For this initial year of operations, the Institute secured starter funding and began offering trainings and educational programming designed to help advance and develop rural Maine communities.
$137,506 spentof which $39,250 as grants$10,625 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $137,506.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2024 to 2025, from $229k to $625k (+173%).
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.
91% of Rural Youth Institute’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 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
Megan Taft
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
Left out of every figure on this page: $418k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Rural Futures Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money Rural Youth Institute raised.
From the IRS filings of Rural Youth Institute’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
Rural Youth Institute leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
“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.
Where its funders are
Rural Youth Institute draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 2 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
Rural Youth Institute runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Rural Youth 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Rural Futures Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Rural Youth 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.
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 Rural Youth Institute?
- Rural Youth Institute (Maine) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,000 to it, the largest being PETER ALFOND FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Rural Youth Institute have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $105,000 in grants to Rural Youth Institute.
- Who is the largest funder of Rural Youth Institute?
- PETER ALFOND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Rural Youth 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 FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 2 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