Maine · Nonprofit
VALO
VALO (Maine) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $618,209 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($354,650). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $535k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $618k
- Net assets
- $885k
What Valo does
Mission
We believe in the power of teens to build community, one meaningful connection at a time. We believe in teens' capacity to discover who they are, what they believe, and their ability to bring light and love to the world. Valo creates spaces where teens can get away from it all, feel independent, unplug, and have fun. A place of belonging for youth to have deep conversations and feel empowered as they ignite a future with hope.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Partner: Valo continued significant outreach to schools and other youth-serving organizations in 2025. Each partner program was a 1-night, 2-day retreat for the group, and then Valo staff met periodically following the retreat to continue mentoring the participants in conversation skills. In some cases the organization or school paid, and in other we had grants or individual donors to cover the costs.
$96,983 spent$13,470 earned by the program27% of program spendingRipple: Took teens on 6 weekend retreats in 2025. On these retreats, guides helped teens come to know themselves and learn how to connect meaningfully with others (while unplugged) through communal living, conversation, time in nature, creating, time to themselves, safe risk taking, and journal reflections. Additionally, seniors in the group took on leadership roles by designing and leading many aspect of the retreats, most significantly group conversations.
$63,799 spent$7,033 earned by the program18% of program spendingTwilight: Took teens on 6 weekend retreats in 2025. On these retreats, guides helped teens come to know themselves and learn how to connect meaningfully with others (while unplugged) through communal living, conversation, time in nature, creating, time to themselves, safe risk taking, and journal reflections. Additionally, seniors in the group took on leadership roles by designing and leading many aspect of the retreats, most significantly group conversations.
$61,892 spent$10,573 earned by the program17% of program spendingTides: Took teens on 6 weekend retreats in 2025. On these retreats, guides helped teens come to know themselves and learn how to connect meaningfully with others (while unplugged) through communal living, conversation, time in nature, creating, time to themselves, safe risk taking, and journal reflections. Additionally, seniors in the group took on leadership roles by designing and leading many aspect of the retreats, most significantly group conversations.
$60,178 spent$7,625 earned by the program17% of program spendingEquinox: Took teens on 6 weekend retreats in 2025. On these retreats, guides helped teens come to know themselves and learn how to connect meaningfully with others (while unplugged) through communal living, conversation, time in nature, creating, time to themselves, safe risk taking, and journal reflections. Additionally, seniors in the group took on leadership roles by designing and leading many aspect of the retreats, most significantly group conversations.
$55,150 spent$1,850 earned by the program16% of program spendingExploratory: Took teens on 6 weekend retreats in 2025. On these retreats, guides helped teens come to know themselves and learn how to connect meaningfully with others (while unplugged) through communal living, conversation, time in nature, creating, time to themselves, safe risk taking, and journal reflections. Additionally, seniors in the group took on leadership roles by designing and leading many aspect of the retreats, most significantly group conversations.
$17,528 spent$1,700 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $355,530.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $1.7M to $1.3M (−24%).
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: 2020 29% · 2021 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of VALO’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 6 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
Dana Anderson
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $505 → $62k.
5 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 VALO’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
VALO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
94% 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 VALO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 99% · 2022 68% · 2023 85% — 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.
Where its funders are
92% of VALO's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $47k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $571k 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.
Against its field
VALO holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,688 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,688 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like VALO
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
62%
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 VALO: 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 VALO?
- VALO (Maine) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $618,209 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($354,650). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does VALO have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $618,209 in grants to VALO, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VALO?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $354,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VALO 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 Valo →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 14 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