Maine · Nonprofit
WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING
WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING (Maine) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $723,260 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($262,649). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $444k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $723k
- Net assets
- $5.7M
What Wendell Gilley Museum of Bird Carving does
Mission
The wendell gilley museum is a community center that celebrates the life and work of wendell gilley, a pioneer in the field of decorative bird carving. It teaches the art of bird carving as well as other hands-on creative programs. The museum also presents art exhibitions and educational programs with a special focus on people, nature and art. The museum endeavors to inspire appreciation of the visual arts, engagement in artistic creativity, and respect and care for the natural world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Art exhibitions - the wendell gilley museum has regular gallery hours may through mid-december and year-round tours for groups. Every year, in addition to rotating exhibitions drawn from the growing permanent collection , the museum mounts at least one major, temporary exhibition bringing artifacts from other museums and private collections to southwest harbor. Several free admission days are hosted annually by the museum to encourage attendance regardless of economic means. In addition, admissions fees have been kept down and a low-cost membership option is offered as well for those wishing to participate in programs.
$236,497 spent$27,235 earned by the program61% of program spendingBird carving and other hands-on workshops - outside of visitor hours, the museum building is available for community group meetings and public programs at no charge. Bird carving workshops are offered year-round and other hands-on creative programs are offered periodically throughout the year. Sessions range from 1 1/2 hours to 10-week series of 3-hour classes to members, school groups, senior groups and other community organizations. Museum members are welcome to members' carving club held weekly november- april, ensuring regular year-round access to the museum.
$94,056 spent$17,037 earned by the program24% of program spendingNatural history programs - natural history and environmental education programs are offered year-round to school groups, homeschoolers, and other adult and children's groups. Examples of currently offered programs are owl ecology, "my changing neighborhood" storyboard, and "build-a-bird." during museum visiting hours, films, personal tours and carving demonstrations are regular features. The museum library is available for public use with specialized historical resources as well as current publications focused on birds of the world and the world of bird carving. A collection of mounted birds is maintained as reference material for artists and naturalists. The museum gift shop stocks local bird carvings, carving tools and supplies, original blanks, and instruction books, as well as bird-related books, audio-visual guides, binoculars, and other items of interest to avian aficionados. The museum staff works with school teachers, other educators and community organizations to create customized tours and workshops for students and adults of all ages.
$58,273 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $388,826.
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 2021 to 2022, from $5.6M to $4.6M (−18%).
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 10% · 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $28k → $234k.
7 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 85% 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 WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING’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
WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
88% 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 WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 93% · 2018 51% · 2019 36% · 2020 46% · 2021 34% · 2022 71% · 2023 35% — 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
50% of WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
85% of WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING'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 $108k that is directly attributable, 81% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $616k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $723k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING
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
65%
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 WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING: 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 WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING?
- WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING (Maine) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $723,260 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($262,649). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $723,260 in grants to WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $262,649 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WENDELL GILLEY MUSEUM OF BIRD CARVING 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 Wendell Gilley Museum of Bird Carving →
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 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