FundersMaine

The Hudson Foundation

Portland, ME · EIN 01-0482817. Reported 66 grants totalling $614,500 to 47 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$7,500median grant
$614,500granted, 2021-2024
47organizations funded
32%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,167,747assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Hudson Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $7,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $25,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
6 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
32 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
24 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Waynflete SchoolPortland, ME$70,000442024
Good Shepherd Food BankAuburn, ME$60,000332023
Intercultural Community CenterWestbrook, ME$37,500332023
Cedars Nursing Care CenterPortland, ME$32,500222023
Lewiston Public SchoolsLewiston, ME$30,000222022
Spurwink ServicesPortland, ME$30,000222024
Mano En Mano Hand in HandMilbridge, ME$25,000332024
Avesta HousingPortland, ME$22,500222024
Women for Healthy Rural LivingMilbridge, ME$20,000332023
Aroostook County Action ProgramPresque Isle, ME$15,000222022
Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA$15,000112024
St Mary's Nutrition CenterLewiston, ME$15,000222024
Jewish Community Alliance of Southern MainePortland, ME$11,500222023
Somali Bantu Community Lewiston of MaineLewiston, ME$11,250222024
Downeast Community PartnersEllsworth, ME$10,000112021
Healthy HomeworksLewiston, ME$10,000112023
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ilap)Portland, ME$10,000112022
Knox County Homeless CoalitionRockland, ME$10,000112022
Maine Medical CenterPortland, ME$10,000112024
The Ecology SchoolSaco, ME$10,000112023
Tree Street YouthLewiston, ME$10,000112021
Youth and Family OutreachPortland, ME$10,000112024
Healthy AcadiaEllsworth, ME$9,000112022
Loaves & Fishes Food PantryAyer, MA$9,000112024
Maine Math and Science AllianceAugusta, ME$8,500112024
Cumberland County Food Security CouncilYarmouth, ME$7,500112021
Foundation for Portland Public SchoolsPortland, ME$7,500112021
Greater Portland Family PromisePortland, ME$7,500112023
Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome CenterPortland, ME$7,500112021
Kennebec Estuary Land TrustBath, ME$7,500112021
Maine Center for Coastal FisheriesStonington, ME$7,500112024
Preble StreetPortland, ME$6,250112022
Chip IncNewcastle, ME$5,000112023
Family Planning Association of Maine Inc (aka Maine Family Planning)Augusta, ME$5,000112024
Habitat for Humanity York CountyKennebunk, ME$5,000112021
Health Equity AllianceBangor, ME$5,000112021
Maine Conservation AllianceAugusta, ME$5,000112023
Maine Jewish MuseumPortland, ME$5,000112024
Mainegeneral Medical CenterAugusta, ME$5,000112023
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention ProgramBrunswick, ME$5,000112024
The Northern Lighthouse IncPresque Isle, ME$5,000112024
Wayside Food ProgramsPortland, ME$5,000112024
Southwest Oxford County Nutrition IncBrownfield, ME$3,000112023
Island ConnectionsBar Harbor, ME$2,500112021
Oxford Hills Community GardenNorway, ME$2,500112023
Portland Maine Symphony OrchestraPortland, ME$2,500112022
Maine InitiativesPortland, ME$1,000112024

13 of 47 (28%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 32%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 52 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Health Care
10 grants
Human Services
9 grants
Education
8 grants
Food & Nutrition
5 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants
Environment
3 grants
Crime & Legal
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202119$195,000$10,000
202213$136,500$10,000
202316$137,000$7,500
202418$146,000$5,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 96% of this one's giving went to organizations in Maine. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Maine
$590K
Massachusetts
$24K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Maine Community Foundation Inc38 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund33 shared recipientsJohn T Gorman Foundation27 shared recipientsElmina B Sewall Foundation27 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc21 shared recipientsSam L Cohen Foundation19 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $7,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Maine.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Hudson Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 402, Portland, ME, 04112. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 01-0482817 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.