The Hudson Foundation
Portland, ME · EIN 01-0482817. Reported 79 grants totalling $814,000 to 56 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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.
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 $35,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waynflete School | Portland, ME | $95,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Good Shepherd Food Bank | Auburn, ME | $60,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Mano En Mano Hand in Hand | Milbridge, ME | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Intercultural Community Center | Westbrook, ME | $37,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Learningworks | Portland, ME | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Maine Equal Justice | Augusta, ME | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Cedars Nursing Care Center | Portland, ME | $32,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Lewiston Public Schools | Lewiston, ME | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Spurwink Services | Portland, ME | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Aroostook County Action Program | Presque Isle, ME | $22,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Avesta Housing | Portland, ME | $22,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Women for Healthy Rural Living | Milbridge, ME | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Northeastern University | Boston, MA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| St Mary's Nutrition Center | Lewiston, ME | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine | Portland, ME | $11,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Somali Bantu Community Lewiston of Maine | Lewiston, ME | $11,250 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Augusta Food Bank | Augusta, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Cobscook Community Learning Center | Trescott, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Downeast Community Partners | Ellsworth, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Healthy Homeworks | Lewiston, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ilap) | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Knox County Homeless Coalition | Rockland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maine Family Planning | Augusta, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Maine Medical Center | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Ecology School | Saco, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tree Street Youth | Lewiston, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Youth and Family Outreach | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Healthy Acadia | Ellsworth, ME | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry | Ayer, MA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Math and Science Alliance | Augusta, ME | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cumberland County Food Security Council | Yarmouth, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Foundation for Portland Public Schools | Portland, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Greater Portland Family Promise | Portland, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center | Portland, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kennebec Estuary Land Trust | Bath, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries | Stonington, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Penquis Cap Inc | Bangor, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Western Maine Community Action | East Wilton, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Heart of Maine Resource Center | Dexter, ME | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Preble Street | Portland, ME | $6,250 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maine Initiatives | Portland, ME | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Chip Inc | Newcastle, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Colby College | Waterville, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Family Planning Association of Maine Inc (aka Maine Family Planning) | Augusta, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Habitat for Humanity York County | Kennebunk, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Health Equity Alliance | Bangor, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Maine Conservation Alliance | Augusta, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Maine Jewish Museum | Portland, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mainegeneral Medical Center | Augusta, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program | Brunswick, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Northern Lighthouse Inc | Presque Isle, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wayside Food Programs | Portland, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Southwest Oxford County Nutrition Inc | Brownfield, ME | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Island Connections | Bar Harbor, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Oxford Hills Community Garden | Norway, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Portland Maine Symphony Orchestra | Portland, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
14 of 56 (25%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 25%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
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.
- Waynflete School
Funding for the Third Thought Initiative for Civic Engagement and to increase diversity of the Lower School - Cedars Nursing Care Center
To support the CNA Plus Training & Career Advancement Program - Spurwink Services
Funding for mental health services, food and school programs to support refugee children and families - Good Shepherd Food Bank
To provide funding to support the Campaign to End Hunger in Maine - Intercultural Community Center
$7,500 to the Family CARES program; $10,000 to fund academic support programs for children - Avesta Housing
To support services needed by asylum seekers
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 64 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | $195,000 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 13 | $136,500 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 16 | $137,000 | $7,500 |
| 2024 | 18 | $146,000 | $5,000 |
| 2025 | 13 | $199,500 | $10,000 |
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
97% of its giving went to organizations in Maine. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $7,500. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Maine.
- 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.
- 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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
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
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