Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy
Augusta, ME · EIN 30-0036992. Reported 36 grants totalling $6,837,168 to 21 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy, the IRS classifies it under community improvement rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE S30) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 21 distinct organizations, with 42% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 43% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $111,924. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $299,040; the smallest was $7,000 and the largest $867,935. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Center for Enterprise Development | Portland, ME | $2,869,530 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Educate Maine | Portland, ME | $1,195,038 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Coastal Enterprises Inc | Brunswick, ME | $1,011,290 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Maine Aquaculture Association | Gardiner, ME | $786,883 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Gulf of Maine Research Institute | Portland, ME | $197,574 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Northeastern University | Boston, MA | $165,774 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Satish Tadikonda | Burlington, MA | $162,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New England Ocean Cluster LLC | Portland, ME | $155,261 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Live Work Maine Inc | Brunswick, ME | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Live and Work in Maine | Portland, ME | $54,670 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Third Sector New England Inc | Boston, MA | $42,463 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American Unagi LLC | Walpole, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ferda Farms | Brunswick, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Islesboro Marine Enterprises Inc | Islesboro, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Love Point Oysters LLC | Freeport, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Maine Oyster Company LLC | Phippsburg, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Worlds Your Oyster LLC | Wiscasset, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wild Ocean Aquaculture Bangs Island Mussels | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ocean Approved Inc Dba Atlantic Sea Farms | Biddeford, ME | $9,870 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wolfe Neck Oyster Co | Portland, ME | $9,815 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Biotechnology Association of Maine | Portland, ME | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
7 of 21 (33%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Maine Center for Entrepeneurs
AWARD TO INVEST IN BUSINESS ACCELERATION PROGRAMS DELIVERED BY MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS TO MAINE FOOD, BIOSCIENCE AND FOOD TECH COMPANIES - Coastal Enterprises Inc
AWARD TO COASTAL ENTERPRISES, INC TO INVEST IN BUSINESS GROWTH AND EXPANSION OF MAINE FOOD COMPANIES - Educate Maine
AWARD TO EDUCATE MAINE TO INVEST IN PROVIDING EXPERIENTIAL PROGRAMS TO ATTRACT YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TO PURSUE CAREERS IN MAINE - Maine Aquaculture Association
AWARD TO ACHIEVE ACCELERATED GROWTH AND INVESTMENT IN MAINE AQUACULTURE PROGRAMS - Satish Tadikonda
AWARD TO ACCELERATE GROWTH AND INVESTMENT IN BIOPHARMA AND LIFE SCIENCES INITIATIVES IN MAINE - Northeastern University
AWARD TO NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LIFE SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL NETWORK AND ASSET MAP
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 9 of 21 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 | $1,564,969 | $162,000 |
| 2022 | 4 | $1,266,707 | $266,908 |
| 2023 | 18 | $2,083,912 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 7 | $1,921,580 | $215,870 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
95% of its giving went to organizations in Maine. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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 grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $111,924 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Maine.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 5 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 128 State Street Suite 101, Augusta, ME, 04330.
EIN 30-0036992 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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