John Sage Foundation
Portland, ME · EIN 01-0469155. Reported 82 grants totalling $452,505 to 63 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. 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. John Sage 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $4,000 and $6,500; the smallest was $445 and the largest $21,300. 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. 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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frenchman Bay Conservancy | Hancock, ME | $21,300 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Baxter State Park | Belfast, ME | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Midcoast Conservancy | Edgecomb, ME | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation | Bangor, ME | $18,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Lake Stewards of Maine | Auburn, ME | $15,600 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cobalt | Portland, ME | $14,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Appalachain Trail Land Trust | Cape Elizabeth, ME | $13,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Coastal Mountains Land Trust | Camden, ME | $12,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| 30 Mile River Watershed Association | Farmington, ME | $11,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Cobscook Community Learning Center | Lubec, ME | $11,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences | Easy Boothbay, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| High Peaks Alliance | Farmington, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust | Cape Elizabeth, ME | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Northeast Wilderness Trust | Montpelier, VT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Saint Joseph's College of Maine | Standish, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sebasticook Regional Land Trust | Thorndike, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Somerset Woods Trustees | Skowhegan, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Trust for Public Land | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Women for Healthy Rural Living | Milbridge, ME | $10,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Androscoggin Land Trust | Auburn, ME | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust | Brunswick, ME | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Merrymeeting Bay Trout Unlimited | Richmond, ME | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Blue Hill Heritage Trust | Blue Hill, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Falmouth Land Trust | Falmouth, ME | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wild Seed Project | North Yarmouth, ME | $7,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust | Damarixcotta, ME | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kennebec Estuary Land Trust | Bath, ME | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Piscataquis County Soil & Conservation District | Doverfoxcroft, ME | $6,200 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Lake Winnecook | Unity, ME | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maine Tree Foundation | Augusta, ME | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Marine Mammals of Maine | Bath, ME | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| St Joseph's College | Standish, ME | $5,460 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Cape Elizabeth Land Trust | Cape Elizabeth, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust | Cumberland, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Casco Bay | Portland, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kennebec Land Trust | Winthrop, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Loon Echo Land Trust | Bridgton, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maine Coast Heritage Trust | Topsham, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Maine Community Integration Sciences | Lewiston, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Farmland Trust | Portland, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Manomet Conservation Sciences | Plymouth, MA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Queerly Me | Brunswick, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Scarborough Land Trust | Scarorough, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Viles Arboretum | Augusta, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Woodlawn Museum | Ellsworth, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bangor Area Stormwater Group | Orono, ME | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Herring Gut Learning Center | Port Clyde, ME | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Louds Island Conservancy | Brooklyn, NY | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Oceanswide | Newcastle, ME | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kittery Land Trust | Kittery, ME | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Appalachian Mountain Club | Boston, MA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| China Region Lakes Alliance | China Village, ME | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation | Ellsworth, ME | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting | Augusta, ME | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Audubon | Falmouth, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Croix International Waterway Commission | Calais, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wells Reserve | Wells, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| White Pine Program | York, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| York Ready for Climate Action | York, ME | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Atlantic Salmon Federation | Brunswick, ME | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Thompson Lake Environmental Association | Oxford, ME | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Thomson Lake Environmental Association | Oxford, ME | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maine Philanthropy Center | Portland, ME | $445 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
11 of 63 (17%) 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 22%, 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.
- Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust
CATHANCE RIVER-SCZYMECKI PROPERTY - Blue Hill Heritage Trust
WALLAMATOGUS MOUNTAIN PROJECT - Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation
NATIONAL RESOURCE INVENTORY AND MONITORING - St Joseph's College
LITTLE SEBAGO WATER QUALITY TESTING - Coastal Mountains Land Trust
MOUNT TUCK LAND ACQUISITION - Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust
ORBETON CASCADES AND PERHAM STR.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 61 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | $94,560 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 17 | $102,245 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $94,200 | $5,000 |
| 2024 | 27 | $161,500 | $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. 95% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- 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 John Sage 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: Co Hm Payson Po Box 31, 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 01-0469155 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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