Maine Media College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
205933625
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Rockport, ME, USA
Phone
2072368581
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,627,342
Expenses
$4,019,126
Assets
$7,624,857
Liabilities
$2,467,479

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Michael Mansfield (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michael Mansfield (President): $204,876 total reported compensation
  • Elizabeth Greenburg (Provost): $158,587 total reported compensation
  • Sal Taylor Kydd (Secretary): $10,050 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Maine Media Workshops & College educates and inspires visual artists and storytellers to achieve their creative potential. We provide lifelong learning opportunities for those pursuing the fine arts and media-related professions. We are committed to fostering a diverse community that values creativity, respects culture, and seeks to deepen human understanding and expand communication in the world.Maine Media offers a Master of Fine Arts degree, one-year certificates in Collaborative Filmmaking, Photographic Practice, Lens-Based Storytelling (online.). In addition, the Maine Media offers approximately 400 short-term workshops and master classes annually, both online and in-person..

What it reported doing in 2025

Maine Media Workshops & College educates and inspires visual artists and storytellers to achieve their creative potential. We provide lifelong learning opportunities for those pursuing the fine arts and media-related professions. We are committed to fostering a diverse community that values creativity, respects culture, and seeks to deepen human understanding and expand communication in the world.Maine Media College was granted accreditation through NECHE in March of 2023.Maine Media offers a Master of Fine Arts degree, one-year certificates in Collaborative Filmmaking, Photographic Practice, Lens-Based Storytelling (online.). In addition, the Maine Media offers approximately 400 short-term workshops and master classes annually, both online and in-person.In addition, the school had new offerings in directing, design, and book arts that successfully attracted new enrollments in our workshops.The school continues to explore new workshop offerings each year. The Arnold and Augusta Newman Fund was established in 2020, funded by the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation, to support the $20,000 annual Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture, including all costs for administering the prize, exhibition, and awards ceremony. In 2024 additional funds were added to support publication of work from winning submissions. The fund also supports Arnold Newman Scholarships for Photographers, Certificate and MFA Degree students, and the Arnold Newman Master's series.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.9; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.3% of revenue deployed · 81.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $205K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.