About Margaret E Burnham Charitable Trust
The Margaret E Burnham Charitable Trust’s recent record is defined by three large, unrestricted grants to a single Portland recipient listed as “See Attached,” including a $646,000 grant in 2025. That pattern points to concentrated support rather than a broad portfolio of small awards. The trust’s active annual grant programs, however, show a clear set of priorities for Maine nonprofits: social services, medical, education, arts and culture, and environment.
Across the latest filing year, the trust gave $1.82 million and holds $7.43 million in assets. The size of the recent grants also suggests a higher-dollar grantmaking style than the trust’s public annual programs, which are set at $1,000 to $10,000 and are reviewed once a year in December. In the recent grant history, the recipient appears in Portland, Maine each year, indicating a recurring relationship with one organization or account rather than a dispersed set of beneficiaries.
For researchers, the key takeaway is that Margaret E Burnham Charitable Trust combines a concentrated, unrestricted legacy pattern with a stated Maine grant program covering multiple community-serving sectors.
What Margaret E Burnham Charitable Trust Funds
The trust’s stated annual programs center on five areas: social services, arts and culture, medical, educational, and environment. Those themes align with its Maine-focused grantmaking, which is open to nonprofit organizations located, operating, and serving within the state.
Its public program description also specifies Portland, Maine as part of the service area, alongside statewide Maine communities. Applications are reviewed once a year in December, with applicants notified by the end of the year.
The active program terms emphasize general support for nonprofits rather than project-only funding. That is reinforced by the trust’s recent grant history, where a Portland recipient received general-use support in three consecutive years. Together, the program language and the recent record point to a funder that supports institutional stability in Maine organizations across service, culture, health, education, and environmental work.
How Margaret E Burnham Charitable Trust Gives
The recent grant sizes cluster tightly around the high-$500,000 range: p25 is $587,730, the median is $595,600, and p75 is $620,800. The top recent award was $646,000. That profile is very different from the trust’s posted annual grant program, which lists grants of $1,000 to $10,000.
The recent record shows repetition rather than one-off giving: the same Portland recipient appears in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The trust is a charitable trust, not an individual donor or program-related investment vehicle, and it funds organizations rather than individuals. Public annual programs accept unsolicited applications and are reviewed once each year in December.
