Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation
ActivePhilanthropy & Voluntarism
About Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation
The Bob Crewe Foundation concentrates its philanthropy on sustaining higher education and arts institutions in Maine, providing large unrestricted operating support to a small number of local organizations. Grants are heavy-weight and relationship-driven, with repeated, sizable awards to the University of Southern Maine and major support for the Maine College of Art & Design, indicating a focus on institutional stability rather than project-specific funding. The foundation’s giving is geographically concentrated in Maine and oriented toward cultural and educational capacity-building.
Focus Areas
Operating support for Maine higher‑education institutions (e.g., University of Southern Maine)Sustaining independent art and design colleges in Maine (Maine College of Art & Design)Regional cultural infrastructure and institutional capacity in southern Maine
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated giving: few but very large grants, repeat funding to the same core grantees, prioritizing unrestricted/operating support over many small or one-off grants.
Funding Style
unrestricted operating supportgeneral/core operating fundingdonor-designated honor/memorial funding
About Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation
A $3,000,000 gift to Maine College of Art to establish the Bob Crewe Program in Art and Music is the clearest marker of this foundation’s approach. The Bob Crewe Foundation A/k/a Crewe Foundation uses large, relationship-based grants to build institutional capacity in Maine’s arts and higher-education ecosystem, with support that leans toward general operating and endowment-style stability rather than one-off projects. Recent giving also shows sustained backing for the University of Southern Maine Foundation and Maine College of Art & Design, both in Portland, alongside smaller operating grants to Maine-based cultural and community organizations. The pattern points to a funder that favors core support for organizations connected to arts, music, education, and community life. The foundation’s grants also reflect a recurring interest in interdisciplinary arts education, especially where art and music meet, and in maintaining local institutions that serve students, artists, and broader community audiences in Maine.
What Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation Funds
In higher education, the foundation gave $300,000 in 2024 to the University of Southern Maine Foundation for operating support, extending a pattern of support that also includes $300,000 in 2023, plus additional awards of $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000 in the recent-grants list. For arts education, it gave $232,563 in both 2023 and 2024 to Maine College of Art & Design for operating support, reinforcing institutional funding rather than project-only backing. Community arts organizations also appear in the grant list: 317 Main Community Music Center received $25,000 in 2024 and $15,000 in 2023, while Palaver Strings received $10,000 in 2023, $10,000 in 2024, and $5,000 in 2023. The foundation also supported Portland Museum of Art with multiple $25,000 awards.
How Bob Crewe Foundation A/K/A Crewe Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is modest relative to the largest awards, with a p25 of $2,750, a median of $10,000, and a p75 of $25,000. The recent record shows a small number of very large institutional grants alongside many operating awards in the $5,000 to $25,000 range. Recipients repeat across years: University of Southern Maine Foundation, Maine College of Art & Design, Mitchell Institute, Portland Museum of Art, 317 Main Community Music Center, and Palaver Strings all appear more than once. The foundation funds organizations directly, does not fund individuals, and does not make program-related investments. The grantmaking pattern is relationship-driven and recurring rather than one-off.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.7M
Total Assets
$15M
Total Revenue
$1.4M
Total Expenses
$2.1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $3K and $25K, with a median of $10K.
25th Percentile
$3K
Median
$10K
75th Percentile
$25K
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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