Maine Fiberarts
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Maine Fiberarts is an arts service organization formed to promote the enjoyment and quality of Maine fiber workart, craft, farm, school and businessthrough education, display, celebrations, and networking both within Maine and beyond.
- Income
- $56,588
- Spending
- $50,837
- Reserves
- 5.5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 59%
- Highest pay
- $30,733, executive director
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 79 out of 100. Higher than 55% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, under $250k).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 5.5 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 3% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 10% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (2)
- $32,814 spent. Exhibitions/Art Representation/General Programming:Now in our 24th year, Maine Fiberarts continued its tradition of presenting fiber artwork by Maine artists at its Topsham Center/Gallery in group and solo exhibitions. These included: Pay Attention! November 8, 2023-January 16, 2024 featuring work by 13 Maine artists including quilts, sculpture, a fabric teapot, crochet work, knitted gauntlet mittens and more. Woven Tapestries by Morris David Dorenfeld, May 8-August 15, 2024. The work included not only tapestries and needlepoints by this well-known Maine artist (now deceased) but his collection of vintage basketry. Fabric, Clay, Found Objects: The Curious World of Barbara Bean, September 4-November 14, 2024 including fiber art, assemblage, clay, and botanical ink drawings by one artist. Barbaras studio and art were documented through photography, through a Fiber Folio story about her life, and through listings on our Online Art Shop. A reception was held in September and our director helped her write and deliver a talk about her work. Finally, Knitting!exhibited in the second room of the galleryincluded work by 17 different knitters showing work that was sculptural or wearable. The knitted work was not for sale but provided inspiration to our visitors and to the 40 members of a knitting cruise ship (Craft Cruises) who toured the gallery one day in September.Imagine Fiber Art: Work by Members of Maine Fiberarts, November 16, 2024-February 1, 2025 including the work of 18 artists and showing a variety of techniques. Hundreds of visitors from Maine, the US and Canada attended these shows and people expressed great interest in the work. For each show, we visited studios, collected work, photographed the shows and added material to our websites and informational newsletters. Artists gave talks about their process and people were encouraged to contact the artists for workshops or for more information. Work was also posted to our Online Art Shop for each show with photos, descriptive writings and measurements for each item.Ongoing Outreach & Digital and Printed Tour Map Activities We continued to answer questions by phone, email and social media about where to take a fiber arts class, what to see when visiting Maine, where to take in an exhibition, or how to find a fiber farm when visiting Western Maine. We remade our website at www.mainefiberarts.org to improve navigation and ease-of-use and incorporated our second website www.mainefiberfolio.com into its holdings for a more seamless presentation. We told hundreds of people where to donate or sell their used fiber equipment. We recommended artists who teach and who demonstrate for galleries, festivals and learning centers. We answered questions about fiber art techniques and referred people to our free online PDF or to printed copies of our book, LEARNING FIBER ART: A Guide to Maine Teaching Resources. We referred people to our two regional maps on Midcoast Maine and on Western Maine and sent people off to explore new locations. We continued distributing tour maps through Maine Fiberarts, The Center for Maine Crafts, and through participating sites. We also made several visits to outlying rural destinations in order to widen our outreach and to fulfill our organizations statewide mission.
- $7,289 spent. The Story of Fiber Art:Work continued on our Story of Fiber Art in Maine During the Past Half Centurya major multi-year project funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To further this project, we visited artists' studios in order to photograph, interview and document their work in fiber. Completed interviews and photographs were posted to www.mainefiberfolio.com, our second website. During 2024, we posted stories about the following artists and their studios: Barbara Bean (assemblage and mixed media), Ed Musholt (sculpture, paintings); Lissa Hunter (clay, basketry); Renuka OConnell (fabric artist and poet); and Stephanie Crossman (traditional knotted netting). We profiled 20 different artists during a three-day tour of Harpswell studios, and toured quilts exhibited at Maine Quilts 2024 in Augusta. We also attended and photographed the sculptural baskets of Penobscot native Jeremy Frey at the Portland Museum, and interviewed artist Nan Ross about the founding of Spindleworks arts collective in Brunswick.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since March 2002.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.