Maine Community Foundation
Contact information:
245 Main Street
Ellsworth, ME 04605
Phone: 207-667-9735
Fax: 207-667-0447
1 Monument Way, Suite 200
Portland, ME 04101
Phone: 207-761-2440
Fax: 207-773-8832
Website: http://www.mainecf.org/
Type of foundation: Community
Types of grants: Project, capacity-building, scholarships, technical assistance.
Description: The Foundation offers 18 competitive grant opportunities. The Community Building Grant Program is the Foundation's main competitive grant opportunity. The program supports projects that build on a community's assets and resources and support/promote sustainable, healthy community networks. A committee of volunteers from across the state reviews proposals. Community Building grants support new program implementation, program expansion and organizational capacity-building.
There are also several funds that make grants within specific interest areas, ranging from the arts to the environment to promoting equity for people of color.
Most grants are made through donor-advised funds. These funds do not accept unsolicited proposals. However, Foundation staff do refer proposals to donors that are received by its competitive grant programs.
Sample grants:
- $10,000 to Documentary Educational Resources to support Way We Get By documentary film; given through the King & Jean Cummings Charitable Trust Fund (2008).
- $5,000 to Island Readers and Writers in support of the Big Read in collaboration with Southwest Harbor Library; given through the Maine Charity Foundation Fund (2009).
- $4,800 to Community Television Network for the program, Bridging the Digital Divide; given through the Rines/Thompson Fund (2009).
- $3,275 to Your Place, Inc. to create a website and printed materials providing information about substance abuse recovery; given through the Hancock County Fund (2009).
- $2.945 to Lake Region Television to create a public access television series which will allow 40 Maine nonprofits to tell their stories and promote their community missions to citizens throughout Maine; given through Cumberland County Fund (2009).
Fit for public broadcasting: While the size of competitive grants is not large, this is nonetheless a reasonably good prospect for media outlets serving Maine. Applicants will likely enhance their chances of securing a grant by presenting a collaborative project.
Eligibility: Applicants for Community Building grants must be nonprofit, 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organizations, public schools, public agencies working for the State of Maine, or Indian tribal governments (and their political subdivisions), recognized by the Department of the Interior. Alternately, applicants must have a qualified fiscal sponsor. Applicants who have received a previous grant through the Community Building Grant Program must wait until 12 months have passed since the deadline date of their funded application before applying to this program again.
Community building grants typically do not support ongoing operating expenses, endowments, capital campaigns, camperships, acquisition of capital equipment or costs of repairing equipment. In addition, grants will not be made for:
- Lobbying or religious activities.
- Program expenses that have already been incurred.
- Organizations located outside Maine unless they demonstrate that they are working with a Maine-based group to develop and implement the proposed project.
Deadline: Community Building Grant Program proposal deadlines are January 15 and May 15.
How to apply: Applicants should first review the guidelines for the specific fund to which they are applying. They should then complete the appropriate application form(s). Many of the grant opportunities accept the Maine Community Foundation common application, but not all do. The Foundation offers webinars on grant opportunities. A summary of one of these webinars, providing a good overview of the Community Building Grant Program and information on how to apply, is available online.
Giving range: Community Building grants range up to $10,000.
Assets: $186,682,457
Total giving: Together, the Foundation's competitive grant programs award over $2.5 million per year in grants. (The total, including donor-advised funds, comes to nearly $16 million.)
