As of January 1, 2010, new guidelines for MaineCF's Community Building Grant Program are in effect. In addition to modifying its application, the foundation has raised the maximum grant award from $7,500 to $10,000 and will be instituting new capacity-building grant opportunities.
Organizations planning to apply to the Community Building Grant Program (including the County & Regional Program) for the January 15 deadline should review the new guidelines by reading the updated, reorganized grantseeker FAQ and tips for creating a strong grant application. Applicants should also use MaineCF's new grant application form (PDF | RTF | Word Document), which will be used by all grant programs starting in 2010.
The grant guideline changes are the result of a survey of nonprofits conducted for MaineCF by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. A large percentage of the 240 Maine nonprofits that responded suggested changing grant characteristics such as size, type, and length.
MaineCF hosted informational webinars for nonprofits about the new Community Building Grant Program guidelines and new application form on December 15, 2009, and January 7, 2010. The foundation plans to conduct at least one more webinar before the May 15, 2010, deadline.
If you missed the webinars, you can download the Grant Webinar Summary (243kB PDF) to find out what the changes are and why we made them. If you'd like to see the slides from the webinar, you can download those here (924kB PDF).
Updated January 7, 2010