Students at the Raymond A. Geiger Elementary School in Lewiston enjoy the snow during a WinterKids Active Academics Workshop, which connects classroom learning with outdoor physical activity. WinterKids has received grant support from the Androscoggin County Fund and Rines/Thompson Fund to offer outdoor education programs in Lewiston/Auburn and Portland. Photo courtesy of WinterKids
Total grant dollars requested last cycle: $169,118
Total grant dollars awarded last cycle: $25,000
Percentage of proposals that received full funding: 10%
Percentage of proposals that received partial funding: 10%
Maximum grant award last cycle: $7,294
Average grant size last cycle: $4,167 (Although the maximum grant size is $10,000, the Androscoggin County Committee rarely awards grants larger than $5,000 due to limited funding. Please consider this when making your request.)
Application deadline: February 15
The Androscoggin County Fund was launched in 1999 with a matching gift from Androscoggin Savings Bank. The fund's advisory committee awarded initial grants to the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, Hilltop Community Gardens, the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, and other nonprofits in the region.
Since that time, the Androscoggin County Committee has awarded more than $241,000 in grants. The committee is made up of local community leaders who partner with the foundation to build charitable resources to serve the region.
Funding priorities
The Androscoggin County Committee prefers proposals that, among other factors, seek to build social capital by fostering community connections and engaging people in their communities. It is particularly interested in supporting projects incorporating the following:
- Building community connections, especially among diverse groups
- Broadening and diversifying leadership and involvement in communities, and assisting communities in developing processes that encourage rather than discourage civic involvement
- Increasing trust, especially across lines of difference
- Encouraging people to do more with others rather than just for others.
Recent grants from the Androscoggin County Fund
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, to enhance the State Parks Pass program at the Auburn/Lewiston Clubhouse for members, particularly teens, during the summer of 2011
- President and Trustees of Bates College, for the Bates College Museum of Art to partner with Lewiston-Auburn teachers for the Thousand Words Project to develop students visual literacy skills
- WiWashburn-Norlands Foundation, to support the Norlands Barn Raisers project
Complete list of 2011 Androscoggin County Fund grants
Other ways the community foundation is serving the region
- Currently the foundation holds more than $1.9 million in assets dedicated to Androscoggin County through donor-advised funds, scholarships, designated funds to support specific organizations, and field-of-interest funds.
- In partnership with Harvard University's JFK School of Government and the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College, the foundation participated in a study to measure levels of social capital in Lewiston and Auburn (social capital refers to levels of civic engagement and trust that exist within a community). The results of the 2006 survey can be found here.
- Androscoggin County Scholarships
To make a donation, or to learn more about the Androscoggin County Fund
Please contact the Maine Community Foundation by phone, toll-free, at (877) 700-6800, or by e-mail at grants@mainecf.org.