St. George School students show off the carrots they picked from the garden at Blueberry Cove 4-H Camp in Tenants Harbor. MaineCF grant funding provided support for the Blueberry Cove Gardening Project, which engages the St. George School and the local community in teaching 5th- to 8th-grade students about local food networks. Photo courtesy Knox County Cooperative Extension.
Last year, MaineCF distributed $16 million in grants and scholarships from its charitable funds.
Grantmaking is one of the Maine Community Foundation’s community-building strategies. The foundation also administers scholarships, designs and participates in initiatives, provides technical assistance to grantseekers, and convenes groups to address new and emerging issues.
Competitive Grants
Grant programs that accept proposals can be found on the Available Grants page.
Detailed descriptions, including eligibility, application guidelines and deadlines can be found on the individual grant program pages.
Successful proposals meet three criteria:
- They use existing resources to strengthen community life
- They strengthen communities’ and organizations’ ability to meet future challenges
- They are sustainable or have a lasting impact after MaineCF grant funding is complete.
Connecting Donors to Causes They Care About
The majority of MaineCF's grant awards come from donor-advised funds.
Donor advisors are a vital part of the foundation because of their contributions of knowledge, expertise, connections, time, and financial resources.
In order to better support donors’ philanthropy and provide the maximum financial support possible to meet community needs, staff augments the funds available through our competitive grant programs by connecting donors to organizations, issues, and approaches aligned with their interests.
We refer proposals to donors that we receive in conjunction with our competitive grant programs, with an emphasis on our three major grant deadlines of January 15, May 15, and September 15.