MaineCF offers a wide variety of grants, which have been categorized below for your convenience. Click on the links in each description to learn more and to find out how to apply. (Students looking for scholarship assistance should refer to the Scholarships section.)
Community Building Grant Program (including the County & Regional Grant Program)
The Community Building Grant Program focuses on proposals 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 to allocate funds available.
The Maine Community Foundation believes local people know their communities best. Through the County & Regional Program component of the Community Building Grant Program, local committees across the state review grant proposals and recommend awards.
Additional Grant Programs
In addition to the above programs, MaineCF has several competitive and donor-advised funds that make grants within specific interest areas. Grant sizes, deadlines, and priorities vary for each fund. Please review the guidelines for each program for more information. Please visit the Additional Grant Programs page for more information.
Grants from Donor-Advised Funds
Grant applicants are most likely to receive funding through the foundation's competitive grant programs. However, the foundation holds a number of donor-advised funds from which donors can recommend grants for projects that interest them. All proposals submitted through our regular grant cycles are reviewed by staff for a potential donor match and may be referred to one or more donors through this process.
Since we have a very low success rate for funding requests outside one of these competitive grant programs, we are no longer accepting unsolicited proposals for donor-advised funds. Please speak to a member of the grantmaking staff for guidance about which competitive grant program would be the best fit for your organization or project. In addition to that guidance, if a staff member thinks your project might be of interest to one of our donor advisors, a proposal may be solicited on behalf of a donor.
Grants to Individuals
MaineCF has several funds that make grants to individuals for professional development and special projects. Please visit the Grants to Individuals page for more information.