Giving Together
Donald Small of Castine partners with MaineCF to support innovative education programs in memory of a special teacher.
When Leslie Goode saw a grant proposal from Island Readers & Writers to expand reading programs for public school students, she had a notion. Goode, MaineCF’s senior program officer for Hancock and Washington Counties, thought of a donor with a donor-advised fund at MaineCF who supports public school programs – especially when activities take learning beyond the classroom. It felt like a good match, so she forwarded the proposal to Castine resident Donald Small.
Goode was right: Small was struck by the opportunities students would have to read outside a formal learning situation. What’s more, it reminded him of Maine Seacoast Mission after-school programs, of which he is a great fan. He made the grant.
MaineCF staff have shared proposals with its donor-advised fund donors for many years, but the foundation recently expanded the benefit through its online Giving Together program. In addition to personal alerts from staff, donors can now access grantee applications through a special online portal.
“It’s an ideal situation,” says Small, who lives in Castine. He collaborates with MaineCF, which he says does “all of the hard work for me and takes care of the money and sorts out what the real needs are and where they are. Then I get to pick and choose the ones I feel come closest to what Bary would have wanted.”
Bary was his wife, Leonie “Bary” Lyon Small, namesake of and inspiration for the MaineCF fund Small established with support from family and friends not long after her death in 2000. “She was a wonderful person, she was spectacular, she was admirable,” he says. She also was a teacher devoted to innovative ideas. She taught in central Maine, was a special education teacher at an inner city school in Boston and did a stint with an American school in Brazil. “I thought, ‘Let’s try to set up a program where we can encourage other teachers to do the same thing,’” says Small.
Over the years Small has directed grants from his donor-advised fund at MaineCF to a variety of organizations in the downeast region. Small, supported creation of the Community Childhood Learning Place in his hometown and funded Island Heritage Trust’s April Vacation Nature Camp on Deer Isle, Blue Hill Heritage Trust’s Forest Days Professional Learning program, and the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra’s Music for Children production at the Eastport Arts Center of Brundibár!, an opera for children composed in 1938 by the Czechoslovakian Jewish composer Hans Krása.
Last year Small transferred money from his donor-advised fund to MaineCF’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. He recognized that operations for nonprofit organizations during the pandemic would be complicated. More than that, he knew many people had lost jobs or had their work cut back. Giving to the COVID-19 Fund was a way to help them.
Donald Small on the Castine waterfront with Maine Maritime Academy’s Training Ship State of Maine at dock behind him. Small taught engineering at MMA for 30 years. Photo Gabe Souza
Small traces his philanthropy to his parents, Harrison and Helen Small. The “modest income” couple – he taught at Maine Maritime Academy and she was a homemaker – donated on a regular basis to organizations that needed help. “They were willing to share what they had,” says Small, adding, “so it was like I didn’t know anything else.”
Small moved to Castine with his family in 1946, when he was eight. After graduating from Castine High School, he went off to the University of Maine to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. He worked in industry doing research and developing new equipment around the U.S. and Canada before returning to Castine to teach engineering courses at Maine Maritime Academy for 30 years.
Since retiring, Small has devoted much of his time to volunteer work, including serving in a variety of positions at the Wilson Museum (MaineCF manages its endowment). He also helped found the Castine Writers Group. In 2016 Penobscot Bay Press published his Salt Water Town, a collection of stories about Castine from the 1920s to the 1950s. He’s working on a second volume.
Small is a people person; he can’t wait to return to gatherings with his friends and neighbors. He also looks forward to attending musical programs with his wife Shelley, also a retired teacher. They love the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and Celtic concerts on Prince Edward Island.
Small is keen to continue his work with MaineCF, embracing the benefits of giving together. His philosophy is straightforward: “I have more than I need and there are other people who don’t have enough. Why should we not be sharing it?”
Photo: Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator Sophie Blackall shares her picture book Hello Lighthouse with kindergartners at Whiting Village School. Photo Island Readers & Writers
