2026 Land for Communities

Quick Overview

2025 Cycle Stats

Max Award: $50,000 Interest Areas: Environment, Food/Agriculture Geographic Area: Statewide Types of Funding: Project Support Application Opens: Jan. 15 and July 15 *This grant program accepts applications twice per calendar year beginning July 2025 Deadline: March 16 and Sept. 15 Notification: June 15 and Dec. 15 Staff Contact: Stephanie Cesario, scesario@mainecf.org, 207-412-0824 Apply: Click the "Apply" button at the top right of this page.

Applications received: 41 Amount requested: $1,381,954 Number of grants awarded: 15 Grant dollars awarded: $500,000 Percentage of applicants that received grants: 37% Average Award: $33,333 Additional grants by donors: 7 Recent Grants: Click here to view grants from the previous cycle.

Purpose

The Land for Communities (L4C) grant program supports community land projects that increase relationships to land for underserved geographies and populations in Maine.

Criteria

All applicants must meet the Maine Community Foundation’s grant eligibility requirements and non-discrimination policy. Please read the eligibility and grant guidelines and non-discrimination policy before submitting an application.

Your project must:

• Be located in Maine
• Expand access for an underserved geography or population
• Focus on land for community use, specifically one or both of the following:
  • Land return (Land back to Wabanaki Nations or Wabanaki-led organizations, restoring Wabanaki stewardship of lands and waters)
  • Land for food (Hunting, fishing, wild harvesting, working farms, community agriculture, working waterfront, community fisheries)
• Engage the people served in the design, delivery, evaluation, and/or leadership (board or staff) of the work

Types of Funding

Project support for land acquisition: Up to a maximum of $50,000 towards the purchase of land that meets the criteria above. Project costs may include purchase price, closing costs, legal support, survey, appraisal or value assessments, lease agreements, right-of-way agreements, and/or stewardship funds.

Project support for land-based projects: Up to a maximum of $25,000 for land-based projects that meet the criteria above that are not acquisition related. Land-based project costs may include, but are not limited to, infrastructure, convenings, technical support programs, stewardship needs, and/or staff time dedicated to the project.

Project support may include administrative overhead, up to 20% of the requested funding.

Additional Information

• Applicants who meet the Land for Communities grant program criteria may submit one application per deadline.
• LLCs and for-profit businesses are not eligible to apply. Please see MaineCF’s eligibility and grant guidelines for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find the answers to many questions by clicking here.

While we do not have a formal system for sharing ideas that aren’t submitted to a competitive grant program, when staff hear of projects that either don’t meet the guidelines for any competitive grant programs or the request is time sensitive, we share this information with donors who may be interested. Please speak to a member of the Please speak to a member of the grantmaking staff who covers your organization’s geographic region.

Selection Process

Staff reviews grant proposals received to determine if they are eligible for funding. All eligible proposals are assigned by staff to a community advisor for review who contacts the grant proposal contact by email to schedule a brief telephone call. A community advisory committee collectively reviews all the proposals and decides which proposals to fund. This committee identifies the strongest proposals that meet the criteria and increase relationships to land for underserved geographies and populations in Maine. 

Background

The Fund for Maine Land Conservation grant program started in the early 1990s and awarded nearly 200 grants totaling $889,768. In 2018, MaineCF received a bequest which made it possible to reexamine and redesign our grantmaking approach to land conservation. We closed the Fund for Maine Land Conservation grant program and in its place created two new land conservation grant programs: 1) Conservation for All, which offered general support, and 2) Maine Land Protection, which offered support for land acquisitions and easements.

In 2024 and 2025, MaineCF completed a field scan and program analysis of the needs and gaps in the field and collaborated with a team of community advisors on grant program redesign. As a result, MaineCF closed the Conservation for All and the Maine Land Protection grant programs and replaced these grant programs with one new grant program, Land for Communities in 2025.