2025 Maine Women's Fund

Quick Overview

2025 Cycle Stats

Max Award: $15,000 Interest Areas: Women and girls Geographic Area: Statewide Types of Funding: Two-year general support grants Application Opens: July 15 Deadline: Sept. 15 Notification: Dec. 15 Staff Contact: Gloria Aponte C, gaponteclarke@mainecf.org, 207-412-0847 Apply: Click the "Log In" button at the top right of this page, then click "Log In Here" for the Online Grant System in the top right section

Applications received: 53 Amount requested: $315,000 Number of grants awarded: 10 Grant dollars awarded: $150,000 Percentage of applicants that received grants: 19% Average Award: $15,000 Additional grants by donors: 8 Recent Grants: Click here to view last year's grants.

Purpose

The Maine Women’s Fund (MWF) grant program makes bold investments that transform the lives of women and girls.

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 organization must:

• Be located in Maine, defined as your organization has a Maine address
• Serve women and girls in Maine as the primary recipients, defined as your organization offers two or more programs focused on women and girls
• Serve women and girls from an underserved geography or population
• Focus on one or more of the following four focus areas:

• • financial literacy
  • health education
  • leadership development, or
  • policy/advocacy
• Engage the people served in the design, delivery, evaluation, and/or leadership (board or staff) of the work

Municipalities, K-12 public/private schools, higher education institutions, and faith-based organizations are not eligible to apply for this grant program.

Type of Funding

Two-year general support grants for flexible funding of any type such as new/expanding/ongoing programs and operational needs including capital expenses. Your organization’s primary work must meet the Maine Women’s Fund criteria listed above.

The maximum award amount is $15,000 per year. Multi-year grantees will be selected every two years. This grant program will accept applications in 2025 and again in 2027.

Please reach out to Gloria Aponte C. gaponteclarke@mainecf.org with any questions or if you are unsure if your organization is eligible to apply.

*NOTE: Answers to general support application questions should focus on your organization’s work (not a specific project) and how your organization meets the grant program criteria because general support awarded to an organization is for any purpose, not restricted to a specific project.

Additional Information

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 grant program criteria, represent diverse geography, and have the greatest positive impact on transforming the lives of women and girls in Maine.

Background

The Maine Community Foundation’s Maine Women’s Fund (MWF) is committed to making investments in organizations that transform the lives of Maine women and girls.

The Maine Women's Fund started at MaineCF in 1988 thanks to the efforts of Gloria W. Milliken of New York City and Westport, Maine, who was a founder and board member of the New York Women's Foundation.

It then became its own organization and made more than 525 investments totaling over $3 million to organizations that transform the lives of women and girls across the state. In 2022, the Maine Women’s Fund transferred $3 million in assets to MaineCF, which will steward its resources.

The Karen Moran Leadership Fund of the Maine Women’s Fund honors the life and work of Karen Moran. Its goal is to strengthen leadership capacity of women and girls of all races and backgrounds.