Grantee Toolkit
Congratulations on receiving a grant from a Maine Community Foundation fund! Here are a few guidelines to help grantees after getting an award. Still have questions? Contact grants@mainecf.org.
Grant Updates
Grant updates help us better understand the impact of our grantmaking, learn about your organization, and find out about issues across the state. While the update is optional, it would be helpful to hear from you. The form is short and no financial information is needed. Donors and grantmaking committees really appreciate learning more about your work and future needs.
Generally, grantees are extended an invitation to complete a grant update form about one year after you receive the grant. We send an automated invitation by email 60 days before the submittal date as well as an email reminder 30 days before the submittal date. You can complete the form by logging on to MaineCF’s online grant system.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you need to change the contact person who will fill out the grant update form online, request an extension, or discuss changing the purpose for which you received your grant, please contact us at grants@mainecf.org. DO NOT include extension or change of purpose requests in your grant update form.
Here are the most common grant update scenarios and what to do:
- If you applied to one of our competitive grant programs and received a one-year grant, you will receive an invitation by email to complete the form about one year after you receive the grant.
- If you applied to one of our multi-year competitive grant programs and received a two or three-year grant, you will receive an invitation by email to complete the form about one year after you receive the grant. However, you may also receive an email from the grant program staff contact giving you the option to complete the form or schedule a brief phone call to discuss your organization’s successes and challenges.
- If you didn’t apply to a competitive grant program but received a grant from one of our donor-advised funds, then you may or may not be invited to complete a grant update form. Donors can choose to request an update for grants that are $5,000 or more and you will receive an invitation by email to complete the form about one year after you receive the grant.
If you applied to a competitive grant program and received two grants, a letter and payment from a committee as well as a letter and payment from a donor-advised fund, you will only receive one invitation by email to complete the form and the form you complete will be shared with both the committee and the donor-advised fund holder. We use the same grant update form for competitive grant programs and donor-advised fund grants.
Donor Acknowledgment
If you received a grant from a MaineCF fund, please refer to the award letter, as to the fund's wishes for public acknowledgment. (Some donors wish to remain anonymous, so please respect this!) Please use one of the following templates to acknowledge your grant in press releases, social media posts, annual reports or other materials:
- [Grantee] has received a $_____ grant from the [name of fund] of the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF)
- [Name of fund] of the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF)
If you have questions about the best way to acknowledge your grant, please email grants@mainecf.org or call 207-667-9735.
Publicity
We encourage you to let people know about your grant! For your convenience, we have put together a list of tips for publicizing your grant, organization or program. The tip sheet also includes a sample press release. You can also tag us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn! You can find downloadable MaineCF logos here. Please do not stretch or skew the logos; if you require edits or have questions about publicity, please contact Taylor Mace, senior communications and marketing specialist.
