Nonprofit Agency Funds at Work

Since the Piscataquis Regional YMCA established the first agency fund at the Maine Community Foundation in 1993, MaineCF’s family of agency funds under management has grown to more than 260 totaling nearly $120 million in charitable assets. These funds represent just about every category of nonprofit endeavor in Maine, from the arts and education to libraries and youth programs.

Learn about some of the nonprofit organizations that have chosen to place their endowment or long-term funds with the Maine Community Foundation.

Rockland District Nursing Association

For more than 90 years now, Rockland District Nursing Association (RDNA) has provided non-acute, in-home nursing and community health services to residents of Rockland and surrounding midcoast communities. RDNA is built on the vision of serving each other today in order to ensure a healthier community for tomorrow.

Of the four district nursing associations in Maine, two of them, Rockland and Camden, have agency funds with MaineCF while a third is the beneficiary of a designated fund at the community foundation.

Photo: A Rockland District Nursing Association nurse with a midcoast resident. Photo courtesy RDNA

Wilson Museum

Founded in 1928, the Wilson Museum in Castine uses its diverse collections and learning experiences to stimulate exploration of the natural history and cultures of the Penobscot Bay region and the world. Highlights of the collection include six dioramas constructed by Ned Burns of the American Museum of Natural History in 1926; ship models; and a reconstructed 1805 kitchen.

The museum offers an array of events for all ages throughout the year, including demonstrations, workshops, and guest lectures. Special exhibits are generated each summer from the museum’s diverse collections.

The Wilson Museum transferred its board discretionary fund to the community foundation in March of 2014. Museums, libraries, historical societies, and community centers are among the cultural institutions that partner with the community foundation by establishing a nonprofit agency fund.

Photo: Children make ice cream as part of the Wilson Museum's educational program, “Cocoa Ice.” Photo courtesy Wilson Museum

Aroostook Aspirations Initiative

Founded in 2012 by Ray and Sandy Gauvin, the Aroostook Aspirations Initiative (AAI) awards an annual scholarship to a senior in each of the 16 high schools in Aroostook County. The initiative focuses on youth who choose to attend Northern Maine Community College, Husson University, University of Maine at Fort Kent, or University of Maine at Presque Isle, which allows students to stay in Aroostook County and possibly live at home to make college more affordable.

AAI is much more than a scholarship program. “The greatest part about it,” says Sandy Gauvin, AAI president, “is that we provide advocacy and mentoring to our scholars throughout their college experience to allow them to complete a quality college education and stay right here in The County to work and raise families here.” For the Gauvins the program is a way to mobilize the future prosperity of Aroostook County.  And education, Sandy says, is “the great equalizer.”

Aroostook Aspirations Initiative is one of many organizations for which the Maine Community Foundation provides investment management services. Nonprofit agency fund partners include public charities providing scholarship support like AAI as well as public school districts and private educational organizations.

Photo: Gauvin Scholars walk in the Potato Blossom Festival Parade in Fort Fairfield, July 2015

West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association

Set on the most easterly point in the United States, the West Quoddy Head Light was first built in 1808. It was ordered by Thomas Jefferson in an effort to quell border disputes over where American territory stretched to. The lighthouse is known for its distinctive red stripes which help it stand out against the snowy backdrop of a Lubec winter. The West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association’s endowment, managed by the community foundation since 2005, enables it to maintain a center for visitors to learn more about the lighthouse, the community of Lubec, and maritime history.

Image: Jude Valentine, West Quoddy Headlight, soft pastel on paper, 2013, courtesy of the artist

Patten Lumbermen's Museum

This vintage photo by “Draper” of oxen hauling in northern Maine is from the collection of the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013. The museum documents Maine logging history by preserving logging heritage and accomplishments of early inhabitants of the state of Maine. Visitors will hear stories of fearless river drivers, learn about what life was like inside a remote logging camp, and even uncover the role of bean hole beans.

In November 2012, the museum transferred its board unrestricted fund to the Maine Community Foundation for investment management.

Photo courtesy Patten Lumbermen’s Museum

Maine Winter Sports Center

The Outdoor Sports Institute (formerly known as Maine Winter Sports Center) in Caribou works to create healthier lives, stronger communities, and a better world through outdoor sport. This photo shows Aroostook County kids enjoying the Biathlon World Cup held in Fort Kent.

The Outdoor Sports Institute established an endowed agency fund at the community foundation in 2002.

Photo from NORDIC FOCUS, courtesy of Maine Winter Sports Center

Moosehead Historical Society

Built in 1893, the Eveleth-Crafts-Sheridan House at the Moosehead Historical Society contains exhibits of Moosehead Lake region history and culture from the Civil War to the post-World War II era. The Society also operates the Center for Moosehead History and Moosehead Lake Aviation Museum. All buildings house an array of collections and artifacts that provide insight into the rugged and fashionable lifestyles of the people who lived in and visited this once remote region of Maine.

The Maine Community Foundation manages the Moosehead Historical Society’s endowment, along with agency funds for more than 30 other historical societies and preservation organizations.

Photo courtesy Moosehead Historical Society

LifeFlight Foundation

A LifeFlight of Maine helicopter and crew land in Hancock to transport a patient to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. LifeFlight provides a statewide medical helicopter service that transports critically ill and injured patients. Its mission is to transform the critical care transport medicine system into an integrated, high quality, patient-centered system worthy of the public’s trust. LifeFlight Foundation raises funds for aircraft, hospital helipads, statewide aviation improvements, and the many training outreach programs offered by its staff.

The Maine Community Foundation has been managing LifeFlight Foundation’s endowment since 2008.

Photo by Michele Barker, courtesy of LifeFlight of Maine

White Pine Programs

In 1999, three people with a shared vision of nature-connection programs in the seacoast region of Maine formed White Pine Programs. Today, White Pine staff reach nearly 2,000 toddlers, kids, tweens, teens, adults, and elders annually with transformative nature-connection experiences. These experiences empower people to strengthen themselves, build lasting connections to the natural world, deepen awareness of place, and awaken the wild within.”

White Pine Programs established an agency fund at the Maine Community Foundation in 2010. The purpose of this fund is to provide long-term support for the mission and vision of White Pine Programs.

Here, summer campers learn how to identify, harvest, and prepare sarsaparilla.
Photo courtesy The York Independent