Deadline:  January 15 (postmarked) with notification to organizations end of March
Grant Budget: $25,000-$30,000 available annually.  Both one-time and multi-year grant requests are accepted.  The advisory committee expects to make 3-5 grant awards each year.

General Background
For over 30 years Hospice of Maine provided hospice volunteers and bereavement services to clinical hospice programs. Based on the changing environment and in an effort to strengthen and unify hospice services in southern Maine, in January, 2006 the Hospice of Maine’s direct service programs were transferred to VNA Home Health Care and Hospice of Southern Maine who are both working to create and expand their full service hospice programs. As part of this transition, Hospice of Maine decided to use its remaining assets to create this Hospice Fund in a manner consistent with the mission and philosophy of Hospice of Maine and the intention of its supporters.

Purpose
The purpose of the Fund is to support hospice services in southern Maine, in particular by funding programs that support volunteer and bereavement services in Cumberland and York Counties.  The advisory committee will give preference to innovative projects that focus on increasing the utilization of end of life services and/or increasing the quality of end of life services

Project Evaluation
All grant recipients will be required to submit a Project Evaluation Report  approximately ten months after receiving payment of the grant.  For guidance on how to create an evaluation plan for your project, we have provided a resource guide, Developing a Project Evaluation Plan, that you may find helpful in preparing your proposal.

Eligibility Requirements

1) Applicants must be nonprofit, 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organizations, public schools, public   agencies working for the State of Maine, or Indian tribal governments (and their political subdivisions) recognized by the Department of the Interior or have a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) organization, public school, public agency, or Indian tribal government (click here for more information on applying with a fiscal sponsor).

2) Grants cannot be made for lobbying or religious activities.

3) Grants cannot pay for program expenses that have already been incurred.

4) Grants will not be made for capital projects or to individuals or endowments.

Please note that organizations that have received grants from other Maine Community Foundation Funds in the last 12 months are still eligible to apply to the Hospice Fund.

How To Apply
Grant application forms are available from the MaineCF offices or can be downloaded below.  When completing the narrative, please consider the fund’s guidelines in responding to the required questions. Applications for grants from the Hospice of Maine Fund should be sent to:

Hospice Fund
Maine Community Foundation
245 Main Street
Ellsworth, ME 04605