Fritz and Susan Onion met on the marching band field at Mt. Blue High School when he was a sophomore and she was a senior. She hailed from Farmington, he from Mount Vernon – both in the brass section playing trumpet and mellophone.
They chased their post-college dreams to California as newlyweds to pursue more education and jobs – library science and teaching for Susan and computer science for Fritz. After working at Oracle Corporation, attending graduate school and then contract teaching with DevelopMentor, Fritz and three others pitched in $5,000 each to establish Pluralsight, a company focused on technical skills training.
Decades later, Fritz and Susan are back in the Lakes Region, ready to help support the state that drew them home when it was time for a family. And Pluralsight, founded in 2004, went public in 2017 and now boasts more than 2,000 employees. For the past six years the Onions have embraced philanthropy through the Maine Community Foundation and their own Onion Foundation, which has awarded more than 800 grants to over 200 Maine nonprofits.
“It’s been an adjustment, for sure,” says Fritz. “It is an odd feeling to understand that you have the ability to make change, to help others and to enable nonprofits to do the work they do.”
They’ve stepped cautiously into their new work, learning the ropes from Maine organizations and other funders. “The philanthropic community in Maine is small and there’s a lot of sharing of practice… a lot of collaborative work,” says Susan. “The Maine Philanthropy Center has been an indispensable resource for partnering, advocacy, and learning.”
Their giving spans a broad spectrum. The Onion Foundation focuses on environmental stewardship, music, and the arts. Through their donor-advised fund at MaineCF they have supported collective initiatives such as entrepreneurship, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, and MaineCF’s new Kennebec County Fund.
They also established the Maine Community Population Health Initiative Fund through which Fritz’s father, a physician, works to improve rural health.
The flexibility of their donor-advised fund has allowed them to make grants in areas that are close to home and personally meaningful, including food insecurity, social justice and equity, Boys and Girls clubs, Saddleback Mountain, and Millinocket Memorial Library.
“Millinocket Memorial Library is the perfect example of what a library can be in a rural community. Beyond circulating books, they are a community hub connecting people to resources,” says Susan, a former public and school librarian.
Fritz, still an avid musician, fondly remembers their grants for Portland Symphony Orchestra concerts that bring school children from remote communities to the city for their first, and sometimes only, exposure to classical music.
“I attended one of the concerts and at the beginning the kids were loud and boisterous, but when the music started, they were just at rapt attention. I felt like that was a really impactful event that made a lasting impression,” he says.
Working with the community foundation has helped them to be more responsive, leverage more dollars with other funders, and learn about diverse initiatives.
The COVID-19 health crisis has connected them with many struggling Maine nonprofits. The Onions’ initial support helped some organizations adjust to remote operations; their “second wave” funding will likely support nonprofits as they restaff and assess how to sustain their missions. “We are listening to what nonprofits are saying and preparing to support where needed.”
“We feel that philanthropy has an important role in helping address the systemic inequities in our society today,” Fritz says. “Nonprofits in Maine are doing incredible work and the current pandemic and ongoing racial injustices make the need for support even more urgent.”
Top: Fritz and Susan Onion of Wayne returned to Maine from California when it was time to raise their family. Photo Gabe Souza
