In these disquieting times, the Maine Community Foundation remains focused on its mission: to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. For many, that quality of life is imperiled by a viral pandemic, systemic racism, food insecurity, lack of housing and health care, the effects of climate change, and other major challenges. The foundation is focused on helping communities across the state persevere and thrive.
MaineCF has awarded nearly $3 million in grants since March from its COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Our grantmaking has focused on services to Mainers most vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, including those experiencing poverty, homelessness, hunger, child care needs, mental health disorders, violence, and/or substance use disorders. We hope to have sufficient funding to award additional COVID-19related grants this fall to nonprofits, many of which report dramatic decreases in revenue.
MaineCF donors with donor-advised funds made an additional $3.6 million in direct pandemic relief grants to a wide range of organizations. Those grants include $200,000 directed to small rural theaters.
Meeting needs means more than simply making grants. It means listening and responding to communities across Maine.
Drawing on their local knowledge, county advisors enhance the impact of our work now more than ever. Two of them profiled here, Mary Kate Reny and Ann Marie Bartoo, lead our outreach in Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties as co-chairs of the Southern Midcoast Committee. Their professional and personal dedication to the betterment of the people in their region is praiseworthy.
We also depend on professional advisors to help us promote philanthropy in Maine. In his interview, attorney Edgar Catlin of Brunswick notes how the pandemic has spurred Mainers to look more closely at their legacies. “Those who have considered a charitable component for their estate plan are thinking… ‘If not now, when?’” .
Two of our Maine Ties stories provide an extra measure of hope. Maine philanthropist Maddy Corson and four journalists reflect on the impact of the Guy P. Gannett Scholarship Fund, now in its 20th year of sending Maine students out into the world to do good.
And Barry Dana, a teacher, artist, and former Chief of the Penobscot Nation, helps raise awareness of Wabanaki culture by instructing Skowhegan Area High School students in the construction of a traditional wigwam. The project is part of Skowhegan History House’s two-year exhibit “Wabanaki Voices: Connecting Past, Present, Future,” launched with help from a MaineCF Expansion Arts Fund grant.
MaineCF is on a journey to create a Maine where everyone has access to opportunities and life outcomes not determined or predictable, in any way, by race or ethnicity. To that end, the foundation supports a range of programs that support those who work to promote racial equity in Maine. At the same time, our work to enhance early childhood development, access to education, aging in place, and innovation and entrepreneurship continues with added urgency in these uncertain times.
“We are all in this together” is something of a cliché these days, but it’s true: To meet Maine’s needs going forward will take every one of us. The Maine Community Foundation was created for just this moment, as a resource in the toughest times. Thank you for believing in us.
Steve Rowe, CEO and President
