MaineCF Grants
Competitive Grants
MaineCF has more than 20 competitive grant programs that serve communities in Maine.
Our competitive programs all have an established annual deadline and an application form. We regularly review our grant programs to ensure that they are addressing strengths and challenges in communities and are aligned with the purpose of the fund when it was established. A list of all competitive grant programs can be found on the Available Grants page.
Click on the name of the grant program to get current, detailed descriptions of each program's purpose, requirements, eligibility rules, and deadlines. Grant pages also list contact information of the MaineCF staff member who manages the program.
Grants from Donor-Advised Funds
Donor-advised funds represent close to half of the grants that are made through the Maine Community Foundation. The typical grant size is $1,500 and approximately 96% of grant dollars are directed to organizations that the donor advisor knows directly.
The primary way staff introduces new organizations and projects to donor advisors is through our Giving Together program. When an organization submits a proposal that meets the eligibility guidelines of most of our competitive grant programs, the proposal is made available online on our Giving Together portal. These proposals are posted for approximately one year and can be viewed by donor advisors and funded online. At the same time, staff also highlight proposals for those donor advisors who prefer to operate offline. In 2021, donor-advised funds contributed over $1.6 million to nonprofit organizations through the Giving Together program.
While we do not have a formal system for sharing ideas that aren’t submitted to a competitive grant program, when staff hear of projects that either don’t meet the guidelines for any competitive grant programs or the request is time sensitive, we do try to identify donor advisors who might be interested in the project. Our experience suggests that time-sensitive project-based requests (often $10,000 or less) have a better chance of being funded and that requests for capital campaigns or general operating support are rarely funded by donor advisors not already known by the organization.
Our highest success rate in matching nonprofits with donors is through our Giving Together program. Please speak to a member of the grantmaking staff who covers your organization’s geographic region for more information on how to apply to one of our competitive grant programs.
FAQs from nonprofits:
Q: What is a donor-advised fund?
A: A donor-advised fund is a charitable vehicle that individuals, a family or business can establish at a public charity, like the Maine Community Foundation, to manage their charitable donations. Once a charitable gift is made to a donor-advised fund at MaineCF, the money is owned by the community foundation, but the individual/family/business retains the right to “advise” where grants go. Click here to learn more about ways that MaineCF can assist people with their giving.
Q: How can we reach donor-advised funds at MaineCF?
A: We share grant proposals with donors through our Giving Together portal and also based on interests that donors have highlighted for us.
Q: What if my proposal does not meet the criteria for any of the above grant programs?
A: Contact the member of our grantmaking staff that covers the county in which your organization is located.
Q: I got a grant from a donor-advised fund and I don’t know them or they are anonymous. How can I thank them?
A: If you do not already have a relationship with the donor advisor, we can forward a thank you letter to them. Please do not send additional organizational materials such as annual reports or brochures as we are not able to forward this information.
Q: If we receive a grant from a donor-advised fund, do they need a tax acknowledgement?
A: No, because they already received a tax benefit when they made the original gift to their advised fund at MaineCF.
Additional Support
MaineCF staff members frequently provide technical assistance and guidance to nonprofits to share best practices and information about grant support. We also regularly develop and implement special projects or initiatives to advance our issue areas.
