Community Building

Purpose

This grant program supports projects and organizations focused on making communities stronger.

Criteria

All applicants must meet the Maine Community Foundation’s grant eligibility requirements. Please read our eligibility and grant guidelines before submitting an application.

Your proposed project or organization must:

• Invest in people by increasing skills/abilities, knowledge, and/or well-being
• Engage the people you serve in the design, delivery, and/or evaluation of the work
• Strengthen community resources including organizations, partnerships, and built and natural environments.

Types of Funding

The Community Building Grant Program is one of the only grant programs in Maine that supports a broad range of projects and organizations across the entire state, including arts, education, environment, economic development, and human services. It is also MaineCF’s largest grant program and receives more than 500 applications annually. It provides project grants and general support grants.

Project Grants are for new projects (defined as within the first two years), including capital expenses. Your project must meet the Community Building criteria listed above AND your organization must:

• Be located in Maine, defined as your organization has a Maine address
• Have had expenses AT or ABOVE $500,000 in the most recent completed fiscal or financial year
  • Municipalities, government agencies, public schools, or faith-based organizations may apply regardless of expenses for their most recent completed fiscal or financial year
• Total project budget does not exceed $100,000
• Project expenses DO NOT to include endowments, annual appeals, or scholarships.

General Support Grants are for flexible funding of any type such as new/expanding/ongoing programs and operational needs including capital expenses.  Your organization’s primary work must meet the Community Building criteria listed above AND your organization must:

• Be located in Maine, defined as your organization has a Maine address
• Have had expenses BELOW $500,000 in the most recent completed fiscal or financial year
• NOT be a municipality, government agency, public school, or faith-based organization. (These organizations may be eligible for NEW project grants only.)

Additional Information

Frequently Asked Questions

Find the answers to many questions by clicking here.

Guidance Available

This grant program is very competitive. Please read the guidelines closely and check to make sure you have completed the application correctly. Download and use the Microsoft Word version of the application as it includes information to help you draft your application. This additional guidance is in red and will not appear on the online application.  

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Primary County Served

On the application, you need to indicate ONE county that will most directly benefit from the funding requested. This will determine which committee will review your application. If people in three or more counties will directly benefit from your project/organization, then please choose the “statewide” committee option.

Timing of Requests

Community Building Grants can only be used to support projects or activities that occur after the grant has been awarded, usually by June 1. This means that requests for support for any activities or expenses that occur before June 1 will be declined.

Eligible Expenses for Project Grants Only

The Project Budget may include up to 20 percent of the total amount requested from MaineCF for administrative costs. These funds may be used for overhead or operating expenses (examples: rent, utilities, bookkeeping) and can be a line item labeled as “administrative costs.” You may calculate this amount based on a percentage of the total requested (not more than 20 percent or $2,000 of a $10,000 request) and do not need to specify how the funds will be used.

Proposal Review Process

All proposals received are reviewed by staff to determine if they are eligible for funding. Depending on the number of proposals received, a subcommittee may also review the proposals based on the program criteria and decline some that do not closely match those criteria to limit the final pool of proposals to an amount a committee can reasonably review and discuss.

All eligible proposals that are included in the final review pool are assigned to a county advisor or staff member who will contact the grant proposal contact by email to schedule a brief telephone call in late March or April. Each committee collectively reviews all the proposals included in the final review pool for their county/region and decides which proposals to fund.

More than 130 volunteer advisors serving on 15 county and regional committees review over 500 applications for this grant program. These committees are tasked with identifying the strongest proposals that meet the program’s criteria, represent diverse sectors, geography and populations to have the greatest positive impact on strengthening communities.

Questions?

We encourage you to reach out to the staff member who covers the county you are located in with any questions. 

Learn more about the County and Regional Program.