Partnering with MaineCF, an organization that shares your passion for Maine, can make a difference for you and your community.
When you establish a donor-advised fund (DAF) at the community foundation, you make a charitable contribution, may receive an immediate tax deduction, work with staff who know Maine, and – over time – recommend grants to support causes you care about.
Donor-advised Fund Benefits
- You’ll meet other donors who love Maine
- You’ll learn more about other causes in Maine
- Review proposals Maine organizations through our Giving Together database
- A DAF can be an alternative or add-on to a private foundation
- You can make grants in Maine or elsewhere
- You may give cash and non-cash appreciated assets
- You’ll receive a tax deduction (subject to IRS limitations)
- Your children or grandchildren could join you in giving
- You can plan your legacy
- Funds grow tax free
- Anonymous giving is allowed
- You’re giving locally: Administrative fees support a nonprofit organization with a mission to strengthen Maine.
For more information, contact Jennifer Richard, senior director of gift planning.
MaineCF Donors Make a Difference
Education, the environment, racial justice: These three donors direct grants to these and other causes that matter most to them. They have also responded to the immediate needs of the pandemic.
McGoldrick Family Fund: Wide-ranging Philanthropy
Richard and Carolyn McGoldrick set up the McGoldrick Family Fund at MaineCF in January 2004 in part to involve their daughters, Katherine Urbanek and Meghan Stornelli, in philanthropy. Their grantmaking has supported education, with a focus on USM’s Promise Scholarship for underserved young achievers, as well as leadership, the environment, and racial justice (a recent grant went to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund). In response to the pandemic, the family directed grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, Preble Street, Good Shepherd Food Bank, and My Place Teen Center. “Working with MaineCF builds on our knowledge of community needs even as it strengthens our family’s giving,” says Carolyn.
Ash Point Fund: Giving to Midcoast Maine
Through her Ash Point Fund Susan St. John focuses on supporting Midcoast nonprofits working in youth education, land conservation, health, and other areas. Grants have gone to the Riley School, Georges River Land Trust, Mid-Coast Health Net, and the Hurricane Island Foundation, among other organizations in the region. Of note are several grants to The Apprenticeshop in Rockland to support special projects like Break the Anchor, to construct a Portuguese sardine carrier from the 19th and 20th century. Says St. John, “The Maine Community Foundation and I are aligned in our fundamental values. At the same time, it is so easy to do all my philanthropic giving through one organization, and the personal support MaineCF is able to give is – simply – unsurpassed.”
The Twilliams Fund: A Western Mountains Focus
The Twilliams Fund, established by Jos Thalheimer and Larissa Williams in 2017, has supported community-building grants in the Western Mountains, including several transfers to MaineCF’s Western Mountains Fund to increase its grantmaking capacity. This spring Thalheimer and Williams made grants to Good Shepherd Food Bank and the Phillips Area Food Pantry, joining the many MaineCF donors who are helping to make food available during the pandemic health crisis. “The community foundation helps us focus on the region while raising our awareness of broader issues,” notes Larissa.
