Welch Charitable Fund

Purpose

The Welch Charitable Fund supports organizations that serve people in need in the Greater Portland (Cumberland County) area.

Criteria and Priorities

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

To receive a grant, a project must:

• Serve individuals in the Greater Portland (Cumberland County) area
• Focus on youth, education, health care, recovery from substance use disorder and/or arts and culture.

The fund has particular interest in capital investments, including select capital campaigns.

Types of Funding

This program provides:

• Grants that will increase the scope (number of people or services provided), and/or grants that will improve efficiency or effectiveness of organizations.
• Grants for new or expanded projects.

Additional Information

Funding for new staff positions is a low priority.

Applications from organizations that received a grant in the previous year are discouraged from applying.

Ineligible Expenses

• See “What we will not fund, without exception” on our Eligibility and Grant Guidelines page.

Background

Established as a private family foundation in 1983, the foundation was transferred to the Maine Community Foundation in 2010.

After graduating from Bowdoin in 1938, receiving a law degree from Harvard University in 1941, and serving in the United States Navy in World War II, “Vinnie” Welch went on to found one of Washington’s leading law firms. He and his wife, “Bobbe,” who graduated from Sargent College (Boston University) with a BS in physical therapy in 1940, were married 43 years. Bobbe was a trailblazer, one of few women working in the field of physical therapy (she specialized in cases involving polio and infantile paralysis).

The couple returned to Maine, Vinnie’s native state, and devoted their lives to a host of Greater Portland civic activities and nonprofits, including many educational, social service, arts, and health institutions, which benefited from their generosity during their life-time and beyond.

The Welches committed time and fundraising skills to community service. Vinnie’s fund-raising activities became legendary, raising the bar for Maine institutions and donors. Vinnie died in 1984 and Bobbe in 2002.