Grants for Change
Maine Initiatives funds nonprofits working for social, economic, and environmental justice. Our Grants for Change program offers a wide range of grant sizes: Three-year grants of $75,000, one-year grants of from $5,000 to $20,000, and rapid-response “Lightning” grants of up to $2,000.
Meet our grantees here.
GUIDELINES
Our mission
Maine Initiatives, a fund for change, cultivates social, economic, and environmental justice through grants and other support to grassroots organizations in Maine communities.
There are many types of nonprofits. They include:
- social services: people helping others.
- education: people giving others knowledge and skills.
- self-help: people creating their own services and programs.
- advocacy: people acting for change in behalf of others.
- grassroots organizing: people building organizations to gain power for their communities.
All are important. We fund grassroots organizing.
Sometimes grassroots organizing is called community organizing or direct action organizing. Grassroots organizing:
- brings community members together to solve their own problems.
- puts power in the hands of ordinary people.
- builds permanent, democratically-run membership organizations (or community-rooted coalitions) for change.
- grows leaders through direct action around issues.
- wins victories.
- brings democracy to life.
We don’t favor one issue over another. We fund organizations that are old and new, local and statewide, urban and rural.
We receive many proposals. If you apply and we don’t fund you, you can call us. We’ll discuss your proposal, talk about other places to find money, and help you decide whether to apply again.
Where the money comes from
We make grants with money people donate to us. That means that the size and number of grants we make each year depends on how much money we raise.
Grants for general support
We fund mission. All our three-year and one-year grants are for general support, because you’re the best judge of how to use your grant.
What we fund
We fund groups that:
- build power in their communities.
- are helping build the movement for progressive social change in Maine.
- bring many people together.
- are made up of people speaking up on issues that affect them.
- teach ordinary people to be leaders.
- organize people either directly as members or indirectly as a coalition.
- include the poor and working class as leaders and members.
- are here for the long haul.
- raise funds in their own communities.
- have 501(c)(3) tax status or are sponsored by a group that does. (We also recommend the 501(h) election.)
We don’t fund:
- social services, land trusts, watershed associations, museums, hospitals, schools, United Way-funded agencies, community action programs (CAPs), and other groups whose main focus is not grassroots organizing.
- programs geared toward personal growth, healing, enrichment, behavior change, or transformation.
- religious or spiritual work, education, culture, sports, or recreation.
- programs started, run, or largely funded by government.
- programs that taxes have traditionally paid for.
- groups for which our money won’t make a big difference.
- groups that fit the guidelines of many other funders.
- groups that discriminate due to background or lifestyle, discourage unionizing, harm the environment, or in other ways act against the interests of ordinary people.
Grant sizes
We have three levels of funding:
- Three-year grants: You may apply for $75,000 in three annual payments of $25,000 each.
- One-year grants: You may apply for $5,000 to $15,000.
- Lightning grants: You may apply for up to $2,000.
Deadlines
- Three-year grants: The first Friday in October.
- One-year grants: The first Friday in October.
- Lightning grants: Any time.
How to apply
You’re welcome to contact us at 207-622-6294 or info@maineinitiatives.org for more information before you decide whether to apply.
For a three-year or one-year grant, send us a one- or two-page letter of interest. It should be postmarked, emailed, or hand-delivered by the first Friday of October. Call us after you send it to make sure we’ve received it.
Tell us:
- about your organization.
- the size of your staff.
- your current budget totals — revenue and expenses.
- how to reach you — your daytime phone number and postal and email addresses.
- which you’re applying for: a three-year grant or a one-year grant. (If you apply for a three-year grant, we reserve the right to give you a one-year grant instead.)
- if you’re requesting a one-year grant, how much you’re asking for, from $5,000 to $15,000.
Enclose:
- a list of your board members, with their towns and occupations.
- the names and phone numbers of two people who know your organization but are not in it.
- copies or PDFs of one or two recent newspaper clippings (optional).
- nothing else.
The process
It will take us about six weeks to respond to letters of interest. If we decide you fit our guidelines, we’ll ask you for a full proposal and send you an application. These proposals are usually due in late January. We might also call you with follow-up questions, but we will not request a site visit. We make grant decisions and send out agreements in May.
If you request a three-year grant, we might give you a one-year grant, instead. If we do, you’re welcome to come back the next year to apply for a three-year grant again.
Get Lightning grant information here.
