Applicants are invited to apply for the Food Systems Grants.
Donor Name: Elmina B. Sewall Foundation
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/13/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 5 Years
Details:
The Sewall Foundation is committed to working with the grantee and philanthropic partners to co-create a thriving, healthy, and just food system where local communities are guiding decisions about, and have abundant access to, the resources needed for collective well-being and the foods that remind them they belong.
Priorities
- The Food Systems program will support efforts that are working in one or more of the follow areas in Maine:
- Funding will be prioritized for efforts that:
- Are led by, and/or serving, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, rural Mainers, and women that strengthen Maine’s local food system
- Are equity-driven, grassroots efforts guided by the expertise of those closest to the injustices of our current food system
- Contribute to the viability of healthy and just food systems (this may be through resourcing, technical assistance, capacity building, partnerships, etc.)
- Resource communities most affected by racial and socioeconomic inequity to build collective power and wealth
- Support both the immediate material conditions of those in need and the emergence of sovereign and just food systems
- Are smaller and have barriers to accessing resources (e.g., historically marginalized groups, fiscally sponsored work, etc.)
Funding Information
2025 Available Funding: $1,870,000
Generally, grant funding levels in this program area are:
- Individual organizations/efforts: $10,000 to $60,000 (per year)
- Increased funding amounts may be available to organizations that meet multiple program priority areas.
- 1-5 year proposals will be considered.
- Collaborations/efforts involving multiple organizations/groups: up to $200,000 (per year)
- Occasionally, organizations may apply for both organizational and collaborative funds.
- 1-5 year proposals will be considered.
- Transformational opportunities: variable funding levels
- The purpose of transformational opportunities is to address critical community priorities and create sustainable, systemic changes. These efforts should advance processes and approaches that heal, correct unjust conditions and structures, and create conditions for fair access to power, resources, and opportunities.
- Generally, 1-2 year proposals will be considered.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be eligible to receive tax-deductible donations as outlined in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. This includes: 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organizations; public schools; public agencies working for the State of Maine; Indian tribal governments (and their political subdivisions) recognized by the Department of the Interior
- The Sewall Foundation accepts applications from organizations and groups who work through a fiscal sponsor. A fiscally sponsored organization does not need to be a legal entity, but it must have a signed fiscal sponsorship agreement with a 501c3 nonprofit organization. If you are an organization that is fiscally sponsored, please answer the application questions as they pertain to the applicant organization or collaborative, not the fiscal sponsor.
- The Sewall Foundation has funded 501(C)(4) organizations in the past for specific nonpartisan and charitable work, however it requires additional considerations and expenditure responsibility. They ask that any 501(c)(4) organization contact program staff to explore potential grant support. Organizations with 501(C)(4) status should not start or submit a grant application before speaking with program staff.
- The Sewall Foundation does not provide grant funding to private for-profit enterprises, cooperatives, or individuals.
- Eligible organizations may apply regardless of their funding history with Sewall Foundation.
For more information, visit EBSF.
