The Betterment Fund is seeking applications for its Grant Program to benefit the residents of the State of Maine.
Donor Name: The Betterment Fund
State: Maine
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 11/15/2022
Grant Size: $10,000 to $35,000
Details:
Four primary characteristics define a typical Betterment Fund grant:
- Geographically, preference is given first to the Western Mountains region and, second, to the more rural parts of the state, such as the top rim of the state down to Washington County, as opposed to Portland and southern or mid-coast Maine. They do participate in some statewide or regional projects.
- Education, health, conservation and community support are primary grant categories. They also recognize that certain projects transcend these categories and have defined a number of “cross-sector” areas (Economic Development, Creative Economy, Early Childhood, Moving Communities to Health, Philanthropy)
- The Betterment Fund is more likely to fund applications that address issues on a permanent, systemic basis rather than discrete local programs providing services.
- The trustees have spent considerable effort to define priority areas within their grant categories. While an application that “hits the nail on the head” in terms of these stated characteristics is at least assured of serious consideration, the funds available for grantmaking are less than the amount needed to meet all such requests.
- The concept of community is very important in all areas of grantmaking. Community proposals should originate from ideas and needs of the affected population and demonstrate extensive support and other resources from the community or constituency.
Funding Information
Grants may vary in size from a single grant of $10,000 to a grant of $100,000 payable over several years. Most Betterment Fund yearly grant payments are in the range of $10,000 to $35,000, but the average is $15,000 per year. A grant may be made for more than one year but no organization will receive continuous annual support.
Eligibility Criteria
An application will be accepted from an organization only if, at the time of application, it is either:
- publicly supported and exempt from taxation under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) and not a private foundation;
- exempt as a government agency or body; or
- if not itself tax-exempt, relying on fiscal agency or sponsorship by a separate publicly supported tax-exempt organization or government agency.
For more information, visit The Betterment Fund.
