The Betterment Fund is accepting applications for its Grant Program to benefit the residents of the State of Maine.
Donor Name: The Betterment Fund
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 07/15/2022
Grant Size: $10,000 to $35,000
Grant Duration: 1 year
Details:
Four primary characteristics define a typical Betterment Fund grant:
- They give top consideration to projects in the Western Mountains region because of Mr. Bingham’s lifelong dedication to the area. Secondary priority is given to proposals focused on the more rural parts of the state, such as around the top rim of the state, down to Washington County. The Fund does relatively little funding in Southern Maine, Portland or the mid-coastal areas. They do participate in some statewide or regional projects.
- Education, health, conservation and community support are their primary grant categories. They recognize that many excellent projects transcend these categories and they welcome grant applications for projects that address multiple areas. They have also defined a number of “cross sector” areas which specifically combine Fund interests in one or more of the primary categories.
- 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, their funds available for grantmaking are less than the amount needed to meet all such requests.
- They are willing to receive and consider an application that does not address all of these qualifications but the likelihood of a favorable outcome is diminished.
- The concepts of community and collaboration are very important to their grantmaking. While the exact definition of a community can be fluid, when they use that word they are looking for proposals that spring up from the ideas and needs of the affected population, and which demonstrate extensive support from the community in terms of dollars or volunteer hours. Applications are strengthened by featuring collaboration with other groups in the community such as other non-profits, municipalities, businesses or governmental entities.
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.
