The Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) is seeking applications for its Community Action Grants.
Donor Name: Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/29/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Community Action Grants can support two categories of climate action by communities: 1) actions from the Community Resilience Partnership List of Community Actions, an approved list of climate mitigation and adaptation activities that align with the strategies of Maine Won’t Wait, and 2) other projects proposed by a community that support capacity building, planning, and implementation projects.
There are two specific types of Community Action Grants:
- Grants to support implementation of one or more activities in the List of Community Actions that align with the state climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait. There is no local matching funds requirement for these grants.
- Grants to support other community-defined climate and energy implementation priorities. A local match is required.
Funding Information
- The Community Resilience Partnership plans to allocate approximately $4,700,000 for Community Action Grants during this grant round.
- Individual communities are eligible for a minimum award of $5,000 and a maximum award of $75,000. Groups of communities applying jointly are eligible for awards of up to $175,000.
- Up to $5,000 of additional funding may be made available at GOPIF’s discretion to federally funded grant awardees to administer the grant in compliance with federal guidelines.
Project Period
Grants are anticipated to be awarded in December 2025, with an expected start date on or after January 15, 2026. Contract terms will be up to two (2) years, as specified by the applicant’s proposal.
Eligible Uses of Funds
There are two types of Community Action Grants:
- No-match grants to support implementation of one or more activities in the List of Community Actions (updated June 2025), a list of climate mitigation and adaptation activities that align with the strategies in the state’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-Year Plan for Climate Action.
- Grants to support other community-defined climate and energy capacity building, planning, and implementation priorities. A cost-share (match) will apply, as described.
Eligibility Criteria
There are two (2) eligible types of applicants for the Community Action Grant:
- Individual Communities, a municipal government, tribal government, plantation, township, or unorganized territory in Maine, who are enrolled in the Community Resilience Partnership.
- Applicants may submit enrollment materials through the enrollment portal simultaneously with submitting their grant application. (Unorganized territories, townships, and plantations are eligible and are strongly encouraged to work with a Service Provider to complete the enrollment process.)
- Multiple Communities may apply jointly for projects that address mutual goals and have interrelated scopes of work.
- All communities participating in the application must be enrolled in the Partnership at the time the grant application is submitted or submit enrollment materials through the enrollment portal simultaneously with the grant application.
- Service Providers may apply on behalf of communities. Letters of support must be provided from each community.
- In a multi-community application, the communities are required to designate a lead applicant. The lead applicant is expected to receive the grant funds and manage the contracting and grant reporting on behalf of the partner communities. The communities may wish to have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that spells out the responsibilities of each community. If an MOU is established, GOPIF may request a copy of the document during the grant contracting phase.
For more information, visit GOPIF.
