The Grants for Change program at Maine Initiatives invites proposals from BIPOC-led and -serving community-based organizations who further the racial justice movement in Maine. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: lia@mi.slickfish.com

July 21, 2023

Grants for Change is now accepting applicant proposals for its 2023 cohort.

Grants for Change at Maine Initiatives is a participatory grantmaking program that funds and strengthens Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) community-based, nonprofit organizations in Maine, unceded Wabanaki territory. The program seeks to organize people and resources in support of efforts across the state that intervene on legacies of white supremacy, settler colonialism, and racialized capitalism by creating or reclaiming liberatory possibilities for today and future generations. 

Community building and organizing efforts that strengthen the racial justice movement and ecosystem in Maine are the funding priorities for Grants for Change. These can take the shape of abolitionist efforts that foreground harm-reduction, collective healing, and transformative and/or restorative justice practices; advocacy for essential services such as education, health equity, affordable housing, transportation, and food security; Tribal sovereignty and Land Back movements; and efforts that center Black joy and liberation through the arts, cultural preservation, embodied practices, and more. Since 2016, Grants for Change has granted $2,295,000 in unrestricted, general operating support to 56 organizations in Maine. 

Beginning in 2022, the Grants for Change program committed to providing over $1.5 million to 36 BIPOC-led and -serving organizations over a three period (12 organizations per year). 

The 12 organizations selected for the 2023 Grants for Change cohort will each receive grants of $45,000 paid out over three years, $15,000 per year. Cohorts are also invited to participate together in a series of peer learning, training, capacity-building, and community outreach activities over the course of their three-year grant period.

The 12 organizations in the 2022 Grants for Change cohort are Bomazeen Land Trust, Community Organizing Alliance, Generational Noor, Maine Black Educators Collective, Maine Inside Out, Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, Nibezun, Sunlight Media Collective, The Third Place, Wabanaki Alliance, Wabanaki REACH, and Wabanaki Youth in Science. 

Download our Requests for Proposals (RFP) for full application instructions and to check organizational eligibility. Applications are due August 31, 2023 by 11:59pm EST. 

Learn more about Grants for Change, our participatory grantmaking process, and how to become a proposal reader.

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Maine Initiatives is a community-based foundation supporting social, economic, and environmental justice in Maine through informed, intentional, and collective philanthropy. Our core programs are Grants for Change, the Immigrant Led Organizations Fund, the Outdoor Equity Fund, The Giving Project, and MaineShare.