All Giving Projects share the same proven model: engaging a cross-class and cross-race regional cohort to invest their time and energy together in political education, relationship building, community connection, and resourcing movements.

In fall of 2024, Maine Initiatives will launch our inaugural Giving Project cohort. The 25 participants sign up for a 6-month commitment and are tasked with the following:

• to examine their own relationship to money;
• to interrogate their location across systems of race, class, gender, and accessibility;
• to explore how their lived experience impacts their connection to fundraising;
• to investigate how they can use their personal networks to leverage resources for
  causes they hold central to their integrity and values.

Taking part in The Giving Project is also a significant professional development opportunity that will deepen understanding and experience with grantmaking processes, grassroots fundraising, and donor organizing.

The national Giving Project network includes the Bread and Roses Community Fund in Philadelphia, the Chinook Fund in Denver, the Crossroads Fund in Chicago, Hawaii People’s Fund in Honolulu, Headwaters Foundation for Justice in Minneapolis, the North Star Fund in New York City, Social Justice Fund Northwest in Seattle, and Transforming Power Fund in Detroit.