Become a Proposal Reader in the G4C Grantmaking Process

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
― James Baldwin

Maine Initiatives is convening a broad-based group of community representatives to assist in the decision-making process for our 2022 Grants for Change (G4C) Program. This is an open call for volunteers to review and evaluate grant proposals from applicant organizations. Individuals are invited to apply to join our grantmaking process as Proposal Readers and to apply to join the 2022 G4C Grantmaking Advisory Committee. Proposal Readers will be able to attend special trainings, workshops, and events related to the G4C Program. 

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Who can be a Proposal Reader?

• Anyone! No experience necessary.
• All interested community members are invited to an Information and Q&A Session via Zoom.
• Are you a Board member, staff member, or otherwise affiliated with an applicant organization? That’s okay! We have designed our process to identify and mitigate potential conflicts of interest in this process.

The Grants for Change 2022 process is now complete. Please stay tuned for more opportunities to engage with our work in 2023.

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What is the Time Commitment?

• Become a Proposal Reader: 5 to 10 hours at home commitment (October 2022)
• Grantmaking Advisory Committee (if selected): Proposal Readers can apply to be selected for the Grantmaking Advisory Committee, which entails a two-day in-person retreat (November 18-19, 2022) plus one additional day for grantmaking decisions (December 2, 2022), both in the greater Portland area.
• To learn more about the role and responsibility of Proposal Readers, please see the Invitation to Proposal Readers.

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Why We Want You To Become a Proposal Reader

• We seek to foster individual and collective change through relationship building and racial justice ecosystem strengthening through our participatory grantmaking process. 
• We open our process up to the full community to create opportunities for individual reflection and collective conversation about the needs of a robust and sustainable racial justice movement across Wabanaki Territory (Maine).
• Through our broad-participatory grantmaking process, we seek to engage people as active agents of greater racial justice in Maine and to mobilize and leverage new financial, social, and human resources to advance racial equity in our communities.
• Over the next three years, G4C has committed to providing over $1.5 million in multi-year, unrestricted, general operating support to BIPOC-led and -serving organizations furthering racial justice efforts in Maine. Help inform the selection of this year’s G4C cohort of twelve (12) organizations who will receive unrestricted, general operating grants of $45,000 over three (3) years, $15,000 per year!