Representatives from corporate foundations and corporate giving programs in the MPC membership are invited to take part in lunch meetings every other month. These meetings are hosted by one of the members of the group at their respective place of business or at a designated site. The meetings are informal in nature and provide those involved in corporate philanthropy with an opportunity to discuss issues of particular interest to their work, and to share successes, concerns, questions and best practices with their colleagues.
An informal group of grantmakers who fund in the Downeast region have been meeting for a number of years with the leadership of the C.F. Adams Charitable Trust, a family foundation that has worked extensively in that part of Maine. MPC facilitates this work as a neutral convener and meetings have included funder-only gatherings as well as topic-based meetings with nonprofit organizations operating in Washington and Hancock Counties. MPC has led two bus tours for grantmakers to the region –one in 2007 and another in 2010. These tours offer a first-hand introduction to the issues affecting this remote part of the state, and provide an opportunity to meet with the people who are making such a difference for the communities there.
A growing interest in early childhood issues led MPC to help convene grantmakers around a number of topics in 2009 and 2010 with the support of the Sam L. Cohen Foundation. An informal group of funders continues to meet regularly for shared learning and discussion of critical issues facing this population in Maine.
A group of eight private and public funders came together in 2003 with a shared interest in the Eastern Maine region and a desire to align their funding in a way that could address issues impacting people who live in this region. MPC helped launch the group and supported their efforts especially around the crisis that resulted from the high cost of energy in 2005-2007.
www.environmentalfundersnetwork.org
A joint project of the Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Philanthropy Center, the Environmental Funders Network provides opportunities for education and sharing of information, encourages networking, and identifies opportunities for individual or joint funding of initiatives to address the most pressing issues facing Maine's environment. The network is nonpartisan and often plays the role of a neutral convener. Beginning in 2009/2010 the EFN began a funder collaborative called the Quality of Place Initiative to support projects that strengthen the link between the natural and built environments, emphasize public engagement, and take seriously the process and action elements required to build and sustain collaborations.
A series of convenings and programs co-hosted by the Maine Community Foundation and MPC in 2008 and 2009 provided a forum for supporting a $1 million MaineCF funding initiative to provide greater philanthropic support for local agriculture. Since then, a growing interest in food and agricultural issues has led MPC to convene both funders and nonprofit leaders to learn about issues affecting food security, access and delivery of local products, and economic development and health impacts. Grantmakers continue to explore how philanthropy can work together to support Maine agriculture in the 21st century.
www.lanamaine.org
Language Access for New Americans (LANA) maintains an inventory of translation and interpreter services, works to increase the availability and professionalism of the services, offers courses at Portland High School to already bilingual and multilingual students, trains adult interpreters, and provides small grants to nonprofits for translation and interpretation services and cultural awareness training. When in 2004 a group of MPC members interested in promoting diversity in Maine noted a lack of proposals addressing the issue in a unified fashion, MPC convened funders and organizations serving the immigrant and refugee community. After consulting with service providers and studying what was currently available, the group of funders and service providers partnered to create LANA to address the gap in translation and interpretation services in the Greater Portland area. The LANA program is now administered by the United Way of Greater Portland.
Several funders in Maine began to focus their efforts on Maine’s oral health system after the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) made its first significant oral health grant awards in 2002, dwarfing any philanthropic dollars previously targeted at improving the system. As funders reviewed the many requests they were receiving individually and considered the overall needs of the oral health system, they began to talk among themselves about oral health issues. Currently there are nine members of the Oral Health Funders who meet to share information, explore opportunities for collaboration, and investigate complementary funding strategies. The group’s purpose is to promote systemic changes that will result in improved oral health for all Maine people. Members’ interests include education and public awareness, workforce development, service delivery, and public policy.
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