MaineCF’s Downeast Innovation Fund awards $95,000 in grants

Friday, December 11, 2020

The Maine Community Foundation’s Downeast Innovation Fund has awarded $95,000 in grants to 11 nonprofits in Hancock and Washington counties.

Launched in 2018, the Downeast Innovation Fund Grant program supports nonprofit organizations that provide programs to improve or increase entrepreneurship and innovation in business and the local economies in Hancock and Washington counties.

The 2020 grantees include:

  • City of Ellsworth, to enhance targeted programming and technical infrastructure aimed at graduating existing startup companies, while attracting new, quality companies to the Union River Center for Innovation
  • Four Directions Development Corporation, Orono, to establish a new Native small business Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) serving Washington County and the Wabanaki tribes of Maine
  • Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center Inc., Walpole, to assess the feasibility of farming sea scallops in lobster pounds in Washington and Hancock counties
  • New Ventures Maine, Bangor, to strengthen collaborative partnerships within the Downeast Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and expand access to microenterprise training, advising, and resources.

The deadline for the next round of grant applications is October 15, 2021. Guidelines, application, and a list or recent grants are available at www.mainecf.org. For more information about this fund, contact MaineCF Senior Program Officer Maggie Drummond-Bahl at (877) 700-6800 or by e-mail at mbahl@mainecf.org.

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