MaineCF’s Downeast Innovation Fund awards $106,000 in grants

​PORTLAND & ELLSWORTH—The Maine Community Foundation’s Downeast Innovation Fund has awarded $106,305 in grants to 15 nonprofits in Hancock and Washington counties.

Metals instructor Matthieu Cheminee demonstrates different designs and patterns, using shapes that were prepared on a digital file and “printed” or cut from wood in the Haystack Fab Lab. Photo courtesy Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

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 of Hancock and Washington counties.
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Recent grantees include:

• Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, to create a new makerspace to serve Deer Isle-Stonington, Blue Hill Peninsula, and other Hancock County communities
• Cooperative Development Institute, to expand the Ownership Transition Initiative to Hancock County and develop an Entrepreneur Apprenticeship Program supporting young entrepreneurs exploring acquisition of existing Washington County businesses
• Washington Academy, to create a training program that will benefit both the student population at the academy as well as local small businesses requiring technology to grow.

The deadline for the next round of grant applications is October 15, 2020. 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 by phone, toll-free, at (877) 700-6800, or by e-mail at mbahl@mainecf.org.
 
Headquartered in Ellsworth, with additional personnel in Portland, Dover-Foxcroft, and Mars Hill, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to provide strong investments, personalized service, local expertise, and strategic giving to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org

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Carl Little, Communications Manager
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