Maine Initiatives

Want to do more to support immigrant leadership in Maine?

Maine Initiatives invites community volunteers to become Readers for the 2026 Immigrant-Led Organizations (ILO) Fund. All are welcome!

Volunteering as a Reader is a remote opportunity to support and learn more about the robust, diverse, and highly skilled ecosystem of immigrant, refugee, and migrant-led nonprofits working across the state.

Readers are assigned 3 applications submitted to the 2026 ILO Fund to read and evaluate. Completed evaluations provide valuable community insights for this year’s ILO Fund Grantmaking Advisory Committee to consider as they select 10 new grantee organizations. All ILO grantees receive a $45,000 unrestricted grant paid out over 3 years, in addition to opportunities for peer learning, networking, and capacity building with their fellow grantees.

***Download the 2026 Reader Opportunity Announcement linked below for detailed application instructions. Submit your application by February 25, 2026.
maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/ILO_ROA_2026_v4.pdf

Photos: Members of the 2025 ILO Grantmaking Advisory Committee. Photo credit: Yoon S. Byun. ROA design by Pamela Chevez.

Applications are now open for the 2026 Immigrant-Led Organizations (ILO) Fund. The ILO Fund at Maine Initiatives is a participatory grantmaking program that funds, strengthens, and convenes immigrant, refugee, and migrant non-profit organizations in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory.

The 10 immigrant-led organizations chosen for the 2026 cohort will each receive a $45,000 unrestricted grant paid out over 3 years (July 2026 - August 2029), in addition to opportunities for peer learning, networking, and capacity building with their fellow grantees. Applications are due February 22, 2026 by 11:59pm ET.

Interested organizations are encouraged to review the Funding Opportunity Announcement with full details, eligibility requirements, and application instructions: maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/ILO_FOA_2026_v8.pdf

You can also register for the optional February 4th information session for prospective organizational applicants: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/F-E36IKJTjGuSi4DP3oqNA #/registration

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Organizations chosen for the 2026 ILO Fund cohort will be selected by a Grantmaking Advisory Committee, the majority of which will be members of the immigrant community. Maine Initiatives’ participatory grantmaking process offers the ILO Fund ecosystem (current and past grantees, applicants, donors & peer funders, organizers, and members of the general public with a commitment to immigrant justice) opportunities to participate in the application design, review, and evaluation, and the grantmaking decision process. We view this participatory framework as an opportunity for both individual and collective learning about current work in Maine that advances immigrant flourishing, furthers immigrant movement building, and strengthens immigrant communities.

Images: 2026 ILO Funding Opportunity Announcement featuring 2025 ILO Grantees Mano en Mano (.maine) and New Roots Cooperative Farm (). FOA design by Pamela Chevez (.chevez).

This , donate on the MaineShare platform and support a growing network of nonprofits advancing justice and equity statewide.

Donate here: t.ly/FaOnt

MaineShare is a donation platform supporting Maine Initiatives’ grantee partners, including MaineShare Legacy members and the current grantees of our community-led, participatory grantmaking programs: the Grants for Change Fund, the Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund, the Outdoor Equity Fund, and The Giving Project Fund for Community Organizing.

Check out the MaineShare platform - t.ly/FaOnt - , select the option to donate to all MaineShare organizations equally, and your single gift will support 93 community-based nonprofits leading justice work in Maine. You can also give to specific organizations, focus areas, or grant programs, allowing your giving to align with your personal values.

MaineShare: Giving Simplified. Action Amplified.

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Donations made through MaineShare provide unrestricted, general operating support to community-based organizations working across 10 different focus areas: Community Organizing, Economic Justice, Education Arts & Culture, Environmental Justice & Animal Welfare, Gender Justice, Health Equity & Safety, Immigrant-Serving, Racial Justice, Social Justice, and Wabanaki Sovereignty & Self-Determination.

MaineShare General Giving

MaineShare Quarterly’s Fall 2025 issue is out now, highlighting organizations working for health equity and safety across Maine. Follow the link below to read the full issue and hear more from:

Bomazeen Land Trust
Disability Rights Maine
Katahdin Kitchen
Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence
Maine Hospice Council and Center for End-of-Life Care
Nibezun

maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/MaineShare-Quarterly-Fall-2025_FINAL.pdf

You can also support this work through the MaineShare giving platform - t.ly/FaOnt - which allows you to donate to Maine Initiatives’ grantee partners directly. Select the Health Equity & Safety focus area, and support 31 community-based nonprofits with a single donation.

What kind of groups receive grants through The Giving Project Fund for Community Organizing?

We prioritize funding for grassroots community organizing groups that are constituent-led; seek systems change; invest in collective liberation; have a strong social justice vision; and build people power.

*** Follow the link below to download the Funding Opportunity Announcement and learn more about how to apply. Applications are due November 3rd, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/2026-GP-FOA_Final.pdf

The Fund will provide one (1) year of unrestricted, general operating support of $20,000 to at least five (5) community organizing groups in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory.

Photos:
1. Out in the Open, 2025 Giving Project Grantee
2. JustME for JustUS, 2025 Giving Project Grantee
3. Presente Maine, 2025 Giving Project Grantee
4. Southern Maine Workers' Centerers, 2025 Giving Project Grantee
5. Portland Outright, 2025 Giving Project Grantee
6. Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds, 2025 Giving Project Grantee

Calling all community organizers!

Applications are now open for the 2025-2026 Giving Project Fund for Community Organizing. We welcome applications from grassroots organizations that use community organizing to advance justice - economic, environmental, racial, and social - and tribal sovereignty in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory.

In particular, we strive to support groups that are constituent-led; seek systems change; invest in collective liberation; have a strong social justice vision; and build people power.

The Fund will provide one (1) year of unrestricted, general operating support of $20,000 to at least five (5) community organizing groups.

Follow the link below to download the Funding Opportunity Announcement and learn more about eligibility requirements, funding priorities, and how to apply. Applications are due November 3rd, 2025. Grants will be awarded in March 2026.

maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/2026-GP-FOA_Final.pdf

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The Giving Project Fund at Maine Initiatives focuses on community organizing because we believe that lasting change comes from the bottom up, affecting not just political and economic systems, but also the culture of communities. Community organizing involves the most people, allowing for the greatest diversity and number of perspectives to be expressed. Community organizing is democracy in action.

Grantmaking decisions will be made by the 2025-2026 Giving Project donor organizing cohort, a cross-class, multi-racial, multi-generational group of 20 people who convene regularly from September 2025 through March 2026 for shared learning and training to collectively mobilize resources and evaluate applications.

Photo credit: Niweskok, 2025 Giving Project Fund Grantee

MaineShare Quarterly’s Summer 2025 issue is out now, highlighting community-based nonprofits that advance environmental justice through systems change and grassroots organizing. Explore the link below to hear more from:

JustME for JustUS
Maine Farmland Trust
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds
Sierra Club Maine
Viles Arboretum

maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/MaineShare-Quarterly-Summer-2025-.pdf

You can also support this work through the MaineShare giving platform - t.ly/FaOnt - which allows you to donate to Maine Initiatives' grantee partners directly. Select the Environmental Justice focus area, and support 23 community-based nonprofits with a single donation.

Maine Initiatives is honored to announce the Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund’s 2025 Grantees:

Early Math and Language Initiative EMLI
Empowered Immigrant Women Unite
Food For All Services
Gateway Community Services Maine GCSM
Mano en Mano | Hand in Hand
Intercultural Community Center
Ladder to the Moon Network
Maine Afro Yoga
New Roots Cooperative Farm
United Youth Empowerment Services

These organizations’ missions exemplify the diverse, robust, and highly-skilled immigrant-led ecosystem operating statewide, leading vital efforts across a range of fields including education, gender justice, food access and sovereignty, community building, cultural preservation, health services, healing and movement practices, media production, and youth empowerment.

Join us in celebrating and supporting these organizations’ essential and transformational work, building self-determination, cultural preservation, capacity-building, and organizing power for immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker communities in Maine.

Read our full announcement here: maineinitiatives.org/blog/announcing-the-immigrant-led-organizations-funds-2025-grantee-cohort

Photos:
Early Math and Language Initiative
Empowered Immigrant Women Unite
Food For All Services
Gateway Community Services Maine
Maine Afro Yoga Project
Mano en Mano
Intercultural Community Center
Ladder to the Moon Network
New Roots Cooperative Farm
United Youth Empowerment Services

MaineShare is thrilled to announce the distribution of over $135,000 to our 80+ partner organizations!

These funds were raised from nearly 1,000 donors through MaineShare’s workplace giving campaign and our new online giving platform, supporting organizations working across focus areas like Wabanaki Sovereignty and Self-Determination, Gender Justice, Environmental Justice, Immigrant Flourishing, and more.

Explore maineinitiatives.org/maineshare to learn more about our partner organizations and how you can support them through MaineShare.

Join a growing coalition of people who support community-led organizations defending and advancing justice in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory.

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves! Swipe through to learn more about Maine Initiatives’ work, programs, and ways to get involved.

Join a growing coalition of people committed to protecting and advancing justice and equity in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory.

linktr.ee/maineinitiatives

MaineShare Quarterly’s Spring 2025 issue is out now, focusing on the MaineShare partner organizations advancing gender justice across our state.

maineinitiatives.org/content/uploads/MaineShare-Quarterly-Spring-2025-FINAL.pdf

Explore the issue to hear more from Maine-based organizations whose advocacy and leadership are beacons of human rights and collective liberation amidst a sea of transphobic and misogynist political propaganda sweeping our nation, including:

EqualityMaine,
Maine Council of Churches,
Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and
Scarborough High School Civil Rights Club.

With the MaineShare online giving platform, you can donate to all 13 different organizations in our “gender justice” focus area at once– these are the community leaders advancing vital advocacy, education, and movement building for gender justice across Maine.

Visit maineinitiatives2.my.site.com/ and give today.