PORTLAND — The Peaks Island Fund at the Maine Community Foundation seeks applications from nonprofits that assist the island community.

Requested grants must serve Peaks Island community members; impact Peaks Island residents directly within the next year; have potential for continuing impact on the community; and include clear financial documentation.

The deadline for applications is June 1. For guidelines, application, and list of last year’s grants, visit http://www.mainecf.org.

The fund awarded $50,203 in grants to seven nonprofits in 2020. Grantees included:


• Casco Bay Health Center, to purchase and install a heat pump system to replace window air conditioners deemed a security hazard by the Maine Medical Partners practice in the facility


• Elder Abuse Institute of Maine, to conduct elder abuse awareness and response workshops and presentations for Casco Bay islands


• Peaks Island Children’s Workshop, to help with operational costs during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The Peaks Island Fund was created in 2004 and is supported through the generosity of island residents. Priorities of the fund include helping to reduce economic barriers to living on the island; providing or increasing access to educational and enrichment programs for youth; and preserving and protecting the built and natural environment, including projects that reduce energy consumption and increase year-round social and cultural resources for the community.

Many of the Peaks Island projects funded in the past have involved contractors or service people visiting a site in person to make an estimate. Recognizing that this is now challenging due to COVID-19, we have changed the application requirements to allow for contract work estimates to be approximate rather than exact and to be done by email with an added verbal explanation of how the contractor or service provider arrived at that estimate.

This year the fund also will award rapid-response grants of up to $2,000 for new or unexpected needs that do not fit the timeline for the regular grant program. Rapid response grants will support requests for software and services, professional development, programming and building repairs.

For more information, visit http://www.mainecf.org or contact Senior Program Officer Gloria Aponte C. at gaponteclarke@mainecf.org or 207-761-2440.

Headquartered in Ellsworth, with additional personnel in Portland, Dover-Foxcroft, Rockport 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 http://www.mainecf.org.