PORTLAND – The Maine Community Foundation announced it has been awarded a 2026 Civic Hub grant from the Trust for Civic Life, a national grantmaker supporting rural communities. This $400,000 grant will allow the Maine Community Foundation to strengthen civic capacity in rural areas to help address some of the big challenges their communities are now facing.
Through its Civic Hub grants and small grants program, the Trust for Civic Life invests $10 million annually into locally-led groups across rural America that strengthen civic engagement and create opportunities for long-term community collaboration. These grants support a wide range of efforts like local events, public spaces, new programs, and communitywide initiatives – all designed to bring neighbors together to solve challenges and build stronger connections.
“The Maine Community Foundation has worked to bring people and resources together to build a better Maine for more than four decades,” Deborah Ellwood, president and CEO, Maine Community Foundation said. “The Trust for Civic Life’s Civic Hub designation reinforces the work we are doing in collaboration with partners in rural communities throughout all corners of our state. At MaineCF, we know communities thrive when we work together.”
The Trust’s grants program aims to reach and fund groups working on the ground that are difficult for national philanthropy to find and fund. The latest round of funding awarded $7.6 million in grants ranging from $300k to $425k each, with new grantees together servicing 16 states across the country.
“These local Civic Hubs are rising to the moment and responding to the unique needs of their communities. In doing so, they build the connection, confidence, and capacity that community members need to shape the future they want,” Charlie Brown, executive director of the Trust for Civic Life, said. “Because they have such a deep understanding of their communities, Civic Hubs can lead and adapt in ways national groups simply cannot.”
Through this support, the Maine Community Foundation will support rural infrastructure initiatives to build resilience to climate change and strengthen local journalism through our Press Forward program. Community members are encouraged to get involved and be part of this exciting work.
With this grant, Maine Community Foundation will support rural infrastructure to build resilience to climate change and strengthen access to local news through its Press Forward Maine initiative. Community members are encouraged to get involved and be part of this exciting work.
The Maine Community Foundation brings people and resources together to build a better Maine through strategic giving, community leadership, personalized service, local expertise and strong investments. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.
The Trust for Civic Life is a grantmaking collaborative supporting the community efforts that help Americans connect, solve problems together and feel confident in a shared future. Launched in 2024, the collaborative brings together a cross-ideological team of over 20 national funders to invest in a new wave of local civic opportunities that increase trust, agency and belonging in rural America. Through its grantmaking, the Trust funds both the critical groundwork and promising experiments that allow civic participation to take hold in rural communities and spread across the country. Learn more at www.trustforciviclife.org.