Bowdoin College’s Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good announces its 2022-2023 Common Good Grant application process — and is raising the amount from $2,500 to $4,000 this year, a 60% increase.
This year’s Common Good Grant student committee commits to funding at least one qualified grant in each of the four following areas: arts, history and culture; health and basic needs; adult and youth education and development; and environment, agriculture and sustainability.
The committee will likely fund more than one grant from some of these categories, but this commitment is based on the committee recognizing the importance of diverse group of nonprofits that do many different types of important work.
The committee has also committed to funding at least one organization with Black, Indigenous, people of color leadership. BIPOC-led organizations working anywhere in Maine may apply for Common Good grant in 2022-2023. They can, but do not have to, fit into any of the above four areas of emphasis.
All 501(c)3 organizations that are based in or serve communities in Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Freeport, Georgetown, Harpswell, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls, Phippsburg, Topsham, Woolwich and Yarmouth are eligible to apply.
Started in 2001, the Common Good Grant supports local nonprofit groups by offering funding to maintain existing programs and to start new initiatives while educating Bowdoin College students on the importance of local nonprofits and the foundations that support them.
Since its inception, the Common Good Grant Program has awarded more than $300,000 to fund more than 180 projects in the greater Brunswick area; in recent years, the total amount awarded has exceeded $25,000 annually.
Interested organizations must send the committee a brief letter of intent, from which the committee will select group to complete a full application in the new year. All one-page letters of intent must be emailed to Tom Ancona at tancona@bowdoin.edu by noon on Nov. 7. Contact Ancona with any questions.
Organizations will be notified in December about their status and full grant applications would be due in January with site visits for finalists taking place in March. The program will conclude with an award ceremony in late spring.
More information about the Common Good Grant can be found at the Common Good Grant website.
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