Eleven Maine environmental groups have received a total of $16,000 from an organization designed to help “the little guys.”

The Montpelier, Vt.-based New England Grassroots Environment Fund was founded in 1996 to support community-based environmental activism with small monetary grants.

“We’re looking for groups to be out there, really making a difference in their communities,” spokeswoman Linn Perkins Syz said Monday.

The fund obtains its money by applying for larger grants from national foundations. Then, three times a year, a board made up of six activists and five representatives of funding organizations reviews proposals from small, local groups and redistributes the money throughout New England, Syz explained.

Small community groups often fail to qualify for larger foundation grants because they have not gone through the lengthy and expensive process to become a nonprofit charitable organization under the tax code, Syz said.

Additionally, many of the larger foundations give minimum grants of $25,000 or more.

“A lot of the little guys don’t really need that,” Syz said. “They need $50 to pay for postage stamps and the phone bill.”

In seven years, the fund has given out more than $1 million. This round of applicants numbered more than 100, and 54 requests were funded.

The next round of grant applications is due in March. Successful Maine applicants for this round are as follows:

? Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corp., Wayne: $1,500 for an ongoing campaign to protect Androscoggin Lake from the polluted waters of the Androscoggin River.

? Aziscohos Lake Preservation Committee, Wilsons Mills: $1,500 to enforce provisions of the Aziscohos Hydroelectric Project’s license and permits.

? Bangor Area Citizens Organized for Responsible Development: $2,000 for protection of the Penjajawoc Marsh, near where a Wal-Mart Supercenter has been proposed.

? Branch Pond Association, Winslow: $1,000 to develop a geographic information system, or GIS, map of the watershed to better protect water quality and scenic value.

? Concerned Citizens of Whitefield: $2,000 to stop the spreading of sludge.

? Eastern Trail Alliance, Saco: $1,000 for trail construction.

? Leeds and Livermore Falls Citizens Against Toxic Sludge, Livermore Falls: $2,000 to appeal a sludge-spreading license granted by the state.

? Lincoln County Trailblazers, Damariscotta: $1,500 to create a local youth conservation corps.

? Maine NoSnare Task Force, Holden: $1,000 to oppose the snaring of coyotes.

? Penobscot Alliance for Mercury Elimination, Verona: $1,500 to boost citizen involvement in the debate over the former HoltraChem plant.

? Three Rivers Land Trust, Acton: $1,000 for a regional open-space preservation plan.