Grants available from charity foundation

ELLSWORTH – Start up organizations, projects involving economically disadvantaged or disabled Mainers, libraries, symphonies, hospice care and projects related to Friendship, Maine, are eligible for funding from the Maine Charity Foundation Fun of the Maine Community Foundation.

Grants of $1,000 to $4,000 are available through the fund. Proposals must be submitted by Sept. 15. Awards will be made in late November.

Recent grantees include the AIDS Lodging House in Portland for the Emergency Client Assistance Fund; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kennebec Valley for a new Web-based information management system; Hospice of Somerset County to expand resource material; Ellsworth’s Emmaus Center to replace a refrigerator and renew the Y pass for families at the shelter; and the Bangor and Portland Symphony Orchestras to support their youth concert programs.

Established in 1921, the Maine Charity Foundation Fund was the state’s first community foundation. In 1993, the fund was transferred to the Maine Community Foundation.

Applicants seeking funding must be nonprofit organizations or public agencies with 510(c)(3) tax status. Application guidelines are available at www.mainecf.org or by calling (877) 700-6800.