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 Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

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

The fund’s advisory committee has $83,712 available to distribute in 2005. Last year, the committee received 79 proposals requesting $348,518 and recommended 33 awards. The average grant award was $2,457. Recent grantees include the Charlotte White Center in Dover-Foxcroft, Harvest Place in Saco and the Lubec Memorial Library.

Established in 1921, the Maine Charity Foundation Fund was the state’s first community foundation, created to hold individual charitable funds and to distribute income from those funds. In 1993, the fund was transferred to the Maine Community Foundation, which continues the organization’s tradition of grant making.

Applicants seeking funding must be nonprofit organizations or public agencies with 501(c)(3) tax status. Application guidelines are available at www.mainecf.org, calling (877) 700-6800.