Maine Health Access Foundation Inc

In filing year 2024, the foundation made 126 grants totaling $5,026,262. Grants ranged from $120 to $288,420, with a median of $25,060. Its largest listed grants included $288,420 to Maine Council on Aging for purposes including care access, health advocacy, behavioral health needs, and ageism; $233,000 to Maine Community Foundation for oral health, equity, substance use disorder funds, and leadership-related purposes; and $200,000 to Maine Initiatives for health advocacy and a Nova Fund grant. Other large awards included $150,000 to Spurwink Services, $135,000 to Consumers for Affordable Health Care, and $134,000 to New England Arab American Organization.

The foundation offers responsive grants, discretionary grants, and meeting support grants. The discretionary program supports small projects with specific outcomes; the program information describes awards of up to $5,000 for local projects and up to $10,000 for statewide initiatives. Meeting support grants are described as up to $1,000 for community or regional meetings and up to $2,000 for statewide meetings. Applications are submitted through the foundation’s online grants management system. Several programs use a two-phase process that begins with a letter of inquiry, with selected applicants invited to submit a full application. The discretionary program information also describes an initial letter of inquiry followed, for selected applicants, by a structured conversation and an invited full proposal.

Eligible applicants generally include 501(c)(3) organizations, local, state, or tribal government entities, and educational institutions; the foundation’s website says applicants must be based in Maine and comply with its nondiscrimination policy. Its filing says qualified out-of-state organizations may apply when project activities focus on Maine’s health care system or Maine residents. Individuals and private foundations are generally ineligible under the website’s guidance, although the filing notes that some exceptions may be considered after contacting the foundation. Funding generally cannot support individual grants or scholarships, academic or graduate research, fundraising, or replacement of lost state or federal funds. The website says direct care, public awareness campaigns focused on a specific disease or health condition, and capital expenditures are not funded across its funding opportunities; its guidance allows some direct-service, capital, and public-awareness costs in limited circumstances.