News

UMC is currently soliciting applications for our competitive grant process. Eligible organizations include 501(c)(3) nonprofits and groups with fiscal sponsorship. Recipients should be focused on making maximum impact in Knox and Waldo counties in one or more of UMC’s focus areas of Food, Housing, Health and Safety, and Economic Security. Of special interest are proposals that take a coherent approach to making a lasting difference in a social problem, and those where the service population is part of program design and implementation.

UMC provides grants to nonprofits for general operational budgets and programming. Program grants are reviewed on an annual basis, but new for 2020 is a two-year grant cycle for general support grants. We do not fund capital projects, endowments, or private schools.

The 2020 application period opened March 3 with a deadline of 5 p.m. on March 31. All applications must be completed online at unitedmidcoastcharities.org. Please call program coordinator Kelly Carey at 207-236-2299 with any questions about your proposal.

To expand the diversity in UMC’s grantmaking and to incorporate community perspectives into the process, United Midcoast Charities is pleased to announce the new role of Community Grant Reader as part of the 2020 grant review process. All residents of Knox and Waldo county are welcome to participate as community grant readers, especially those with living/lived experience in our focus areas. The grant reader process will take place entirely online, so internet access is required to participate. Readers will each be assigned three applications, and should plan on taking about four to six hours to complete their reviews during the month of April. Email kelly@unitedmidcoastcharities.org or sign up here by March 20 to express your interest in becoming a community grant reader.

Image: Top Row, L-R: UMC President Betsy Saltonstall, Vice President Lori Alexander, Treasurer Steve Kemple, Secretary John Viehman. Bottom Row, L-R: UMC Grants Committee Chair, Dr. Jim Hengerer, New Board Members Frank Hackett, who will serve on the finance and grants committees and Mary Sargent, who will serve on the communications committee.

UMC elected two new members to its board of directors at the organization’s Annual Meeting in December. They are Rockport resident Frank Hackett and Mary Sargent of Lincolnville.

Frank relocated in 2018 from the Hudson Valley. He has experience from past roles as partner at a CPA firm, COO of a leather design firm, CFO of a lamp manufacturer and a consultant to many for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Mary is the executive director of Penobscot Shores Retirement Community in Belfast. From 2010 to 2018, she was the administrator at Quarry Hill in Camden. She has been a West Bay Rotarian since 2012 and is the club’s immediate past president.

United Midcoast Charities, a community-supported nonprofit dedicated to grantmaking and capacity building for local nonprofits, has promoted Kelly Carey of Brooks into a new full-time program coordinator role.

Kelly joined UMC as administrative coordinator in February 2017. She earned a certificate in volunteer management from the Maine Commission for Community Service in 2018 and is a certified expert and trainer for Foundation Center Online.

United Midcoast Charities (UMC) is grateful to receive support from many local businesses, including a sponsorship from First National Bank for its July Learn With UMC workshop: How to Search for Grant Funding with FDO.

Pictured here (L-R), Necole Janczura, Business Development Officer with First National Wealth Management, Megan Williams, Executive Director of UMC, and Jake Miller, VP, Sr. Business Development, First National Bank.

Donations from First National Bank and other sponsors will help make possible the 2019 Learn With UMC series of free nonprofit workshops and other UMC community events. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available, but they are going quickly. Click here to view the opportunities and call us to sign up or donate online here.