Environmental Funders Network

2009 Quality of Place Grantees

The Environmental Funders Network (EFN) awarded $523,000 in grants to eight organizations through its collaborative funding initiative, “From Vision to Action: A Commitment to Maine’s Quality of Place.” Grants ranging in size from $30,000 to $100,000 were made to:

Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, for the Presumpscot Conservation Planning: Vision, Values, and Priorities initiative.

GrowSmart Maine, to expand grassroots base, promote regional collaborations, and engage the public.

Healthy Community Coalition, to support public education efforts to ensure respectful use of private lands through program involving youth and their families.

Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund, to bring Maine’s environmental community together to develop a five-year vision, policy framework, and implementation plan for addressing Maine’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Maine Development Foundation, to strengthen links between the natural and built environment in Maine’s historic downtowns.

Maine Farmland Trust, to link the built landscape with working farms and wild lands.

Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, to encourage greater public access to private lands.

Trust for Public Land, to create regional municipal coalitions working in partnership with conservation and economic development interests to alter approach to protecting quality of place.

2009 Quality of Place Semi-Finalists

The Quality of Place Advisory Committee initially reviewed ninety-seven letters of inquiry, and after a difficult, yet disciplined review process, invited sixteen projects to submit full applications. Ultimately only the eight projects introduced above were awarded funding, but the remaining semi-finalists also greatly impressed the Advisory Committee. Those eight are presented here in recognition of their good work. Interested funding partners are encouraged to contact an organization directly or email Andrea Perry, the EFN project coordinator, at efn@mainephilanthropy.org .

• Androscoggin Land Trust, to develop and implement “sub-regional” conservation strategies, under the preexisting umbrella of the Androscoggin Greenways, in a 19-community service area.  Read the proposal. (PDF)
• Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, for a grassroots initiative, Mobilize Maine, facilitated by Maine’s six regional Economic Development Districts to develop a statewide locally driven asset based development strategy to implement quality of place principles. Read the proposal. (PDF)
• Island Institute and Maine Farmland Trust, for a Working Lands Conservation Initiative (WLCI) to coordinate research, education, organizational development, and policy focused on increasing the rate of working lands conserved by engaging private landowners and enhancing the Land for Maine’s Future Program. Read the proposal.(PDF)
• Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine Preservation, to promote underutilized built and natural assets in two pilot towns through restoration and conservation projects that result in more economically and culturally vibrant communities. Read the proposal. (PDF)
• Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission, for a printed and alternative media resource entitled: Planning for Rural Maine: Strategies for a Sustainable Community. Read the proposal.(PDF)
• The Nature Conservancy, to work with Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) planning staff to research land use tools employed in large landscapes nationally and internationally and recommend new tools and approaches or statutory changes that would meet the goals of the Quality of Place Initiative in Maine’s 10 million-acre unorganized territories. Read the proposal. (PDF)
• Tides Institute, to address and advance the intertwining nature of Quality of Place through the natural, built, and cultural environments along the eastern coast of Maine. Read the proposal. (PDF)
• Western Foothills Land Trust, to develop a replicable market-based payment for ecosystems services (PES) model to incentivize private forest landowners to restore, enhance, and protect aquatic resources in the Crooked River Watershed. Read the proposal. (PDF)

Learn More

About the Goals for the Initiative

Quality of Place Advisory Committee

About the Governor’s Council on
Quality of Place Recommendations

Application Guidelines

Letter of Inquiry Guidelines

2009 Grantees & Semi-Finalists

Letter of Inquiry Synopsis (October, 2009)