Environmental Funders Network

Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative | Mahoosuc Land Trust

Purpose: To work collaboratively to enrich the Bethel area’s place-based assets, including developing trails, heritage and arts programs, local food networks, and a community center. Partners: Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, Bethel Historical Society, Bethel Trails Alliance, Mahoosuc Arts Council, Mahoosuc Kids, Mahoosuc Land Trust, River Valley Healthy Community Coalition, Telstar High School, University of Maine 4-H Camp Learning Center at Bryant Pond, Western Mountains Senior College.

2011 Award: $10,500

2010 Award: $24,000 (1 year commitment) Read the 2010 Proposal (PDF)

 

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The Bethel Area Non-profit Collaborative (BANC) is a network of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to a variety of missions that fulfill Quality of Place recommendations.

BANC began two years ago as a few local non-profits discussing how to share rather than compete for scarce financial and human resources. (The Bethel area is defined as the towns of Andover, Bethel, Dixfield, Gilead, Greenwood, Hanover, Mexico, Newry, Rumford, and Woodstock.) Since then, it has expanded and developed into a true collaborative effort.

In April 2010, BANC convened 85 people, representing some 60 organizations, at the Bethel Inn to examine collaborative possibilities.  The group decided that projects with the greatest potential for collaboration included four areas related to improving Quality of Place:

• Expanding Bethel’s existing trail system
• Enriching heritage and arts programs
• Creating a downtown outdoor heritage, recreation, and community center
• Increasing community and student involvement with local food.

The group recognized that with so many members, it would be difficult – if not impossible – to coordinate its efforts using existing members’ volunteers or staff.  Therefore, BANC will hire a new Network Facilitator part-time for two years.  The Network Facilitator will create and strengthen links among the Bethel area’s non-profit community by:

• Facilitating and formalizing BANC’s strategic planning
• Identifying more collaborative ventures
• Enhancing existing, and developing new, communication methods among the group
• Securing funding to ensure BANC’s sustainability
• Engaging the public in BANC’s efforts through public forums, traditional and social media, and volunteerism, while emphasizing Quality of Place recommendations.

Each of BANC’s members already individually addresses one or more aspects of Quality of Place, doing their part to strengthen the relationship between built and natural environments.  With a dedicated Network Facilitator, the members would be better able to streamline their efforts and increase their potency.

The recommendations for enhancing Quality of Place are broad; with a Network Facilitator as a “team captain,” the Bethel Area Non-profit Collaborative can address the recommendations most efficiently and effectively.

 

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• Learn more about the Mahoosuc Land Trust
• Learn more about the Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative

 

About the Grantees

Androscoggin Land Trust

Friends of Midcoast Maine

GrowSmart Maine 

Healthy Community Coalition 

Keeping Maine’s Forests

Mahoosuc Land Trust / Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative

Maine Coast Heritage Trust

Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund 

Maine Development Foundation 

Maine Farmland Trust 

Presumpscot River Watershed Coalition

Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association

Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine

The Nature Conservancy

Trust for Public Land 

Learn More

EFN’s Quality of Place Initiative