| Betterment Fund Priorities
Exhibit C: Community Support
- Selected economic development
initiatives and use of scarce resources: Previous recipients of Betterment Fund grants
include economically focused initiatives such as the Maine Downtown
Center of the Maine Development Foundation, Sunrise County Economic
Council, Four Directions Development Corporation and CEI.
We also have supported organizations which promote traditional Maine
occupations, such as The Maine Center for Furniture Craftsmanship
and The Landing School. The Good Shepherd Food Bank and
Western Maine Community Action's program "Keeping Seniors Home"
are examples of organizations dedicated to the effective use
of scarce resources.
- Building stronger rural communities
and assets for rural families: To help build “social capital” in rural communities we have supported
important community institutions such as libraries which expand
their services beyond book-lending. We support community-based
organizations that foster collaboration among members of the community
such as the Maine Woods Coalition. We have also supported
the extension of community services that may be more difficult to
access in rural areas, such as transportation or legal services.
- Promoting state-wide policy
initiatives consistent with our philanthropic themes: In the past
we have supported organizations that provide research for state
policy initiatives, such as The Maine Children’s Alliance
and its Kids Count project and the Maine Center for Economic
Policy. We have supported the development of new state or local
policies and advocacy based on such research.
Proposals that
are not as likely to be funded include projects that are essentially
the provision of human services, libraries located in larger communities
or which offer limited community services, historical societies
or historic buildings
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