BETTERMENT FUND EDUCATION PRIORITIES

The Betterment Fund has identified specific areas for funding priorities in the field of education.  While we recognize that there are many important subjects for funding, we believe our grants can be more effective if we concentrate on a limited number of areas at any given time.  We make annual reviews of these priorities.  The current areas for priority in education funding are as follows:

1.  The State of Maine is devoting significant resources to the success of the Compact for Higher Education and other major educational policy initiatives.  The Betterment Fund is interested in providing core funding for the leadership, development and advancement of these policy initiatives on a state-wide basis.  A current example is the Betterment Fund’s support for an “Early College” program through the Maine Community College System.

2.  One priority area identified by the Compact for Higher Education and other studies of Maine educational issues is Adult Education.  The Betterment Fund seeks applications for programs that enable adult learners to access better educational opportunities, which may be either locally based or state-wide.  Our grantmaking focus in this area is broader than the Compact’s  “Transition to College” .For example, we are funding a pilot program in 2005 and 2006 with Literacy Volunteers to partner with the Maine Adult Education Association to establish new literacy centers in Washington and Aroostook Counties.

3.  The Betterment Fund is interested in supporting arts education in Maine.  We are primarily interested in grants that have a regional or state-wide focus and that have the potential of improving the overall landscape for arts education.  We have recently made a grant to the Maine College of Art for a “Teaching Artist” Initiative.

4.  The Betterment Fund continues the tradition of our founder William Bingham in supporting college scholarships for Maine students.  However, we never make direct awards of individual scholarships.  Instead, we fund scholarships through particular educational institutions.  Such scholarship funding will be initiated by the trustees rather than in response to grant requests.

We will not be able to fund all proposals we may receive within our identified priorities.  Funding decisions will take into account our available funds, the merits of the proposal itself and other factors.  At the same time, we do from time to time fund other proposals because of the compelling nature of the particular application or the opportunity to test a possible future area of priority. However, by publicly stating our current priorities, we hope to help potential grant applicants avoid the expense and effort of preparing applications for programs that do not fit squarely within these priorities, since it is less likely that they will have their proposals funded.

September 2005