BRUNSWICK – The Common Good Grant Program at Bowdoin College is accepting grant applications from Brunswick-area nonprofits for the sixth consecutive year.

The mission of the program is to provide grants of up to $2,500 to nonprofits to fund new initiatives and to help maintain current programs.

Grant proposals will be accepted from organizations in Brunswick, Harpswell, Freeport, Topsham, Bath, Bowdoinham, Orrs Island, Bailey Island, Woolwich, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls, Bowdoin and Yarmouth.

Applications are due Feb. 2.

A free grant-writing workshop for organizations applying for the Common Good Grant will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, Jan. 12, at Bowdoin College. Participation in the informational workshop is optional and has no bearing on grant decisions.

For more information or to request an application, contact Bowdoin student leaders Taneisha Wilson ’07 (twilson@bowdoin.edu) or Rebecca Van Horn ’09 (rvanhorn@bowdoin.edu).

For more information about Bowdoin’s Community Service Resource Center or the free grant-writing workshop, contact Susie Dorn, director, at 798-4134.

Applications and additional information can also be found online at http://www.bowdoin.edu/communityservice/common-good/.

The Common Good Grant Program launched in 2001 when an anonymous donor began providing an annual gift of $10,000, with the intent of allowing Bowdoin students an opportunity to gain experience in the philanthropic arena. The program has awarded more than $70,000 to area nonprofits in its five-year history.

This year’s $10,000 grant base has been supplemented by an additional $1,400 donation from the Iron Bear Triathlon proceeds.

A group of Bowdoin students, comprising a grant selection and a fundraising committee, works with community members and college staff throughout the academic year to learn about the community, the goals and challenges faced by nonprofits, how to write and evaluate grant proposals and philanthropy.

In 2006, ten area nonprofits received Common Good Grants: Bath Middle School’s Garden Club; the Dorcas Mission Team at Bath United Church of Christ; Care Net of Midcoast Maine; Flying Changes Center for Therapeutic Riding Inc.; Friends of Merrymeeting Bay; Spindleworks; Patten Free Library; Pejepscot Historical Society; Sweetser; and Two Roads Maine.

Projects funded ranged from a program to teach elementary school children about Maine’s ecosystem, to a pony for a therapeutic riding center. In total, $17,500 in grants was awarded.

The committee will notify this year’s applicants about grant decisions on or before April 2. Checks will be awarded on April 19, at Bowdoin’s sixth annual Common Good Grant awards ceremony.

Grants are intended for use between April 19, 2007 and April 19, 2008 and will not exceed $2,500.

Copy the Story Link