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Request for Proposals: Summer-Focused Programs and Projects

Brick & Beam Society, a giving circle of United Way of Southern Maine, takes a broad view of the community, bringing leaders together and building momentum for action. They also leverage United Way of Southern Maine’s rich history, resources, knowledge, and relationships to get results. Brick & Beam Society is aligned with Thrive2027 Community-Wide Goals and United Way of Southern Maine. For more information about Brick & Beam Society, please visit: https://www.brickandbeam.org/.

 

Description of Opportunity:

With this funding opportunity, Brick & Beam Society seeks to support summer-focused projects that are short term/immediate as well as projects that are innovative, holistic, collaborative, and advance racial equity. The proposal should clearly articulate how the proposed project aligns with this focus, targets early childhood learning and/or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) programming, and supports high need populations birth through 8th grade in York and Cumberland County (minus Brunswick and Harpswell).

Brick & Beam Society values all past and current partnerships with funded partners and continuously looks to broaden its reach in the community through new organizations who have not previously been funded or applied. Applicants must meet Brick & Beam Society’s minimum eligibility requirements.¹

Amount: $10,000 or less
Funding Period: One year, starting on award of grant funding, unless otherwise noted
Deadline for Submission: March 3, 2023

Process: Applications will be reviewed by Brick & Beam Society’s Impact Investing Committee (IIC) and top applicants will meet individually with IIC via conference call to review their proposed program.

Thrive2027 Alignment: To make measurable progress on the Thrive2027 goals, everyone needs to play a part through aligning work and reinforcing each other’s efforts. Your program/project must gather and share data that connects to the Thrive2027 indicators and strategies. 

Funding Priorities: Brick & Beam (B&B) will give priority to programs/projects that reflect the following criteria:

  • Program Alignment: The program/project mission, goals and work fully aligns with the priorities of B&B, Thrive2027, and United Way of Southern Maine (UWSM).
  • High-Impact: The strategy or program design is based on relevant research or an evidence-based model in the field and there is a clear description of how it is expected to impact the problem.
  • Community Need: There is data available on a town or county level to support the need, the data is less than 5 years old, and it shows a significant portion of a population is currently affected by the problem.

The following criteria will also be taken into consideration:

  • Innovative/Probability of Success: Approach is innovative and has a proven record of success within the organization or through national best practices.
  • Collaborative: Program/project was collaboratively designed with multiple cross-sector community partners.
  • Replicable: The program model has a clear design, a plan to document successes and learnings, and a format that can be shared for replication.
  • Partnership Opportunity: The program/project leverages Brick & Beam Society membership (skill, time, etc.) to support the program or the issue holistically.

¹Minimum qualifications include: 1) 501(c)(3) status (or achievement of status as part of investment), public school, municipal entity or Indian Tribal government; 2) Patriot Act Compliance; and 3) operate on a non-discriminatory basis with regard to sex, race, religion, national origin, disability and sexual orientation.

If you have questions, please email Stephanie Nicoson at snicoson@uwsme.org.