Review of 2021 Grants
Chebeague United Methodist Church $10,000
To help the CUMC reach its fundraising goal of $120,000 to complete the disaffiliation process from
the United Methodist Church
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Chebeague Island Hall Community Association $10,000
Funds to help defray the high costs of installing a sound system and audiovisual system in the Hall. The sound system should increase the utility of the facility and improve our patrons’ ability to enjoy every event held there.
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Chebeague Island Historical Society $7,000
Building on your 2020 Grant for High Speed Fiber Broadband by updating/upgrading
equipment. Adding equipment and enlisting professional IT support. Improve on our mission to the community through enhanced archival collection/storage, security and data back up to the cloud. Enhance workflow for On Line and Museum store to improve revenue Store. Improve financial position through enhanced Donor management, community outreach, web site presence and online historical lectures.
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Chebeague Island Library $10,000
Installation of four heat pump units.
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Island Commons Resource Center $8,645
Expand the ability of the Island Commons to offer additional services to elders in their homes. there is an interest in, and demand for, in-home care assistance (vs. residential care) among year-round residents as well as summer visitors.
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Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust $5,000
To plan and implement repairs, clean up, and make improvements to the Sanford's Pond Preserve that CCLT acquired in March 2021.
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Chebeague Recreation Center $2,855
Funding toward the second year of the Island Institute Fellow Kiran Grewal. Her primary purpose is to continue to engage our community to develop diverse Rec Center programming and continue to develop the structures that will supoort this programming into the future.
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Chebeague Recreation Center $6,500
Provide funding to support the Rec Centers new Community Patio Area Expansion. Refreshing our campus by adding new community outdoor gathering areas that have a fun destination feel.
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Review of 2020 Grants
Chebeague United Methodist Church - $8,000
Safe, On-Island COVID-19 Testing
To stave off an outbreak of COVID-19 and create safe, free, on-island COVID-19 testing for all, this grant funded the creation of the Chebeague COVID Testing Team (CCTT). The team of volunteer medical professionals provides FREE, on-island COVID-19 tests, coronavirus support, and public health education per CDC Maine guidelines.
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Chebeague Recreation Center - $15,000
A grant was awarded to the CRC to fund a two-year Island Institute Fellow for the purpose of creating and enhancing youth and adult recreational programming. Kiran Grewal, the Fellow, is on the island working with the community and recreation center.
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Chebeague Historical Society
Chebeague Transportation Company - $11,000
This grant for high-speed fiber-optic connection benefits the Historical Society and the Chebeague Transportation Company. It will provide increased bandwidth, business efficiency, and enhanced operation. Offsite backup and overall Internet service will be upgraded. Large digital photographs and documents will be easily downloaded and shared by the Historical Society; the CTC will have more consistent and reliable access, leading to strengthened communications with customers, e-commerce, and off-island employees, as well as improved operations.
Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust - $14,000
Preserving open space and trails
This grant will help with the purchase of 25 undeveloped acres in the Littlefield Woods in order to protect the critical wildlife habitat, historical and popular recreation trails, and an important aquifer recharge area for Chebeague Island.
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The Island Commons - $6,000
Keeping Safe During COVID-19
The grant to the Island Commons allowed for renovations to create a storage space specifically designed for personal protective equipment and critical health supplies required by the Maine CDC for use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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SMALL GRANTS​
Chebeague Methodist Church Food Pantry - $500
A small grant was awarded towards the purchase of a needed refrigerator to store food for the food pantry.
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Chebeague Island Commons – Two $500 grants.
A small grant was given for emergency kitchen reconstruction to make room for a refrigerator replacement. A second small grant was awarded to purchase emergency COVID-19 equipment to protect employees and residents.
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Chebeague Recreation Center – $500
Following the tragic suicide of a young person in the community, a small grant was given to the Community Support Series to provide a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) suicide prevention program to children and adults.
Review of 2019 Grants
Chebeague Recreation Center
$11,000 Outdoor tennis court resurfaced and a backboard and pickleball lines added!
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The Island Commons Resource Center
$12,000 Upgrade of hardware and software along with professional IT services to provide staff support and training.
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Chebeague Island School
$4000 Landscaping for the newly remodeled and refurbished school.
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Chebeague Recreation Center & Kids Place
$15,000 Professional planning services to provide the Recreation Center and Kids’ Place with a strategic plan for the future.
Chebeague Methodist Church
$3,000 A grant to improve the infrastructure of the digital visual elements of the church.
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SMALL GRANTS​
Chebeague Island Historical Society
$500 Unexpected opportunity to attend an ILEAD Island Institute conference on May 16-17, designed for historical society leaders, employees, and volunteers.
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MacBeth Concert Series
$500 Transition costs for the expenses of postage, printing, advertising, and other publicity and solicitation costs for the newly organized MacBeth Music Fund.
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Chebeague Island School
$500 Installation of planters and plantings for the grand opening of the reconstructed school.
Review of 2018 Grants
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Chebeague Island Hall Community Association
$6,000 Awarded toward upgrading the Hall facility with vinyl siding and aluminum trim.
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Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust
$3,500 Awarded to support transaction costs for the acquisition of trail easements on Chebeague Island. These trail easements will ensure that a network of trails that have been used for decades will continue to provide the Chebeague community
with public access and recreation.
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The Island Commons Resource Center
$8,000 Awarded to maximize the Commons accounting and fiscal management capacity in order to ensure optimal compensation by the state of Maine. The accounting and financial information will provide the board with understandable, detailed monthly fiscal analysis and advice on financial and regulatory trends that impact long-term sustainability.
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Kids' Place
$15,000 Awarded to enhance and expand the existing Kids’ Place program to better prepare young children for Pre-K at the Chebeague Island School. The grant supports the Kids’ Place goal to continue as a resilient and sustainable year-round island educational resource.
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2018 Philanthropy Partners Conference
$840
Free registration offered to all nonprofits for one representative of each organization to attend the Maine Philanthropy Partners Conference in Bangor. This is part of The Recompense Fund’s commitment to support Chebeague nonprofits for new ideas, opportunities and funding.
Represented at the conference were Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust, Chebeague Island Community Association, Chebeague Recreation Center, Kids’ Place, Island Commons and Chebeague Island Council.
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Chebeague Island School
$500 A board member funded this grant application which is designed to enrich K-5 visual arts education at CIS and enable the school to invite an artist to visit for two days. The artist will bring art of his or her own to display and also facilitate an art activity, providing all students with a gallery-like experience.
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Chebeague Recreation Center
$10,000 Awarded to fulfill projects identified in the 2016 Capital Needs Assessment. Projects funded include repairs for the tennis and basketball court, improvements to the parking lot pavement and installation of a storage shed for facility equipment.
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The Chebeague Parents’ Association
$1,500 Awarded to complete the restoration of Volunteer Field to make it safer, more playable and aesthetically pleasing to promote athletic skills, sportsmanship
and socialization.
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Chebeague Island Historical Society
$4,000 Awarded for internships to digitize and catalogue photo and video images of the Society’s archives. This is the second year of the CIHS initiative to engage and support high school and college students’ interest in Chebeague Island history.
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SMALL GRANTS - A PILOT PROJECT FOR 2018
Small grants up to $500 ($2,500 max for 2018) may be awarded to Chebeague nonprofits encountering special opportunities or emergencies outside the
Fund’s annual grant cycle. The application and review process is expedited for
a quick decision.
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Chebeague Recreation Center
$500 Small Grant
To assist Kids’ Place in staff reorganization, including advertising and
professional development.
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Island Commons
$500 Small Grant
To purchase a tablet (iPad) for use by the Commons staff for detailed electronic record keeping, allowing direct-care attendants to maintain electronic charts providing critical documentation of daily care.
That, in turn, contributes to determining the reimbursement rate received from MaineCare upon which most of the Commons’ residents depend. Careful documentation leads to higher compensation rates.
Review of 2017 Grants
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Chebeague Island Community Association
$1800 support for the Chebeague Island Aquaculture Fest, introducing the waters of Chebeague as an “aquaculture epicenter” for expanding year-round income opportunities for island families. This is a partnership between local growers and the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, Island Institute, Chebeague Island Boat Yard, Friends of Casco Bay, Hurricane Island, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine Coastal Program, Maine SeaGrant and Manomet.
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Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust
$1000 toward the purchase of a bench and signage for the new Curit Trail. This walking trail is on the Town-owned Curit property and its conservation easement held by the CCLT. This is an ongoing partnership between the Town and the CCLT. www.ccltmaine.org
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The Island Commons Resource Center
$7,975 for interior and exterior repairs to the sitting area. This grant will enable the Commons to replace the leaky door and soggy floor. A new gutter and downspout will divert water from the roof away from the doorway and deck. With these improvements, the moisture problems will be resolved and the residents can enjoy the cozy sitting area. www.islandcommons.com
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Chebeague Island Hall Community Association
$2945 toward the purchase of a Roland Digital Piano to replace the large, old grand piano that has failed irrevocably and takes up a lot of space. The Hall provides the facilities for the island’s burgeoning music and stage performances that everyone enjoys.
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Stephen Ross Scholarship Fund
$3,000 in support of the Stephen Ross Scholarship Fund.
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Chebeague Island School
$500 support for “Gallery for The Day” to expand this successful project funded last year by The Recompense Fund. It brings in professional artists who create a professional gallery experience for the students inside their own classroom.
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Chebeague Recreation Center
$9000 contribution toward repairs detailed as Immediate Needs in the Capital Needs Assessment for the Main Structure. The Recompense Fund provided support for Chebeague’s first Capital Needs Assessment.
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The Kids’ Place
$14,000 contribution toward repairs for the Kids’ Place structure as detailed in the Capital Needs Assessment and Energy Audit. This will stabilize the structure and repair the building’s thermal envelope, enabling the Kids’ Place to operate efficiently and comfortably year-round in its purpose-built quarters.
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The Chebeague Parents’ Association
$3,400 toward their Community Support Series event, “It Takes An Island”, a presentation by Dr. Ross Greene of Lives in The Balance. Dr. Greene is a renowned psychologist. Chebeague Island School teaching staff members have been trained in his approach. This event is to help parents, educators and kids of all ages thrive together.
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Chebeague Island Historical Society
$3,726 in support of its paid youth internships where Chebeague high school and college students learn to research and enter acquisitions into the museum’s “Past Perfect” database. By doing this they become involved in exhibit research and share their learning and enthusiasm with younger island students.
Review of 2016 Grants
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The Island Commons Resource Center
$16,000 towards the purchase of a wheelchair accessible van.
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Chebeague Transportation Company
$1,500 to help purchase a motorized wheelchair to move passengers up and down the ramp safely.
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Chebeague Island School
$1,860 in support of a school-wide program with Rippleffect on Cow Island and a visual arts program
“Gallery for a Day”.
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Chebeague Recreation Center
$12,000, with $8,000 towards replacing defective lighting and $4,000 for a capital needs assessment of all the CRC structures, including The Kids’ Place.
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The Kids’ Place
$1,500 in support of an Energy Audit for the Kids’ Place Building; The Kids’ Place is a program of the Chebeague Recreation Center.
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The Chebeague Parents’ Association
$3,400 towards their Community Support Series and community training at “Lives in the Balance”.
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The Island Institute
$3,800 for the I Lead Island Nonprofits training series; Free for the board members of all Chebeague nonprofits. 29 Board members representing 12 Chebeague nonprofits and the Town went to the two "I Lead" Island Nonprofits training series.
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Chebeague Island United Methodist Church
$1,800 in support of a visioning process involving the whole community to explore how the Church may better serve the needs of the island.
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Stephen Ross Scholarship Fund
$3,000 in support of the
Stephen Ross Scholarship Fund.
Review of 2015 Grants
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Chebeague Historical Society requested $2000 towards their 2016 exhibit, Island Architecture. Preparation for the exhibit will bring in Chebeague’s school children to research their own houses and neighborhoods. The Society asked for $2,000 toward their $9,000 exhibit budget, and our Board members gladly provided it.
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THE LAND TRUST
The Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust has been concerned about damage to delicate dune grass from kayakers’ storing their boats at the edge of the wetlands at Rose’s Point beach. The Boatyard and The Sailing School collaborated with the Land Trust last summer to utilize the Sailing School’s sailboat storage stand to solve this problem. This temporarily did so, as kayakers neatly stored their boats in the stand off the grass. The Land Trust applied for a grant of $2,200 for a kayak stand that will remain open to boaters for the full season, not just the few weeks of the sailing school. Our Board members funded the request in full.
THE RECREATION CENTER
Chebeague’s hundreds of users of the Chebeague Recreation Center’s heated fresh water pool were happy to find this summer that the pool had a new water filtration system, producing consistently clean, clear water for their swimming enjoyment. This winter the Rec will be resurfacing the entire pool. As if these needed repairs weren’t costly enough, new ceiling lights are badly needed in the gym, and they are expensive. Recompense awarded The Recreation Center the sum of $15,000 to fund a portion of the cost of these necessary projects.
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THE CHEBEAGUE ISLAND SCHOOL
The Chebeague Island School requested $770 for a trip to the Biodiversity of Maine River Point Conservation Area to learn more about bird migration and tagging and for a trip to the Maine Wildlife Park to study habitat and nature. Our young citizen scientists and their able leader, Beverly Johnson, won enthusiastic approval. This trip has already occurred, and received rave reviews from the children.
Review of 2014 Grants
THE ISLAND COMMONS
The Commons sought financial assistance for its kitchen and dining room renovation project. Integral to its ability to care for and feed its assisted-living residents, this operational support was approved and we awarded them $2,100 for the purchase of a much needed new commercial refrigerator.
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THE HALL
The Hall was beginning a fund drive to undertake significant repairs. We awarded them $1,050, with the thought that we might be able to do more if needed. They were successful in raising the balance, so we were not called upon to provide additional funding.
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THE CHEBEAGUE ISLAND SCHOOL
The School requested, and we provided, $300 to take the children to Eagle Island to tour Admiral Peary’s historic home and observe the birds, animals, and nesting areas along the way.
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THE KIDS’ PLACE
The Kids’ Place needed a study of its long-term financial requirements to help create a plan that would ensure its sustainability. We awarded them $3,050 for this purpose. We are pleased to observe that this important facility now seems to be on firmer financial footing.
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SUSTAIN ME
The SustainME entrepreneurship conference, a joint venture of Chebeague’s Community Forum and the Island Institute, requested $1,500 of funding during its planning stage. We provided this, and the conference was a major success. Attendee feedback was uniformly positive and continues to spark entrepreneurs and leaders on Maine’s coastal and island communities.