Harold Alfond Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Harold Alfond Foundation supports education, health care and youth and community development. This funder primarily supports organizations in the state of Maine.
IP TAKE: About 89% of the Harold Alfond Foundation’s grantmaking remains in Maine, and its largest area of giving is higher education. This funder provides ongoing support to several named projects in the state of Maine including the Harold Alfond Institute for Business Innovation at Thomas College, the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care, the Alfond Center for Health and the Alfond Leaders Program. Other grantees tend to be organizations and projects with strong roots in Maine’s many low- and middle-income communities.
Alfond runs an accessible, ongoing grant application system through its website and generally responds to applicants within five-months of submission. Applicants are sometimes required to submit additional information and schedule in-person meetings with foundation staff prior to final decisions.
PROFILE: The Harold Alfond Foundation was established in 1950 in Portland Maine. Its founder, Harold Alfond, was the founder of the Maine-based Dexter Shoe Company, which was purchased by Warren Buffett in 1993 for $433 million. In its early years, the foundation was run by Alfond and was known for making matching grants to community organizations in Maine. Alfond died in 2007, and since that time several family members have served on the foundation’s board of trustees. Recent grantmaking aims to honor the philanthropic legacy of Alfond by investing in education, health care, and youth and community development. About 89% of this funder’s grantmaking goes to organizations working in the state Maine.
Grants for Higher Education
Education is the Harold Alfond Foundation’s largest area of giving. Alfond believed that every person should aspire and have access to higher education in the 21st century, and the foundation’s current work includes “capital, endowment, scholarship, and programmatic grants, primarily to public and private colleges and universities.” Specific areas of interest include college athletic programs and facilities, the Maine Community College System and law and business education programs at the University of Maine. The foundation has funded the Harold Alfond Institute for Business Innovation at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, and supported construction of a new building for the College of Business at Husson University in Bangor, Maine. Outside of Maine, the foundation has supported Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the American University in Bulgaria.
Grants for K-12 Education
K-12 education is not the primary focus of Alfond’s education grantmaking, but a few grants each year support K-12 schools and initiatives. The foundation has provided ongoing support to Maine’s first charter school, Good Will-Hinckley’s Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, and has provided funding to Kent Hills School, a private secondary school, for its Alfond Athletics Center and Fields. The foundation also supports K-12 populations through its youth and community development giving area, which gives to enrichment and athletic programs that prioritize underserved children and adolescents in Maine. Grantees include the Alfond Youth Center in Waterford, Maine; the Waterville Regional Arts and Community Center and early childhood programming by Educate Maine.
Grants for Public Health
Alfond’s grantmaking for health care aims to improve “health care delivery and quality” broadly for people living in Maine. In recent years, the foundation has made several large-scale grants aimed at increasing the efficiency of Maine’s health care infrastructure and encouraging collaboration among service providers. The foundation has also supported educational programs for medical professionals with the goal of ensuring a highly qualified healthcare workforce for the future. The foundation supported the consolidation of Maine General’s oncology programs into a state-of-the-art, multi-specialty oncology care center, the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care. It also provides ongoing support to Central Maine’s Alfond Center for Health, a regional hospital. Other health care grantees include the MaineHealth Cancer Care Network, the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative and the Center for Nursing Innovation at St. Joseph’s College.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
The Alfond Foundation supports work and economic opportunity in Maine via its youth and community development funding area, which names economic revitalization as an area of grantmaking interest. In 2020, the foundation collaborated with the Finance Authority of Maine to establish the Alfond Leaders Program, which helps Maine residents working in STEM fields with student loan repayment assistance. Other grantees include the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute, the Foundation for a Strong Maine Economy and FocusMaine, which works with the private sector to create jobs and provide vocational training in “globally competitive and dynamic sectors.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Alfond Foundation’s arts and culture grantmaking stems from its youth and community development funding area. The initiative supports projects and organizations that have a strong impact on the communities they serve and that prioritize the participation of children and youth. Grantees include the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, the Waterville Regional Arts and Community Center and the Waterville Opera House Association. Outside of Maine, the foundation has given to the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Massachusetts and Florida’s Gulfshore Playhouse.
Important Grant Details:
The Harold Alfond Foundation has made about $40 million a year in grants over the past several years. Its grants range from $5,000 to over $1 million, with an average grant size of about $75,000. According to a recent annual report, 89% of the foundation’s grantmaking goes to organizations in Maine, and higher education is the foundation’s largest area of giving. In addition to many named projects, the Alfond Foundation tends to support reputable organizations that have a strong impact on low- and middle-income communities in the state of Maine. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s featured grantees page.
This funder accepts applications at any time through its online portal but encourages applicants to carefully read the foundation’s eligibility and guidelines page before submission. The Alfond Foundation generally replies to applicants in 60-150 days from submission. In some cases, additional information and in-person meetings are requested. General inquiries may be directed to the foundation’s staff via email or telephone at 207-828-7999.
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