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For an Equitable and Healthy Maine

We support organizations that are expanding our collective capacity for creativity and access to the outdoors.

Cultivate

We aim to bring people together, ensuring they feel connected to each other, the arts, and the environment.

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We celebrate self expression, discovery, and activism.

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Meaningful experiences with nature lead to a deeper understanding of our environment and a stronger desire to protect it for our shared future.

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THE ENVIRONMENT

Creative expression has the power to connect people to each other, encourage critical thinking and dialogue, and advance a just society.

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THE ARTS

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The Maine organizations that foster opportunities for artistic expression and connection to the outdoors are critical to sustaining the vibrancy of the state and its people. We’re proud to have supported — and to continue to support — organizations like these across all 16 counties.

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Planning for an Uncertain Future: How a Scenario-Planning Cohort Built Nonprofits’ Resilience

Slingshot: Mobilizing Communities Against Environmental Health Threats

Rivertown Community Arts Center: Where Community Is an Art Form

Featured Stories

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For nonprofits across Maine and across the country, challenges — some expected, many unexpected — seem to be mounting. But when change is rapid and uncertainty persists, predicting what comes next is only half the battle. Being able to adapt with confidence to an unclear future is a skill unto itself.

Sandi McKinley, founder of the Massachusetts-based consultancy 

, specializes in guiding nonprofits through the challenging work of planning for potentially difficult scenarios. Taking a comprehensive, relational approach to scenario planning, McKinley equips organizations with the tools needed to tackle the toughest problems that might come their way.

In 2025, the John T. Gorman Foundation and the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation initiated scenario planning skill development for Maine nonprofits by working with McKinley to offer a two-hour webinar on the topic. Later in the year, we built on that introduction by holding two workshops for 

 aimed at building capacity to navigate change.

With a hands-on, collaborative format, the sessions gave 

 organizations the tools to think ahead and move into the future with resilience.

The SectorWind sessions helped participants learn how to transform theoretical planning into actionable, adaptable strategies for managing plausible scenarios. Participating groups were required to bring at least one executive staff member and one board member to the sessions, and each team worked through unique forces shaping their organization. The process was intentional and methodical. McKinley asked participants to take the following key steps:

Name three uncertainties within the organization’s operating context

 Build out a few plausible future scenarios based on those uncertainties

 Assess the potential impact of those scenarios across five core areas: programs and services; people, culture, and capacity; community and relationships; operations and infrastructure; and finance and money

 Translate potential scenarios into actionable strategies

Having consulted for more than 1,500 nonprofits in her career, McKinley was the perfect guide for this work, helping organizations not only understand the importance of scenario planning, but also use tools for developing stronger organizational strategies.

Ten grantees from the Onion Foundation’s 

 participated in the workshop sessions, all leaving with a greater sense of how to plan for coming situations. Here’s what two of those nonprofits had to say about their experience working with SectorWind.

 has long been the only company producing fully staged and orchestrated operas in the state of Maine. In addition to offering classic opera performances, the nonprofit also hosts a studio artist program for emerging performers.

Here, burgeoning opera artists can learn from veteran performers and get experience on stage in productions that highlight stories relevant to today. “We find that these performances allow us to break down some of the stereotypes that get in the way of us learning with empathy,” says executive director Caroline Koelker. “Art is wonderful in that way.”

Like many nonprofit teams, Koelker and her trustees felt the pressure of planning for the future during the pandemic: “COVID required us to move directly from planning to action. That helped us see the value of having scenario plans in place before they’re even needed.”

While Koelker saw some commonalities across all the arts organizations in the group — including capacity concerns, trouble rightsizing, and knowing how to effectively market the work — she and her team focused on planning for:

Managing emerging artist housing on a tight budget

One of the primary benefits Koelker gained from the sessions was being able to put seemingly abstract concepts into concrete terms. “We used a probability analysis to grade our scenarios based on best practices and the organization’s history,” she says. Transforming ideas into actionable insights enables Opera Maine to make more informed decisions about the future.

Similarly, Koelker and her team learned how to pull and analyze data effectively, which equips them to measure the success of their initiatives and the impact of their decisions more accurately going forward.

What the Future Looks Like for Opera Maine

The SectorWind sessions helped Koelker generate buy-in for the collective work of strategic planning. “Having an expert explain to our trustees in concrete terms why this work is so important was a great way to bring our leaders into the process,” she says.

With that collective focus in place, the Opera Maine team is now far more equipped to engage in longer-term scenario planning. “We identified scenario planning as a strategic priority for our three-year plan that we’re working on,” says Koelker. “We’re building off of the SectorWind work, which helped us find direction and best practices.”

In 2015, residents from Mount Desert Island came together to find ways to address the use of fossil fuels on the island. A year later, 

The nonprofit is a community-driven organization committed to climate action, focusing primarily on clean energy, zero waste systems, transportation, and public policy. The team helps communities build resilience by planning and implementing strategies to boost local economies, infrastructures, and health programs.

“In our strategic plan, we talk about how things might change and how we’d need to adjust, but we’ve never formalized that work,” says executive director Johannah Blackman. “The SectorWind sessions really opened our eyes to what we could do without expending too much time or too many resources.”

During the sessions, Blackman and her team learned how to develop potential scenarios using a graph with X and Y axes focusing on unique challenges they might experience in the future. They mapped out a spectrum of community support for their work on one axis and a spectrum of donor support on the other, which allowed them to visualize four quadrants representing four potential scenarios.

Then, the team zeroed in on one particularly problematic scenario: increased donor support but decreased community support.

“We don’t ever want to be in a position where we’ve lost touch with the needs of the community, but are aligned with donor needs. That would indicate we’re not achieving our mission,” says Blackman. “We want to think in advance about how we can communicate to donors what we’re hearing and learning on the ground so we don’t ever get to the point where those two entities are at odds with each other.”

What the Future Looks Like for A Climate to Thrive

Like Opera Maine, A Climate to Thrive benefitted from connecting with other organizations doing similar work. “We realized that there’s a lot we could be doing collectively to prepare for different scenarios,” says Blackman.

The connection between staff and board members was also impactful for the team, creating a cohesive focus and deepening strategic insight by enabling the team to problem solve together. Equipped with a common north star vision, A Climate to Thrive is now putting what it learned in the workshops into practice. “We’ve shifted our strategic plan to align with SectorWind’s framework,” says Blackman. “Now, it’s easier for us to apply scenario planning to our strategic work.”

A Climate to Thrive, Opera Maine, and the 20 other Onion Foundation grantees that participated in the SectorWind sessions are now empowered to balance short-term needs with longer-term organizational sustainability. When the future is unclear and challenges persist, this type of work equips nonprofits to proceed with confidence, knowing they’re resilient and sufficiently prepared to handle what comes next.

Hear from two Onion Foundation grantees about what they got out of recent scenario-planning sessions with the SectorWind consultancy.

In a time when political divisions are widening and discord is as heightened as ever, fighting for the safety and wellbeing of a community can be a remarkably difficult thing to do. Fear of conflict — real or perceived — poses a barrier that keeps people out of grassroots activism.

 isn’t afraid to get involved — and to equip others to do the same.

Spanning six states across New England, Slingshot is deeply knowledgeable about environmental health risks such as contaminants, unregulated development projects, and pollution that threaten communities throughout the region.

 rely on healthy environments, and Slingshot empowers everyday people to take on challenging 

Protecting the Environment and the People Who Love It

At its core, Slingshot provides people with tools, resources, and training to organize and mobilize their community against development projects poised to do significant environmental damage. That could look like many things: drinking water contaminated with dangerous 

; landfills expanding into residential areas; or pipelines designed to fill corporate pockets while laying waste to communities.

“Most people want to take action to protect the health of their community, but they often don’t know what to do,” says Dana Colihan, Co-Executive Director. “We come in as a resource to help figure out what they want and how to get it.”

 initiative, for example, to protect vital ecosystems from a landfill expansion led by a for-profit trash corporation. The expansion is projected to bring more than 11.9 million cubic yards of waste — the equivalent of 8.6 Empire State Buildings — to the area.

By helping Don’t Waste Maine build grassroots campaign plans, messaging, and mobilization strategies, Colihan has supported the initiative’s team to identify and address dangerous legislation and share better waste management practices with the broader community.

Slingshot image carousel

When it comes to advocating for change, there are many ways to get involved, from putting up flyers on street corners to donating money to support lobbying at city hall. For Slingshot, though, 

 is the most effective vehicle for long-term transformation.

“Local people know best what they want for their community, and they also know the best visionary solutions to key issues,” says Colihan. “We’re trying to equip people with the skills they need to survive and thrive.”

How does Slingshot help communities capture and use that local knowledge? The “guide don’t decide” approach. Through one-on-one coaching calls, workshops, and campaign development, the Slingshot team enables local organizers to make key decisions that lead to change within their own communities. One teenager got involved in an 

 group, for example, and used the skills he learned to eventually become a city councilor, making decisions to help his area thrive.

In advocacy, Colihan notes, one person is easy to write off. But when hundreds of community members come together around one north-star vision, it’s much harder for governments and corporations to ignore. In a moment of intense federal-level rollbacks, grassroots organizing is an effective pathway to defend against current and future threats.

Community organizing isn’t without its challenges, however. Feeling like the underdog can cause many to feel powerless and afraid in the face of large corporations.

But this is where Slingshot’s approach shines: Colihan and her team help local communities find and seize their power. Rather than feeling isolated and helpless, communities that partner with Slingshot recognize that they’re part of a larger whole with immense power to drive change. Coaching helps people see what they’re capable of and find tangible pathways to advocate for or against policies that impact the environment.

Similarly, community members are able to draw on the power of Slingshot’s New England network to share information, skills, and advocacy tactics. “When community leaders plug into these networks, they feel less alone,” says Colihan.

Turning Concern Into Activism in Wiscasset

In Wiscasset, for example, Brady Winn was worried when she discovered that an unknown corporation was considering setting up a massive 300-acre AI data center in the community. She quickly reached out to Colihan for help, and the two went to work. Colihan helped her learn about organizing and create a plan that eventually brought more than 40 community members together to discuss their concerns.

“These big AI companies can disenfranchise local decision-making and undercut democracy,” says Colihan. “Once they have set up shop, they don’t need to ask for permission before taking action.”

At the initial gathering, community members expressed similar concerns: Many were worried about how the data center would impact electricity rates. Some were concerned about light pollution and water usage. Richard Davis, a retired Berklee College music professor was troubled about noise pollution.

That community listening session sparked mobilization across the area, leading Winn, Davis, and others to start the activist organization 

. “It’s been so powerful,” says Colihan. “It’s organizing the community to figure out the political lay of the land and how it could pass an ordinance to ban a data center of this scale.”

Community organizing is all about getting to the root of core environmental health threats. And for Colihan and the Slingshot team, organizing the organizers is true “heart work”: “I’m being transformed by being in relationship,” she says. “When people win, it feels like the best thing ever. When folks lose, I’m gutted.”

That emotional response to community work is evidence of the personal investment that mobilization efforts engender. When people come together and rely on their neighbors and networks, they’re more invested in collective power. For communities across New England, Slingshot helps community leaders see something they tend to otherwise overlook: Their power to drive change has always existed — they just needed to tap into it.

Learn how New England nonprofit Slingshot empowers communities to organize, mobilize, and advocate for environmental justice.

foundational format for professional filmmaking

 in the mid-20th century, 16mm film was largely replaced by newer digital technologies in the 1990s. Who, then, will carry on the legacy of the analog origins of filmmaking?

In Maine, it’s Portland-based nonprofit 

. The microcinema was designed to preserve 16mm and, later, 35mm film, while providing an open space for film-goers to explore cultural traditions, aesthetics, and connection.

For Kinonik, analog film is a vehicle for something deeper. It offers a pathway for exploring meaning-making and grappling with the highs and lows of history. By honoring the power of analog film and the collective experience of viewing it with others, Kinonik carries on the spirit of old cinema clubs with a modern twist.

The microcinema was founded in 2016 by two film buffs, Andy Graham and Skylar Kelly. While Kelly brought his academic background in experimental documentary filmmaking, Graham brought a large collection of 16mm films and a passion for the field.

“I thought the younger generation should have the opportunities that I had to experience film as a community activity, rather than one that’s so isolating,” says Graham. And the Kinonik collection of more than 2,000 films spanning 130 years of international filmmaking does just that. Community members can peruse the collection or attend curated film screenings at the microcinema — free popcorn included.

In 2025, Kinonik screened 60 films and catalogued 350 new ones, while partnering with other cinemas, film clubs, and Portland theaters to engage Maine’s community of film enthusiasts.

How does Kinonik choose which films to hold? Graham says it best: “We look for films that are equally important as cultural artifacts and as artistic endeavors. We’re doing well if the film has aesthetic merit, if it speaks to the zeitgeist, or if it relates to history in some way.”

What counts as aesthetic merit is a hard thing to pin down. Nonetheless, Graham and Kelly prioritize subversive voices and ensure each film has something to say about both historical and current events.

Screenings are shown on one of two projectors: an Eiki EX-6000 or an FP-30 EC II. According to Graham and Kelly, the projection is a vital part of the experience of watching analog films. Audiences hear the projectors as they view the film, connecting the materiality and engineering of the experience to the themes and aesthetics of the film itself.

The curation is critical, too. “When I make a screening program, I’m trying to anticipate what cultural shifts may occur,” says Kelly. “I’m trying to meet people where they’re going to be.”

In this way, the film screenings are a truly anachronistic experience: Kelly takes films from the past, anticipates the future, and puts it in the context of the present. Audiences are invited to connect the dots between these time periods, which often leads to fruitful conversation.

In a rapidly evolving digital world, there’s something special about analog film. “We spend so much time looking at digital screens that have the potential to ambush us with ads or notifications,” says Kelly. “But the stillness of projected cinema is different. There’s a sense of relaxation.”

That experience — particularly in a microcinema like Kinonik — encourages 

 and with the larger socio-political environment. The carefully curated programming, which aims to respond to the cultural moment, “highlights the human aspect of the film,” says Graham. “How did the film come to be in front of you this evening? What were the director and the cinematographers thinking when they made the film?”

These questions spark deep discussion and nurture the strong community spirit at Kinonik. Friendships have developed in the space, conversations emerge organically, and people dive into topics related to what’s happening around them every day.

 that allows wonderful stories of culture and experience to be transmitted,” says Kelly. Take two frequent cinema-goers as an example. In the 1970s, these two people fell in love at the movies in New York City, and now, they frequent the microcinema, sharing stories and insights about the films with others.

 working to preserve the history of 16mm and 35mm film, Kinonik is committed to expanding its collection going forward. Graham and Kelly are hard at work procuring new equipment for film screenings and finding ways to upgrade the quality of the filmwatching experience.

And they’ve got big ambitions for the future — starting an experimental film program, offering “how to read film” classes, and even teaching people how to work with and edit analog materials. As the nonprofit evolves, however, Graham and Kelly will stay committed to one thing: protecting and preserving the history that has made analog film so special.

Learn all about Kinonik, a microcinema bringing film lovers together in Portland, Maine.

Kinonik: A Microcinema Determined To Preserve the Analog Film Experience

Building community is a common goal among nonprofit organizations. After all, when the sociopolitical landscape seeds division, it’s the organizations that nurture shared experiences that bring us back together.

But how exactly does community building happen in practice? And how do we know when it’s done successfully?

 has some answers. As a community-built and community-driven making space, Rivertown has built and evolved its programming around the community’s needs. It’s become a shining example of the reciprocal relationship between a nonprofit and the people it serves.

“We’re all from a river town, from Allagash to Van Buren to the Fish River that cuts down the south,” says Jenna Jandreau, Rivertown’s founder. “Our name is an acknowledgement of this important landmark in our community.”

The nonprofit’s place-based name pays homage to what the community values, and that care and attention extends to the space itself. In addition to studio space, the organization is also home to a group lounge, where people gather to share skills, try new art forms, and participate in various clubs.

 likewise reflects the community’s interests. Jandreau and her team offer about 30 open classes on various arts — including drawing, painting, sewing, basket weaving, herbalism, and mushroom cultivation — to 

 each month. With a monthly membership, participants can take the majority of classes for free and use open studios and supplies for free at any time.

“People feel like they can try something different without having to shell out a lot of money for it,” says Jandreau. “It creates a low bar and a casual learning environment for everyone.”

Designing the arts center around inclusivity and connection was an intentional choice. As a former board member for Bar Harbor’s 

, Jandreau saw the profound impact a community-centered arts space can have on a region. When she moved back to her home to northern Maine, she knew the area needed something similar.

Her first step? Talking to the people. Jandreau shared her idea with families, parents, and community members and got not only enthusiasm but also insights on what the community wanted from an arts center.

From there, Jandreau and her team have truly walked the walk when it comes to community building. Here are the intentional decisions they’re making to center community in their day-to-day work.

Rivertown’s board of directors comprises individuals from different backgrounds — but “all with a passion for making things, whether it’s stories, poems, crafts, or pottery,” says Jandreau. Sitting next to Jandreau are two English professors from the University of Maine, Fort Kent, a college librarian, a high school art teacher, and a jiu jitsu coach and mother of two.

“It’s all about diversity of thinking. All of these people bring their background with creative experiences to the table,” says Jandreau. “That’s especially important in an isolated rural area, where it’s so easy to feel like you’re in your own bubble.”

From putting up flyers in grocery stores to posting surveys on the Mommy Goggles Facebook group with close to 3,000 moms from the area, Rivertown goes 

 the community to solicit feedback directly. The team actively gets to know people better and regularly asks what they want out of the space.

Listening to the public is vital, but it’s only the first step. As Jandreau notes, community building requires action, and she’s set the arts center up in such a way that allows her to quickly put feedback into practice. “We publish a monthly program schedule, rather than a semester or quarterly schedule, so we can be really responsive to what the community’s interested in,” explains Jandreau.

When the Rivertown team heard that people were interested in a rug-braiding class, for example, Jandreau put a call for instructors out in their regular newsletter. A rug-braiding expert responded, a group donated a large amount of wool, and classes were soon sold out.

Make Space for People From All Walks of Life

“We’re really proud of the fact that we have a space that’s safe for people in the recovery community. It’s an intergenerational and cross-political space,” says Jandreau. “I know people who are on complete opposite sides of the political divide, and they’re sitting across from each other, binding books and laughing.”

Opening the studio space to the public enables the Rivertown team to create this safe space for the community. People can volunteer to teach others, share their skills, or simply talk about life while trying their hand at a new art form.

Jandreau has sound advice for other community-oriented nonprofits: community building is an art form, so it’s going to get messy. Embrace that messiness, listen to what people need, and do your best to respond quickly to it. “Don’t go into a community and say, ‘We know this is what you need.’ Be very open and flexible to what you provide,” Jandreau advises.

With a second location recently opened on Main Street in Fort Kent and a strategic planning process underway, Rivertown is well set up to continue serving the community for years to come.

And for Jandreau, that’s more important than ever: “It’s amazing how 

our entire body responds to making things

. It’s an important part of being a human. There are loud voices in our society saying the arts aren’t important. They might be loud, but so are we.”

Explore how Rivertown Community Arts Center tapped into the community's needs to build a thriving arts program for people of all ages.

 has awarded multiple grants to more than 200 organizations offering 

 to people in Maine. In each instance, we approach the decision-making process with certain questions in mind: Who’s involved in the work? Who are the people who show up to exhibitions and performances, open to learning about different art forms, cultural traditions, and ideas? Who are the artists invited to share their work with Maine audiences? Who are the people behind the scenes who work so hard to create these intersections for their communities?

Often, we will ask organizations these direct questions to help us understand not only who benefits from these programs but also whom the organizations are engaging to share their talent, stories, and beliefs. Answering these questions accurately can be tricky for our grantees as they infrequently query their audience members, participants, and artists about their identities. Doing so requires a clear purpose, respect for people’s time and privacy, and a carefully designed approach.

We were fortunate to partner with the experienced staff at the 

 at the University of Southern Maine to consider these questions together. Our collective thinking resulted in the 

“Demographic Data Collection Toolkit for Arts and Culture Organizations,”

 a comprehensive guide for arts organizations that want to use a values-based approach to shape their programs.

 that they aim to create welcoming spaces in which people, regardless of their identities, backgrounds, and abilities, feel comfortable. The Onion Foundation shares these 

, which shape our operations and our grantmaking. We’re gratified that organizations frequently cite that they create and offer programs “for everyone.”

But how do organizations know when they’re achieving these goals? How can they accurately track who they’re engaging? In what ways can they identify their gaps and successes and continually improve upon them?

The Data Innovation Project designed the toolkit to provide step-by-step guidance for developing and implementing a demographic data collection plan to answer these exact questions. It empowers organizations not only to gather concrete participation data but also to analyze that data to create more responsive and inclusive programming.

, goals, and data sources to create mission-aligned data collection plans

Understand and implement various data collection modalities, including the pros, cons, and resources needed for each

Begin where they are, including by modifying existing tools and communications to begin this work

With interactive planning worksheets, data collection templates, and case studies, the toolkit equips organizations with technical guidance for 

 and securing informed consent, and provides advice for handling sensitive topics. It’s a unique resource for arts and culture organizations in Maine — one that will undoubtedly serve as the backbone of many nonprofits’ work going forward.

In an era in which relationships with communities require extra care and respect, we feel encouraged by our many colleagues who are working with intention and love as they design their programs. This toolkit is an invitation to center and expand that work and to pay close attention to who’s participating in programming — and, perhaps more importantly — who isn’t.

In this current moment, inclusivity is a necessity. It’s what brings us together around shared principles, and it’s what helps us open ourselves to new and different ways of thinking. The arts have always done that for makers and audiences alike. They offer us a bridge into new worlds, experiences, and perspectives. We’re heartened to see so many of our arts and culture grantees explore the expansive potential of inclusivity as they build and refine their programming and operations. We hope this toolkit, with its actionable strategies and clear commitment to empowering organizations, adds to these efforts.

With Colleagues and Expand the Reach of Your Programs!

Learn how the Demographic Data Collection Toolkit for Arts and Culture Organizations helps organizations take a values-based approach to shaping their programs.

Who’s Involved in the Work? Inside an Empowering Toolkit for Arts Nonprofits

In 2010, Drew Dumsch, President and CEO of the 

, took the first steps toward an ambitious goal of ensuring every student in Maine had the chance to go to outdoor school. These programs are multi-day, interactive trips that teach students the fundamentals of environmental science in coordination with school curricula and state education standards.

Dumsch knew that reaching this objective would require more resources than the Ecology School alone could provide, so he partnered with the 

University of Maine’s 4-H Camps and Learning Centers

 to form what was initially called the Environmental Living and Learning for Maine Students (ELLMS) program.

Over the years, the program blossomed into a widespread collaborative of outdoor school providers. Yet, despite more organizations joining the collective, far too many students throughout the state still lacked access to outdoor programming — so Dumsch and his partners took their efforts to the next level.

Eight outdoor education organizations — U Maine’s 4-H Learning Centers, the Ecology School, the Chewonki Foundation, the Schoodic Institute, Kieve Wavus Education, Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, Cobscook Institute, and Maine Local Living School — combined forces to transform ELLMS into the 

 network, an immersive learning initiative for students in grades four through eight.

When Things Look Grim, Turn to Your Partners

In early 2025, the network came together to petition bill LD895, which would lock in state support for its goals. In many ways, the bill was a rousing success. A number of Maine-based nonprofits backed the bill, and it ultimately garnered support on both sides of the political aisle. “Senator Rick Bennett sponsored it, and we had more than 100 cosponsors. It was probably one of the most popular bills of the 

Indeed, the bill passed with bipartisan support in May 2025. “Part of our goal was to try to transcend politics,” Dumsch says. “Getting kids outside shouldn’t be a Republican or Democrat thing, especially in Maine where the environment, farming, marine resources, and forestry are huge parts of who we are.”

 — a massive difference from the $1.5 million the collective needed to run a pilot project for half a grade level of students. Ever adaptable, Dumsch and his partners turned to private funding sources to make up as much of the difference as possible.

The Onion Foundation, the Betterment Fund, the Horizon Foundation, the Leonard C. & Mildred F. Ferguson Foundation, and the Quimby Family Foundation each made grants adding up to $450,000 to pilot the Maine Outdoor School for All program to 1,000 students.

But much work is needed to reach the initiative’s original goal. Dumsch and his partners have already launched a campaign to raise $1 million for the 2025-2026 school year, and they hope to scale that work to $6 million and eventually reach 14,000 students throughout Maine.

“I’m a glass-half-full person at all times,” says Dumsch. “You have to prioritize and show collective impact, and we’re doing that. I think another million [dollars] is feasible.”

Part of Dumsch’s optimism for a statewide, fully funded program is due to the fact that models for this kind of initiative already exist. Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota have all passed bills to establish experiential outdoor learning programs.

While those programs are largely backed primarily by state dollars, they’re programmatically similar to Maine’s initiative. Students supplement what they’re learning in their science classrooms with 

hands-on, interactive engagement with natural habitats

 and environmental processes. They develop communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, and come to understand the importance of environmental stewardship.

The programs bring entire classes or even grade levels on 

, not just those who opt in to out-of-school programs.

Piloting the Outdoor School for All in Sanford

In September 2025, the Ecology School led seventh-grade students from Sanford Middle School on a three-day excursion near the Saco River. “Diana Allen is a seventh-grade teacher at Sanford, and she was on the Nature-Based Education Consortium’s Climate, Education, and Advocacy group with me,” says Dumsch. “She recently won the state science teacher of the year award, so the minute we got funding, I knew Sanford would be the first place to focus on.”

During the retreat, students visited various ecological sites, learning about natural processes, food waste, and waste management. Students were excited to experience their lessons outdoors alongside their friends, and teachers walked away feeling as if they knew their students more deeply. The shared experience strengthened not only students’ knowledge, but also their relationships with their teachers and each other.

For Dumsch, it all comes down to connectedness: “What we’re trying to do is give kids at those pivotal ages joyful, amazing, inspirational experiences that can set them up to understand how conservation, food systems, and climate action are connected.”

Leaders from the eight collaborating organizations have met every month for the past 15 years to keep the foundational program running in Maine. And with the passing of LD895, they have even more motivation and resources to grow the Maine Outdoor School for All program statewide.

The Quest for Outdoor School for All Continues

When Dumsch first started partnering with other organizations to support the Maine Outdoor School for All program, he was met with some skepticism from Ecology School staff. When resources are limited, why share them with competitors?

But Dumsch saw things in a different light: “You have to have a growth mindset. Only 15-20% of kids in Maine are getting this type of experience now. What about the other 80%? Organizations like Chewonki aren’t our competitors. They’re our colleagues.”

And it’s true. Without collaboration — in terms of the network offering high-quality outdoor programs and a number of foundations awarding grants to launch the initiative — the Maine Outdoor School for All bill likely never would’ve passed. It’s this abundance mindset that fuels the program and makes Maine’s nature-based learning field so fruitful.

Moving forward, the collective is focused on securing more private grants and lobbying for state funding. It’s an uphill quest, but one already in motion. “We’ve got the ball rolling, the engine running,” says Dumsch. “Now, we just need more fuel.”

See what Sanford Middle Schoolers had to say about their time at the Ecology School! 

Learn how collaborative grantmaking made the Maine Outdoor School for All program happen.