Upcoming Events

FREE, In-person training for non-profit organizations, first responders, and government officials in the Androscoggin County area that were directly involved with or supported anyone during and/or after the Lewiston tragedy. 

Questions? Email ambrose@namimaine.org or visit namimaine.org. 

Mental Health First Aid Training

There are relatively few fiscal sponsors in Maine—and none working at scale or offering a broad range of services—yet there are many small organizations and programs that could benefit from using a fiscal sponsor. There also is considerable confusion about the roles of fiscal sponsors and sponsees, the requirements of funders, and the components and benefits of a sound fiscal sponsorship agreement.

Maine Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape Analysis: Nonprofit Discussion

The Onion Foundation is partnering with OUT Maine to provide a comprehensive cohort program for arts and culture organizations to develop and implement inclusive LGBTQIA2S+ programming.

OUT Maine x Onion Foundation 2025 Learning Cohort: Midcoast Maine

What are the Next Generation Science Standards and how do they relate to environmental education? This three-part training series by Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance will help out of school educators understand teaching objectives of classroom teachers and explore the ways that outdoor learning experiences can help achieve them.

Next Generation Science Standards for Maine Environmental Educators

Please join other funders on Wednesday, June 4, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., for a presentation and discussion of a new report, Maine Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape Analysis: Examining Opportunities to Strengthen Maine’s Nonprofit Ecosystem. 

Maine Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape Analysis: Funder Discussion

ALL YOUR DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE! Ok, ok, maybe not all of them. But we are REALLY excited about this important money-saving policy update that MANP worked to pass, and we think you will be, too!

Starting January 1, 2025, all charitable nonprofits in Maine will be eligible for sales tax exemption. This means approximately 5,000 organizations across Maine (like yours!) could redirect a collective $10 million per year toward their missions.

In this session, you'll learn how the exemption will work, what steps you need to take to gain the exemption certificate, which purchases qualify for sales tax exemption, and more.

Presenter: Judy Methot, Director of the Sales, Fuel, and Special Tax Division of Maine Revenue Services

How to Access the NEW Blanket Sales Tax Exemption for Nonprofits

Can nonprofits advocate? Yes! Can they lobby? Absolutely! Are there rules to follow? Of course!

This virtual training is for staff and board members of 501(c)(3) organizations who are new to advocacy and interested in exploring how to strengthen the communities they serve through public policy. 

Hosted by Maine Association of Nonprofits and supported by the Onion Foundation.

Nonprofit Advocacy 101: Why, What & How

This virtual session for Maine nonprofit professionals will use a case study to explore how inclusive policies within an organization can resolve workplace and youth conflicts. Attendees will work peer-to-peer to reflect on their organization's policies and review procedures for addressing conflicts. 


Leading Inclusive Organizations through Policy, Reflection, and Growth - Advanced Webinar with OUT Maine

Mental Health First Aid Training (October)

This virtual session for Maine nonprofit professionals will explore how gender can become a tool of separation and oppression, using personal and narrative reflections. Attendees will practice interrupting bias through role-play using the IQEE model (interrupt, question, educate, echo); reflect on how gender can be celebrated; and receive guidance on how to empathize with the gender diverse experience.


Exploring Gender to Address Bias - Advanced Webinar with OUT Maine

OUT Maine x Onion Foundation 2025 Learning Cohort: Central Maine

Ready to become a more confident advocate in 2026? Join us for a one-hour training with Jennifer Wilson, Director of Programming and Advocacy at the New England Museum Association.

Presented by Cultural Alliance of Maine (CAM)

Cultural Advocacy 101 with the New England Museum Association and the Cultural Alliance of Maine

The Onion Foundation is hosting this community conversation for grantee partners to discuss ways in which you are making accommodations for members of your community with disabilities, and to hear the things you would like to learn more about.

Accessibility Listening Session

Three Virtual Sessions: January 30, February 13, and February 27

Virtual Training for Educators: Science Standards in Maine Environmental Education

Do you have questions about who is in your audience? Curious about how to know if you’re reaching the people you’d like to reach? Collecting demographic data doesn’t have to be complicated!

Join USM’s Data Innovation Project for a hands-on introduction to a new, easy-to-use toolkit designed to help organizations collect and use demographic data with confidence. 

Making Demographic Data Doable: A Toolkit for Arts and Cultural Organizations

A partnership between the Onion Foundation and Open Door Arts. The Cultural Accessibility Peer Learning Community is a free 10-month professional development and peer learning program for Onion Foundation grantees who are ready to deepen their commitment to access and inclusion. The program begins in September 2025 and is open to current arts grantees. Registration closes on Friday September 12th. 

Cultural Accessibility Peer Learning Community

This virtual session for Maine nonprofit professionals will explore how individual identities influence individual power and agency. Attendees will learn about how intersectionality helps us understand how needs change when identities come together, as well as reflect on how their organizations can meet intersectional needs.

Understanding Intersectional Identities - Advanced Webinar with OUT Maine

What does an election year mean for your nonprofit? How can your organization engage in the election while remaining nonpartisan? What broader issues are at stake? 

Join MANP for the second part of our Advocacy Series, and get an overview of what’s at stake in the 2026 election in Maine and why it matters to nonprofits. We will answer common questions about what election-related activities nonprofits (and their staff and volunteers) can and cannot do, and we’ll leave plenty of time to answer your questions.

Hosted by Maine Association of Nonprofits and supported by the Onion Foundation.

2026 Elections: How Maine Nonprofits Can Take Action

Advocacy isn't separate from your mission—it's one of the most powerful ways to advance it. Yet many nonprofits hesitate to engage because advocacy can seem intimidating, unfamiliar, and just out of reach. Our panelists will help demystify advocacy and show how meaningful change can begin with small, intentional actions, strong relationships, and a willingness to use your voice.

Join us to hear real stories and practical lessons about building advocacy into organizational culture, strengthening partnerships, engaging boards, and finding confidence in your organization’s voice.

Hosted by Maine Association of Nonprofits and supported by the Onion Foundation.

MANP Connects: Advocacy is Mission Work

This session will introduce two practical tools—contingency planning and scenario planning—to help organizations prepare for multiple possible futures while staying grounded in their mission and priorities.

The Art of Planning What We Cannot Predict: An Introduction to Contingency & Scenario Planning

Does your nonprofit have five or more employees? Then you need to know about MERIT (Maine Retirement Investment Trust) - the new state requirement about retirement savings in the workplace.

Penalties for noncompliance begin in 2025. This session will cover details and deadlines for employers under the Maine Retirement Savings Program legislation, including how to enroll in MERIT, or be exempted by offering your own retirement savings plan.

New Statewide Retirement Savings Requirement: What Nonprofits Need to Know

Join us for a conversation with Adaptive Outdoor Education Center's Director Kayla Lee, to learn more about accessible programming, AOEC's model and partnerships, and local resources available to nonprofits. 

Grantee Spotlight Webinar: Accessible Programming with Adaptive Outdoor Education Center

Maine's new paid family and medical leave program will be funded via a payroll tax split between employees and employers starting in 2025.

Maine's Department of Labor is wrapping up rulemaking, and employers need to be prepared to implement payroll withholding starting in January. Join us to make sure your organization is in compliance.

Maine's Paid Family Medical Leave: What You Need to Know for 2025

BFS is thrilled to host a Fundraising Workshop for Nonprofit Organizations facilitated by Andy Robinson: “Big Money for Small Groups” We invite staff and board members from other nonprofit organizations in our region to join us for what promises to be an engaging and productive session, as part of the rising tide that will lift all boats! 

Big Money for Small Groups — Nonprofit Fundraising Workshop

Private and public foundations can play an important role in advocacy by engaging in advocacy themselves and funding their grantees to advocate on their issues. After this workshop, your foundation will have a clear understanding of the kinds of advocacy activities you can safely engage in and best practices for grantmaking to give your grantees the most flexibility under the law for their advocacy efforts. Not sure how to make the case for funding advocacy? Uncertain whether you can fund grantees that lobby? Wondering whether your public or private foundation can speak out on a particular issue? This training answers these questions and more!

 Investing in Change: Foundation Support for Advocacy & Lobbying

NEFA welcomes New England's cultural sector to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (July 26) and Disability Pride Month by joining us for this webinar with our colleagues at Open Door Arts.

Arts Access Hub: A New Resource for Cultural Accessibility

Maine Philanthropy Center is launching a rapid response fund to meet the urgent and emerging needs of Maine's nonprofit sector.  

This fund offers financial resources and support to help Maine nonprofits prepare for and respond to loss of federal funding, cuts to social programs, and targeted harassment of marginalized communities. 

If you would like to learn more about the fund or the rolling application process, please join one of MPC's virtual information sessions on July 8th.

Maine Philanthropy Center's Readiness and Rapid Response Fund Information Session

Free for MANP members.

Many arts and culture organizations do not have enough staff to have a designated "Human Resources" team, or even one person who is responsible for this important role. It can make it hard to keep up with compliance!

Join MANP and Ann Freeman of Bernstein Shur to ensure your organization is following federal and state guidance when it comes to wage and hour laws. We’ll be looking specifically at when to classify a worker as a contractor vs employee, and also Maine’s overtime exemption laws.

Demystifying Wage and Hour Laws for Arts and Culture Organizations

OUT Maine and The Onion Foundation will host “Building Inclusive Organizations: The Basics,” a 101-level public webinar meant to introduce organizations and individuals to the fundamentals of running inclusive programs, why such work is urgent and deeply needed in Maine.

Building Inclusive Organizations: The Basics - a webinar with OUT Maine

What are the cultural industries advocating for in Augusta in 2026? What opportunities are in front of the Maine legislature this year?

This workshop is part of a virtual advocacy learning series present by CAM ahead of Cultural Advocacy Day on 3/19/26, to prepare the arts and culture sector for collective action work in 2026 and beyond.

Maine Cultural Policy Agenda 2026

Join the Onion Foundation for a presentation by Speaking Up For Us (SUFU) Executive Director, Monique Stairs; Program Manager, Laurie Coldwell; and SUFU self-advocates to learn more about SUFU’s model of centering self-advocates’ voices and how Maine nonprofits can partner with SUFU to promote inclusion for people living with developmental disabilities. The one-hour webinar will also include a Q&A portion for attendees to bring their own thoughts to the table.

Partner Spotlight Webinar: Centering Self-Advocates with Speaking Up For Us

OUT Maine x Onion Foundation 2025 Learning Cohort: Southern Maine

The Onion Foundation is partnering with OUT Maine to provide a comprehensive peer-supported learning cohort program for nonprofit staff, board, and/or volunteers who want support developing inclusive policies and understanding best practices for supporting LGBTQIA2S+ program participants.

OUT Maine x Onion Foundation Fall 2026 Learning Cohort

Mental Health First Aid Training (September)

This virtual session for Maine nonprofit professionals will introduce HOPE - Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences - as an alternative framework for understanding how childhood experiences relate to health outcomes for youth into adulthood. HOPE provides a guide for the “now what” response to adverse childhood experiences, which helps organizational staff determine what action steps they can take to support youth in building resilience for the future.
