Funders
The Wellness Collaborative is very fortunate to have the support of several funders who believe in our approach to building community health. Current funding partners include:
The Collaborative receives funding to support core operations (mainly staffing) from the Betterment Fund, as part of a multi-year grant award. Betterment has supported the Collaborative this way for several years, beginning with a multi-year grant award beginning in 2014.
Betterment is a philanthropic organization created by the will of William Bingham, 2nd, to support charitable purposes. Current grant priorities include education, health, conservation, community support, economic development, and early childhood.
Funding from this charitable endowment has supported core operations for OCWC across several years, and currently supports our work to advance community awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences and the important of resilience.
The Bingham Program works to promote health and advance medicine throughout Maine, and is administered by the Tufts Medical Center.
Maine West
Maine West is a partnership of local and regional organizations dedicated to addressing systemic rural challenges and enhancing community well-being in western Maine through increased collaboration across the economic, education, health and conservation sectors. The Collaborative participates as a partner representing health and wellness interests, and receives funding to support active involvement in meetings and activities. Current focal areas of this initiative include: Active Communities, Broadband Access and Adoption, and Educational Attainment and Aspirations. Maine West is an initiative of the Bingham Program.
Sewall Foundation
As A "Healthy People, Healthy Places" grantee, the Wellness Collaborative was fortunate to previously receive funding to support growing our capacity by adding staff, providing workgroup support, strategic funding for workgroup priorities, and more. Current Sewall funding helps to maintain our core capacity to support collaboration.
The Elmina B. Sewall Foundation supports work in Maine to improve the well-being of people, animals and the environment while fostering relationships that strive for social equity and community resilience.
Through the Collaborative’s administrative home at Healthy Oxford Hills (a department of Stephens Memorial Hospital, which is part of Western Maine Health), significant in-kind support is provided, including administrative and financial oversight, working space, and infrastructure.Stephens Memorial Hospital has specifically included the Collaborative in its strategic plan for community health.