The Elmina B. Sewall Foundation (Sewall) has been engaged in a learning journey—both internally and externally—to deepen equity. That learning has informed the foundation’s thinking about what they do and how they do it and sparked their desire to shift towards more community-driven processes.
One of Sewall’s hallmarks is a relationship-centered practice through programs that are designed in conversation with community members and peer funders. Influenced in part by Being the Change, Sewall has been exploring different ways they can transform themselves to increase their impact. In addition to providing grants for general operations, projects, and capital expenses, Sewall employs other strategies, including capacity building, impact investment, and support for policy and advocacy, to achieve transformative impacts in communities across the state of Maine.