Blue Hill Community Development was founded earlier this year and has been organized as an “umbrella” organization to facilitate projects consistent with the BHCD Mission Statement.

Our Role

The BHCD organization consists solely of its Board of Directors and is intended to support the volunteer efforts of other Blue Hill community members in pursuing projects in which the project leaders are passionate, committed, and willing to “bear the laboring oar” (with some technical assistance/expertise from BHCD) in advancing their project.

We’re Organized to Offer…

• A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization. That means that qualifying donations in support of BHCD’s projects may be tax-deductible. That can be an important factor when substantial funds need to be raised.
• A legal corporation. There are many grant providers who support projects to enhance economic development, care for the disadvantaged, preserve the natural beauty of Maine and many other community efforts. Almost all require that the grant recipient be a legal entity, not just an informal group with an idea.
• A communications platform. BHCD offers a web site, email list system, Facebook page and other “infrastructure” to help project leaders get the word out about their efforts to both their own core volunteers and to the community at large. While there’s certainly no requirement to use our systems, they can help leverage project volunteers’ efforts by giving them more time to focus on bringing their ideas to fruition.
• Project advice. We hope to become a “hub” for both action and discussion about projects and ideas of interest to the Blue Hill community. As such, we expect to be able to leverage our Directors’ expertise and lessons from each project to make all projects more likely to succeed.
• Local network. There are a broad range of local resources with experience in, for example, identifying grant programs, writing successful grant applications and soliciting financial donations. And there are many other professionals who are willing to devote some of their expertise to supporting worthy efforts to improve life in Blue Hill. BHCD expects that it will be able to help connect project leaders with a specific need to local community members with the necessary expertise and willingness to help.
• Forum for discussion of ideas. There are lots of volunteers with ideas for Blue Hill, many of which overlap with others. We hope to connect people with the passion and energy to invest in Blue Hill so they can coordinate their ideas and collaborate. Hopefully, we can reduce duplication, the risk of working at cross purposes within the community and, foremost, spreading the load of pursuing each project amongst a broader base of volunteers. Many hands makes light work!