Technical Assistance Grants

 

The Maine Grain Alliance Grows Businesses

Download the request for Proposals

Examples of Previous Grant Awards

Why are technical assistance grants valuable? 

Please email completed proposals to: tristan@mainegrainalliance.com

Application Deadline: The next grant cycle will be in 2026 

Awards Announcement: To be determined

Your Application should not exceed 2 pages in length. It would be helpful for you to frame your application using the headings and information below and please be specific.  

Brief Business Overview

  • Your business
  • Grain community involvement

Brief description of TA/Equipment need 

  • Equipment or Service needed 
  • Why is this important to you
  • How will this improvement help you grow

Financials

  • Identified TA provider, scope of work and timeline
  • TA provider hourly rate
  • Total cost of TA or Equipment (if a grant from MGA will not cover the full cost of the TA, please indicate how the balance of the cost will be covered)

Request for Proposals

The 2025 Technical Assistance Grant round is now closed.

 

Maine Grain Alliance
P.O. Box 1140
Skowhegan, Maine 04976

Technical Assistance Grant Program
The 2026 Grant Cycle is not yet open.

The Maine Grain Alliance seeks applications to award mini-grants of $250 – $1,000 to fund need-based technical assistance (TA) and equipment that will help grain-based business owners secure economic opportunities in Maine.  

Examples of technical assistance might include, but are not limited to:  hiring someone to help with business planning, hiring a consultant, advisor or expert, marketing/logo/brand development, website creation, attending a course or mentoring opportunity, hiring an architect, engineer, mechanical specialist, buying a needed piece of machinery or getting legal support.  Please specify one area of technical assistance for which you are seeking grant support.

Grain-based business owners and entrepreneurs demonstrating financial need are welcome to apply.  The Maine Grain Alliance is especially interested in assisting participants, presenters, panelists, work-study students, and scholarship recipients of the Kneading Conference which has been held annually since 2007.

For more information about the Maine Grain Alliance and its other programs, please visit http://www.mainegrainalliance.org  The Maine Grain Alliance is a 501c3 non-profit organization.  This technical assistance grant program is made possible by Allagash Brewing Company and Skowhegan Savings. 

Download a PDF of the Request for Proposals

Examples of Previous Grants

Below you will find examples from of grant awards from our latests grant funding round.  Our grants of $250-$1,000 are used to fund need-based technical assistance and equipment that will help grain-based business owners secure economic opportunities in Maine.

In 2025, we funded $12,800 in grants to 13 businesses.

  • Union St. Sourdough in support of an oven
  • Rose’s Sourdough in support of a mill
  • Eat Pie Love in support of marketing
  • Perch Provisions in support of refrigeration
  • Monona Bread in support of a dough mixer
  • Night Moves in support of grain storage
  • Invertebration in support of a sifting machine
  • The Uproot Pie Company in support of a mixer
  • Crystal Springs Farm in support of grain and equipment storage
  • Maine Grains in support of marketing
  • The Bread Pedaler / Porteur Breads in support of a dough proofer
  • Spark Bagel in support of marketing
  • Rusted Rooster Farm in support of web design

In 2023-2024, we funded $12,310 in grants to 16 businesses.

In 2022, we funded $15,350 in grants to 16 businesses.

In 2021, we funded $10,552 in grants as part of this program.

In 2020, we funded $12,495 in grants as part of this program.

Made possible through the support of

Learn More About Supporting Our Programs.

Our Technical Assistance Grant Partners & Sponsors