The Nova Fund at MeHAF
Background
At the end of 2022, the Maine Health Access Foundation received a $9 million unrestricted gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Our Board committed to expend the donated funds on activities consistent with MeHAF’s mission, and, in keeping with the extraordinary opportunity of this gift, to make every effort to expend the $9 million over the course of three to five years (2023 - 2028), while maintaining activities to implement our Strategic Framework at a level of financial commitment that would have existed absent the gift.
Early in 2023 we began engaging key stakeholders to identify focus areas for using these resources. A group of our Board and Community Advisory Committee (CAC) members and staff participated in a multi-day, intensive “design sprint” process to develop a plan. This resulted in guidance, subsequently approved by the full Board and CAC, highlighting three big categories of work to fund: Increasing Funding to Current/Recent Priorities; Collaborative Planning on Critical Issues; and funding for a yet-to-be-defined “Big Idea(s).”
We also established a name for these resources: the Nova Fund.
The right section of this page shares the current progress we have made in developing Nova Fund spending.
Have a question about the Nova Fund? Email Communications Manager Jeb Murphy.
Timeline of Completed and Ongoing Nova Fund Activities
Completed Work - 2023, 2024 & 20205
Increased Funding for Current/Recent Priorities: The Board and CAC allocated a portion of the funds to enhance our existing support for work we know is making a difference in Maine. Our first Nova Fund grants were to organizations in the existing programs of Health Equity Capacity Building, Health Advocacy, Safety Net Clinic Grants Supporting Access to Care, Comprehensive Reproductive Health, and Community-Led Health Needs Assessments. The $2.4 million designated for this part of the fund strategy is allowing grantees across these programs to enhance their work to ensure equitable access to care for all people in Maine.
Health Justice Movement Building: In November of 2023, we brought together 80 individuals including grantees, staff, Board, CAC, and other partners to envision what a strong, successful health justice movement in Maine could look like and to identify how best these resources could contribute moving forward. The design/alignment team that leads work in this priority area made significant progress in 2025. They completed initial design work for establishing a Movement School, including conducting a field scan and developing curriculum. They also worked to enhance critical support for the administrative needs of movement-focused nonprofit organizations, and established an ongoing structure to facilitate alignment of small, organizing, and movement-building nonprofits to enhance their capacity for collective action.
Healthcare Workforce: We convened a statewide summit in April 2025 to engage key stakeholders in generating and prioritizing ideas to move forward. Several workgroups then met over the course of the year to develop concrete action plans and funding opportunities.
Responding to the Moment: In April 2025, the Board and CAC approved allocating $1.5 million of the Nova Fund resources to respond to current threats to Maine’s communities and nonprofits. Identified priorities include: contributing to pooled funds providing responsive, low barrier funding to organizations serving those at greatest risk; supporting organizations focused on communities being most significantly harmed by federal actions; supporting media/communications vehicles and activities striving to provide accurate and critical information regarding health and health-related issues; and supporting contingency and strategy planning for continuity of critical services in the face of major cuts in funding.
Ongoing & In Development for 2026
Health Justice Movement Building: The Movement School team plans to complete and pilot test the curriculum this year. In addition, the Design and Alignment team agreed to prioritize developing a Community Defense Ecosystem, or a coordinated set of activities to support communities facing targeting for further marginalization and harm. This includes tools to help families navigate crises, prevent escalation, keep people in their homes and jobs, and ensure community members can access care without fear.
Big Ideas: We have taken advantage of several opportunities to solicit ideas from key stakeholders, including through the Center for Effective Philanthropy survey of grantees and applicants we conducted in 2024. As we continue work to develop a new strategic plan for MeHAF we expect to finalize in 2026, we are integrating planning for this priority area with that process.
Health Workforce: In February 2026, The Board approved a multi-pronged concept outlining the core focus areas for this initiative including: (1) health workforce data for action, (2) public-private partnership for health workforce planning, and (3) expanding the pipeline of non-traditional workers. The initial project to support improved systematic data collection and analysis is anticipated to begin in May, with grantmaking to support the other priority areas to follow during the course of this year.