Amy Paradysz

Creativity flourished at the two-night arts-and-food event.

About $30,000 was raised to support Old York’s operational costs.

The event raised $155,000 to support MSMT’s ongoing mission to enrich lives through musical theater.

Mainers who can afford to get into a bidding war for a week in a French villa and Mainers struggling to afford food for their families might as well be living in different worlds entirely. Standing in the gap between those worlds is Newcastle resident Erica Berman, who traded in her life as a boutique […]

The Sweet Life — or, in Italian, “La Dolce Vita” — was the theme behind the Portland Museum of Art’s Aug. 6 Summer Party in the David E. Shaw and Family Sculpture Park. “This is a thank you to our members,” said Director Mark H.C. Bessire. “We’re just here to be together and have a […]

Most of us mark a work anniversary with likes on LinkedIn. Something quite a bit more theatrical was in store for Bradford Kenney, who has spent the past 20 years growing Ogunquit Playhouse from a five-week summer stock season to a 25-week theater that generates $21 million in economic impact for Maine each year. “He […]

Black trailblazers in a variety of fields, including politics, justice, education and outdoor recreation, were honored Aug. 1 at the Maine Black Excellence Awards at Caswell Farm in Gray. The annual gathering is the signature event of the Portland-based nonprofit The Third Place, which connects Maine’s Black professionals, students and entrepreneurs to social, professional and […]

Two hundred people attended an annual summer lawn party July 18 co-hosted by Allagash Brewing Co. and Victoria Mansion as a fundraiser for the 19th-century home-turned-museum on Danforth Street in Portland.   “Every penny raised through this event goes right into our mission,” said Victoria Mansion Executive Director Tim Brosnihan. “And we have some major […]

Signs of Hope raised more than $175,000 to advance behavioral health programs and services.

Thirty artists from across the nation set up their easels across Cape Elizabeth last weekend, painting plein air works for Cape Elizabeth Land Trust’s Paint for Preservation “wet paint” art auction Sunday afternoon, July 13. “I am genuinely in awe of the work artists are able to produce in less than three days,” said Cape […]

700 people attended the anniversary celebration of the nonprofit’s work providing food, clothing and shelter.

The Maine Historical Society raised $120,000 for its work across the state.

Bestselling novelists Chris Whitaker, Claire Lombardo and Dani Shapiro spoke about the life-changing power of reading.

The nonprofit’s spring fundraiser generated $10,000 to support local farms and deliver food to local hunger prevention programs.

This year’s Portland Stage Spring Gala was a bit like an open house, giving guests a chance to focus the theater lights, swap out scenery, perform a quick costume change and direct a scene. “Tonight is building constituencies as much as it about raising money,” said board president Todd Nicholson. “It’s really about making people […]

Every aspect of Partners for World Health’s Blue Wrap Runway Fashion two-night event, May 15 and 16 at The Good Theater at Stevens Square in Portland was mission-focused: The fashion was inspired by 20 of the 34 countries where Partners for World Health has shipped supplies or gone on medical missions. And the garments were […]

Having covered nonprofit fundraisers weekly for the past 13 years, I have seen hundreds of auctions where ordinary people raise their hands — and their bid numbers — to protect the organizations and initiatives that matter to them. Never is that impulse stronger than when they feel that something they love, like the Children’s Museum […]

More than 220 supporters of Scarborough-based nonprofit KidsFirst Center attended a Sugarbox benefit concert and auction May 8 at Aura in downtown Portland that raised $50,000 to continue providing co-parenting education to all Mainers, regardless of ability to pay. “This is our major annual fundraiser, and it supports our core curriculum of courses, our workshops […]

EqualityMaine, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a fair and just society for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Mainers, celebrated its 40th anniversary April 26 at Brick South on Thompson’s Point. Picking a high point of the four-hour gala isn’t easy because there were many. Like when singer-songwriter Cidny Bullens — who was Cindy Bullens […]

Opera Maine, the state’s only professional opera company producing fully staged and orchestrated works, launched its 30th anniversary season May 1 with a wickedly witty gala inspired by its upcoming mainstage production, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Every detail of the Ocean Gateway event was delightfully dark, from the blood red swirls […]