Our ambitious plans include expanding the number of Mitchell Scholarships awarded to 200 each year and increasing the critical wraparound supports needed to ensure the additional Scholars’ success.
This year, thanks to the generosity of our loyal donors, we will award 200 $10,000 Mitchell Scholarships — the highest number in our history and a 50% increase since 2022. This year’s 200 Mitchell Scholarships represent a $2 million investment in Maine’s future. And when those 200 Mitchell Scholars are named later this spring, we will reach another milestone: 4,000 Mitchell Scholars since Senator George J. Mitchell founded the Mitchell Institute in 1995.
While our endowment can fund our expansion of scholarships to 200 each year, the resulting increase in critical wraparound supports needed to ensure the additional Scholars’ success will depend upon greater generosity from members of the Mitchell Institute community.
Specifically, we aim to grow the breadth and depth of our proven signature programs, like the Welcome Celebration, MILE I, and MILE II, to ensure the success of our larger annual Scholar cohorts. We also aim to optimize partnerships with The Roux Institute, MaineHealth, and other organizations to provide career-development programming and pathways to industries with high workforce demand.
With your investment, we can and we will ensure that more hardworking young people in Maine have access to higher education, and in so doing we will provide communities statewide with a stronger and more educated workforce.
Invest with Confidence in the Mitchell Institute
The Mitchell Institute’s strong financial health and ongoing accountability and transparency have earned a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most utilized independent charity evaluator. This rating designates the Mitchell Institute as an official “Give with Confidence” charity, indicating that the organization is using its donations effectively based on Charity Navigator’s criteria. Since 2001, Charity Navigator has been an unbiased and trusted source of information for more than 11 million donors annually.
Charity Navigator analyzes nonprofit performance based on four key indicators, referred to as beacons. Currently, nonprofits can earn scores for their Impact & Results, Accountability & Finance, Culture & Community, and Leadership & Adaptability beacons.
The Four-Star rating comes in the same year the Mitchell Institute expanded the number of Mitchell Scholarships it awards statewide by 20. In 2024, the Institute awarded 185 $10,000 scholarships to students from every public high school in Maine.
Mitchell Scholar Mandy Cooper shares her gratitude for donors who have made the Mitchell Scholarship possible