ELLSWORTH — The Environmental Funders Network (EFN) has awarded $526,400 in grants to 14 organizations through its ongoing Quality of Place initiative.

Second-year grantees are Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, GrowSmart Maine, Healthy Community Coalition, Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund, Maine Downtown Center, Maine Farmland Trust, Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine and the Trust for Public Land.

Joining this group are Androscoggin Land Trust, Friends of Midcoast Maine, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association and the Nature Conservancy.

“These organizations are committed to enhancing quality of place across Maine by strengthening the link between the natural and built environments and through public engagement and collaboration,” said Lynne Seeley, chair of the EFN steering committee.

Contributors to the collaborative funding initiative include individual donors and foundation trustees who are inspired by the Brookings Institution’s “Charting Maine’s Future” report.

The Environmental Funders Network is a joint project of the Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Philanthropy Center. For more information, visit www.environmentalfundersnetwork.org.