Onion Foundation

The Onion Foundation is a family foundation headquartered in Wayne, Maine, founded in 2014 by technology entrepreneur Frederick "Fritz" Onion and his wife Susan Onion. A transformative endowment event in FY2021 — $69.5 million in new contributions received — elevated the foundation from a $13.9 million asset base to over $64 million, enabling sustained annual giving of $3.3–4.5 million and signaling a long-term, mission-driven commitment to Maine's arts and environment sectors.

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on two interlocking pillars: arts education and public engagement, and environmental access and stewardship. These are not siloed — many funded organizations blend outdoor learning with arts integration, Indigenous cultural recognition, and food systems work. Sustained support of Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness ($70,000 across 4 grants for traditional outdoor skills and grant-writing capacity) illustrates the foundation's appetite for intersectional, culturally grounded work.

Fritz and Susan Onion serve as unpaid Co-Directors alongside daughter Zoe Onion as Trustee, creating a tightly governed family philanthropy with deep institutional memory. Nearly 2,000 grants to more than 580 organizations across all 16 Maine counties reflect statewide ambition rather than concentration in Portland or coastal enclaves.

Relationship tenure is a consistent advantage. Top grantees like Maine Environmental Education Association (9 grants, $246,000 cumulative) and University of Maine Foundation (9 grants, $69,300) demonstrate multi-year partnership arcs. The Arts Program explicitly supports commitments of up to three years — applicants who frame sustained impact roadmaps and organizational stability outperform those seeking one-time project grants.

For first-time applicants, the path begins with a conversation, not a portal submission. Program officers Nat May (Arts) and Rosalind Erwin (Environment) are named publicly, reachable via email, and offer calendar scheduling — contact them before applying. The Discovery Grant program provides a structured entry point for new or experimental approaches before seeking larger multi-year support. Expect an LOI-to-relationship progression: this is not a foundation that funds strangers at scale.

From 738 tracked grants totaling $9.38 million in the foundation database, the average grant is $12,715 and median is approximately $11,750. The formal range spans $1,250 to $80,600 per individual grant, though cumulative organizational relationships reach much higher — Maine Environmental Education Association's 9-grant relationship totals $246,000, and New England Grassroots Environment Fund received a single $115,000 grant, the largest single award in the top-50 grantee data.

Annual giving has scaled dramatically over the foundation's decade: $100,000 in FY2014, $402,000 in FY2015, $1.9 million in FY2019, $3.7 million in FY2020, $3.8 million in FY2021, $3.9 million (grants paid) in FY2022, and $4.5 million total giving in FY2023 — a 45x increase from founding to maturity. This trajectory reflects both the $69.5 million endowment infusion of FY2021 and the foundation's increasing program confidence.

Formal Arts Program grant caps are clearly tiered: organizations with annual budgets over $50,000 may apply for up to $20,000/year (maximum $60,000 over three years); those at or below $50,000 annual budget may apply for up to $7,500/year (maximum $22,500 over three years). Environment Program grants operate at higher levels — single awards of $100,000 to Maine Initiatives (Outdoor Equity Fund) and $115,000 to New England Grassroots Environment Fund indicate the Environment side funds strategic ecosystem players at substantially greater scale than the Arts tier caps suggest.

Geographically, 96% of tracked grants (709 of 738) flow to Maine-based organizations. Within Maine, the foundation targets all 16 counties for its Environment Nature Learning program, with explicit priority given to Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Washington — the least-served rural counties. Arts funding concentrates more in Portland metro and coastal Maine, with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Stage, and Portland Ovations each receiving $71,000 across 3 grants — suggesting a cohort-level approach where peer institutions receive comparable multi-year commitments.

The five asset-size peers identified in the foundation database share a similar endowment scale ($53–72 million) but differ substantially in transparency, geographic scope, and public accessibility.

The Onion Foundation stands in sharp contrast to these asset-size peers in one critical dimension: accessibility. While all five peers lack public websites or known program details in grant databases, the Onion Foundation maintains a fully public-facing website with named program officers, open application cycles with stated deadlines, a grants-awarded archive, and an FAQ. This level of transparency is exceptional for a family foundation of this asset class and reflects Fritz and Susan Onion's deliberate commitment to open philanthropy. For Maine-based environmental and arts organizations, the Onion Foundation is among the most accessible institutional funders in this asset tier — a significant practical advantage for applicants who might otherwise pursue comparable funders in New York, Connecticut, or Colorado with far less public information available.

The most significant recent institutional development is the Onion Foundation's 2025 partnership with organizational consultant SectorWind to deliver scenario-planning workshops for grantees across both the Arts and Environment programs. This investment in grantee resilience — rather than just program outcomes — signals a maturation in the foundation's theory of change and a growing interest in long-term organizational health.

The foundation currently has active grant cycles in both programs for 2026: the Environment Program is accepting applications (May 2026 notifications) and the Arts Program fall cycle opens July 22, 2026 (November notifications). Recent featured grantees include Portland Trails (expanding equitable access to the city's trail network), Langlais Art Preserve (preserving sculptor Bernard Langlais' Maine studio and legacy), and Kinonik (a rare analog film microcinema serving cinephiles statewide).

Cumulative milestone: the foundation has now awarded nearly 2,000 grants to more than 580 unique organizations across all 16 Maine counties — a benchmark the foundation cites publicly as evidence of statewide reach. No leadership changes have been publicly announced; Fritz and Susan Onion continue as Co-Directors with daughter Zoe Onion serving as Trustee. No specific major grant announcements for 2025–2026 were found in public press coverage beyond the foundation's own website materials, which is consistent with its low-media-profile operating style.

Know your program before reaching out. The foundation runs two distinct programs — Arts and Environment — each with sub-strategies. Arts covers music, dance, theater, visual arts, and multidisciplinary work. Environment covers Equitable Outdoor Access (EOA), Expand Nature Learning, and Advocacy and Movement Building. Misaligning your pitch to the wrong program officer wastes relationship capital.

Call or email before submitting. Program Officer Nat May (nat@onionfoundation.org) handles Arts; Rosalind Erwin (rosalind@onionfoundation.org) handles Environment. The foundation explicitly encourages these conversations, and calendly scheduling links are available on the website. A 20-minute call before applying demonstrates seriousness and surfaces alignment issues before they become rejection reasons.

Anchor your narrative in the foundation's vocabulary. Use the exact language that appears in their program descriptions: "equitable access," "nature learning," "arts engagement and public participation," "all 16 Maine counties," "barrier reduction." Proposals that mirror the foundation's own framework language signal genuine alignment rather than opportunistic positioning.

For Arts applicants: know your budget tier precisely. The $50,000 annual budget threshold determines your grant ceiling. Organizations above $50K may request up to $20,000/year; those at or below may request up to $7,500/year. Requesting above your tier will likely disqualify your application outright.

For Environment Nature Learning applicants: lead with rural geography. Priority counties are Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Washington. If your program operates in any of these counties, open with that fact. If you serve youth from these counties even through regional programming, make that explicit.

Frame equity with specifics. The Equitable Outdoor Access program funds reduction of concrete barriers for BIPOC communities and people with disabilities. Vague diversity commitments will not suffice — lead with participant demographics, specific barriers removed, and measurable access outcomes.

Apply for multi-year support if eligible. The Arts Program supports commitments up to three years ($60,000 maximum). Multi-year proposals demonstrate organizational stability and allow the foundation to build a deeper relationship — both factors that correlate with funded status among top grantees.

Use the Discovery Grant as a first step for new or untested programs. This vehicle is specifically designed for innovative or experimental approaches — applying through Discovery before seeking a larger award is a recognized pathway at this foundation, not a consolation prize.