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About Us
We are a membership-based community development organization focusing on the Gulf of Maine, particularly the fifteen year-round island communities off the Maine coast.
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Everything is Connected
The Institute's perspective is fundamentally ecological. It understands that all life is intimately linked with its environment; that people are therefore an inextricable part of the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine; that there is an interdependent web of existence more evident on islands than in other communities and landscapes. It also recognizes that the maritime culture of islands fundamentally depends on the ecological health and productivity of the surrounding marine environment. To imagine Maine and its islands without a productive lobster fishery, for instance, is like viewing the American prairie without the buffalo.
The Island Institute is a learning organization, operating at different scales throughout the region, annually reshaping its programs to respond to changing conditions and challenges. It assists in fund-raising for other groups and organizations that are better positioned than the Institute to deliver local services.
The Institute has a full-time staff of 30 to 35 including writers, planners, geographers, editors, educators, photographers, artists, marine scientists and policy specialists. It has an annual budget of approximately $2.5 million.