Couch Family Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The Couch Family Foundation supports community development and early childhood initiatives in New Hampshire, Vermont and Martha’s Vineyard.

IP TAKE: The Couch Family Foundation envisions a future “where children can be safe, healthy, and thrive” and its grantmaking supports a broad range of programs and initiatives for children, families and development of the New England communities in which they live. With its narrow geographic focus, this foundation is able to understand community needs and identify the organizations that are poised to effect positive change. This is a flexible and approachable funder that offers unrestricted, capital and project support. It accepts applications for four annual grantmaking cycles. Couch is a great funder to know if your organization serves the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont or the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

PROFILE: Based in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Couch Family Foundation was founded by Dick and Barbara Couch in 2001. Dick Couch co-founded Hypertherm, a multinational industrial and engineering company. The foundation’s mission is to “to be a catalyst for change in the lives of children and their families by creating quality and equitable opportunities to help them learn, thrive, and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.” It runs grantmaking programs for community development and early childhood education, working exclusively in the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire and Vermont and on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Grants for Community Development

The Couch Family Foundation’s Community Grants program works broadly to support “nonprofit organizations that advance community well-being” in the foundation’s stated geographic service areas. Grantmaking prioritizes organizations with strong reputations in communities served, “a collaborative approach to community change” and strong commitments to inclusion, equity and justice. Community grants provide unrestricted, project, capital and event support to grantees, which tend to be small to medium-sized organizations. While the foundation does not mention arts and culture as an area of focus, several community grants support arts organizations each year.

Past grantees of the Community Grants program include New Hampshire’s AVA Gallery and Art Center, the Lebanon Opera House, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, the Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity and Zack’s Place, a Vermont organization that provides educational, cultural and recreational opportunities to disabled children and adults.

Grants for Early Childhood Education and Public Health

Couch’s Early Childhood Strategic Grants Program supports “organizations that are working to ensure young children have access to equitable, high-quality early education and care, health services, and family supports.” According to the foundation’s Early Childhood Strategy page, the program’s three “pillars” are early learning, children’s health and family strengthening. Further, the foundation names three specific focus areas for its grantmaking:

  • Upper Valley Capacity Building grants aim to build the capacity of effective “organizations, networks and programs” in the ares of education, health and family well-being.

  • Statewide System Building grants work throughout the state of New Hampshire to build capacity for “leadership, advocacy, and effective public policies that support strong systems of care for children and families.”

  • Research and Innovation grants fund research, program development and community learning with the overarching goals of improving outcomes for young children in the communities served by the foundation.

Couch’s early childhood grants serve the entire state of New Hampshire, as well as the Upper Valley region of Vermont.

Grantees include the Green Mountain Children’s Center in Vermont, New Hampshire’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, the Upper Valley Teacher Training Program, the Orange County Parent Child Center and the Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Brownsville, Vermont.

Important Grant Details

Couch’s grants generally range from $1,000 to $160,000, although first-time grantees tend to receive grants of up to $10,000.

  • This funder gives to organizations of all sizes but prioritizes organizations with strong reputations in the communities they serve.

  • Tax filings show that many grantees receive ongoing support.

  • Community grants serve the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont as well as the island of Martha’s Vineyard, while early childhood grantmaking serves the entire state of New Hampshire and the Upper Valley region of Vermont.

This funder accepts applications for funding through its online grant portal and provides detailed guidelines and instructions on its application and FAQ pages. Couch runs four grantmaking cycles per year. Its application portal is open from August through October, December through January, February through April and May through July. Applicants are generally notified within two months of the application due date. Applicants are encouraged to reach out to staff with questions before applying.

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