OVERVIEW: The Vermont Community Foundation is a community funder that supports nonprofits throughout the state of Vermont in a variety of areas, including youth, education, arts, and the environment.
IP TAKE: The Vermont Community Foundation, describing itself as “nimble” and able to approach its work with “curiosity, respect, and integrity,” believes in “collaboration, equity, and diversity.” This is a broad funder that supports a wide variety of giving areas, which means there is something out there for almost everyone. VCF is also an accessible and transparent funder that, according to 990s, appears support a larger quantity of small- to modest-sized grants to a wide variety organizations in its impact areas.
For its smaller program grants, VCF accepts applications online, although to secure a larger partnership-based grant may require more effort to forge a long-term relationship with VCF or one of its partners. For a nonprofit that does not fit a current open fund, RALI’s Connection Form is probably the most consequential “get to know us” mechanism. A strong submission can emphasize a local problem, evidence of community participation and collaboration and a credible need to VCF’s involvement, rather than simply asking VCF staff for a meeting and hoping funding follows.
Grant seekers should pay attention to Giving Together, a donor-facing mechanism that allows VCF fundholders support vetted projects coming through programs including Spark and Samara (see below for more info on these programs). Interested parties do not need to fill out a separate grant application, but it matters because participation in a competitive VCF program can create exposure to the broader reach of VCF’s donor-advised funds.
PROFILE: Established in 1986, the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) is located in Middlebury, Vermont. It is on a mission to “inspire giving and bringing together people and resources to make a difference in Vermont.” There are more than 1,000 funds at VCF, with a reported $370.6 million in total assets in a recent year. Grantmaking includes several programs and funds that support youth, education, literacy, arts, women and girls, environment, capacity building, opportunity gaps, and college and career.
VCF main issue areas are Economic Equity, Education & Training, Health & Wellbeing, Climate & the Environment, and Democracy, Trust, & Community Leadership. It offers five main types of grants:
- Opportunity Gap Community Impact Grants, Regional & Place-Based Grants, People & Issue-Based Grants, Nonprofit Development & Support, and Supporting Organizations / Partner Programs.
Grants for Environment and Climate Change
According to tax filings, environmental conservation is VCF’s largest grantmaking area in terms of the amount of money given away. VCF conducts the majority of its grantmaking in this area through its Regional Place-based Grants, such as
It also conducts climate and environment related grantmaking through its Opportunity Gap Climate & the Environment impact area. In a recent year, it gave over $2 million to the Vermont Land Trust alone, but it has made numerous smaller donations to groups like Rich Earth Institute, Lake George Association, and Upper Valley Land Trust.
Grants for Education and Youth
Vermont Community Foundation primarily invests in education and youth through its Opportunity Gap grant category, Education & Training, which is one of VCF’s five main impact areas. For VCF, its grants for education and youth intersect with opportunity, work, and literacy. Rather than making donations to individual schools in the region, VCF tends to support nonprofit organizations trying to make a difference in the area. Grant opportunities for education and youth include, but are not limited to:
VCF also partners with J. Warren and Lois McClure Foundation and Let’s Grow Kids to provide “equitable access to the postsecondary and career education that leads to Vermont’s most promising jobs.”
- These initiatives are long-term, strategic projects that make grants by invitation only.
- Let’s Grow Kids may have been sunset, or functions as a support organization for VCF exclusively, since 2025.
Grants for Community Development
For VCF, grants for community development intersect with Economic Equity, Education & Training, and Health & Wellbeing. Giving here primarily occurs across several programs/funds, specifically its Opportunity Gap Community Impact Grants, but also its Regional Place-based grants.
Opportunity Gap Grants focused on community development, economic empowerment, and human services include:
- Spark Connecting Community, which supports emerging, community-rooted work that builds social capital, civic participation, community connection and stewardship.
- The most recent round offered $500 to $5,000, particularly encouraged first-time grantseekers and applicants with budgets of $500,000 or less, and gave geographic priority to Essex, Grand Isle and Franklin counties.
- VCF awarded $139,406 to 31 organizations in the round.
- Regional and Local Impact (RALI), an invite-only program backing place-based, systems-oriented work addressing barriers to opportunity across VCF’s five impact areas.
- Awards are generally $15,000 to $25,000 annually for one or two years.
- VCF looks for community-generated ideas, collaboration, resident involvement and evidence that an effort is positioned to produce meaningful change.
- VCF offers a Nonprofit Connection Form through which organizations can introduce their work and signal interest in RALI.
Outside of its Opportunity Gap Impact Grants, VCF conducts most of its community development and social services grantmaking through its Regional Place-based grants. Funds with a particular focus on community development and social services include:
- The Walter Cerf Community Fund in Addison County.
- Crosby-Gannett Fund in Brattleboro offers one new three-year grant each year, at $7,500 per year, or $22,500 total.
- Hills and Hollows Fund of Rutland County offers “Hollows” grants of $250–$1,500 and “Hills” grants of $1,501–$7,500.
There are a handful of other community-focused-and-led grant programs worth nothing:
- The Green Mountain Fund is a rolling regional fund for Lamoille and Orleans counties and nearby communities, supporting lower-income youth and families, food systems, health, environmental stewardship and community engagement. Awards are generally $500 to $5,000.
- The Northeast Kingdom Fund supports locally generated work in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties, usually up to $5,000. In 2025 it awarded $111,950 to 25 organizations, including Green Mountain Farm-to-School, Northeast Kingdom Community Action and Vermont River Conservancy.
Grants for Arts and Culture
VCF, a major arts funder in Vermont, primarily makes grants through its Issues and People-based Grants. For example:
- The Arts & Social Cohesion fund provides grants of up to $12,000, with an average around $7,500, to organizations that “create opportunities for positive social interaction, engagement, and collaboration,” such as murals, public art installations, musical or dance performances, and public classes and events.
- The Concert Artists Fund, a laser-focused fund created from the estate of the late Charles Goetz which contributes up to $10,000 a year, over two years, to the continued performance of classical music in Chittenden County.
- Additionally, The Vermont Arts Endowment Fund supports the Vermont Arts Council in its efforts to maintain “a robust, relevant, and resilient arts culture in Vermont.” This is more of a pass-through mechanism than a direct grant program a nonprofit would approach through VCF.
Grants for Women and Girls
VCF primarily conducts grantmaking related to economic well-being, health, and social issues for women and girls through the Vermont Women’s Fund as part of its Issues and People-based grantmaking.
- This fund provides grants of up to $15,000 to organizations with “strategies that address systemic barriers to economic well-being and thriving in Vermont.”
- Learn more by visiting the Vermont Women’s Fund’s individual profile.
- Grantees include Addison Central Teens, Clemmons Family Farm, Community Asylum Seekers Project, Green Mountain Camp for Girls, Jenna’s Promise, and Springfield Area Parent Child Center.
- In a recent year, the fund awarded $411,650 to 46 organizations.
Grants for LGBTQ
VCF conducts grants related to the LGBTQ+ community through The Samara Fund as part of its Issues and People-based grantmaking.
- This fund supports organizations who “demonstrate their dedication to the empowerment, health, and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV positive (LGBTQ+) people.”
- It offers general operating support, project-specific grants, emergent needs grants, event sponsorships, and scholarships, prioritizing organizations that are “queer and trans-led,” support “queers with disabilities,” and “work that is harm reducing.”
- Even if the annual application window has closed, emergent needs and event sponsorship requests may be considered on a rolling basis while funding remains.
- Grantees include AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, Common Ground Center, Green Mountain Library Consortium, Out in the Open, Outright Vermont, and Pride Center of Vermont.
Other Opportunities
Beyond the opportunities listed above, VCF also hosts multiple programs for disaster relief, nonprofit capacity building and a limited interest in journalism.
- The Nonprofit Capacity Building program is a rolling program offering up to $5,000 for higher-level organizational planning—strategy, financial sustainability, merger/partnership exploration, DEI and board/leadership work. Applicants generally have budgets under $1 million, with priority below $250,000.
- Special and Urgent Needs, or SUN is another live rolling pathway, offering up to $5,000 for unexpected, unbudgeted and time-sensitive needs. VCF prioritizes smaller organizations working on basic human needs and says decisions generally come within 20 business days.
- David R. Coates Fund for Vermont Disaster Relief is VCF’s permanent disaster-response vehicle. There is no routine open application; VCF works with recovery partners and invites grants, although organizations actively responding to a disaster can make their needs known to the foundation.
- Press Forward Vermont is a current funder collaborative focused on strengthening local journalism, independent news and information infrastructure. Its work has supported such efforts as the Vermont Journalism Coalition and collaborative local-news initiatives.
Important Grants Details:
The Vermont Community Foundation’s publicly available grants generally range from $500 to $20,000, depending on the program or fund, while invitation-only and partnership grantmaking can go much higher. Spark Connecting Community grants range from $500 to $5,000, but its Regional and Local Impact grants range from $15,000 to $25,000. In a recent year, this funder gave $48.8 million in total grants.
VCF does not have a comprehensive grants database, but grant seekers may review the foundation’s financials and view stories of past impact published on the funder’s website.
- Many VCF funds accept open applications; RALI and some partner/disaster grants are invitation-driven; Kelsey accepts limited unsolicited LOIs; RALI has a Connection Form.
Grant seekers must create an account with the VCF in order to access its online Grants Manager.
Its capacity building grants may be of particular interest to organizations looking to expand their impact in Vermont.
Deadlines and application requirements vary by program or fund.
Grant applications are reviewed and evaluated by “community members, local non profit leaders, Community Foundation donors, former staff and board members, and current Foundation staff.”
Grant seekers must apply on behalf of a registered nonprofit or public entity. Grassroots community groups must apply with the support of a “fiscal sponsor.”
VCF accepts grant applications for certain programs. The foundation staff can be reached with general questions at info@vermontcf.org or view a full list of staff contacts here.
PEOPLE:
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