Vermont Women’s Fund

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OVERVIEW: The Vermont Women’s Fund supports the economic self-sufficiency of women and girls throughout Vermont.

IP TAKE: The Vermont Women’s Fund, which conducts all of its grantmaking through a gender lens, focuses only on supporting organizations in Vermont. While this is a modest funder, its influence seems to be growing. Recently, it has been able to increase its total grantmaking year over year, giving away over $400,000 in its most recent grant cycle. VWF is a good resource for organizations working in these areas because in addition to its issue areas, it also invests in capacity building and organizational sustainability with both single-year and multi-year grants. Both an accessible and transparent funder, VWF welcomes contact.

PROFILE: Established in 1994, the Vermont Women’s Fund is a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation. VWF, the first fund in the state to focus on the needs of local women and girls, is advised by a council of women from across the state. The Fund is on a mission to “fund structural change to advance gender equity and justice in Vermont” with a strategy that supports organizations that “advocate for economic security, provide job training, promote self-sufficiency, and address the intersectionality of race and gender equity.”

Grant for Women and Girls

The Vermont Women’s Fund conducts grantmaking for organizations and programs that make a difference for women and girls. It also aims to develop “a consciousness of giving among all women.” VWF funding prioritizes grantseekers that are committed to:

  • working with women and girls who are disproportionately impacted by systemic racism and sexism (BIPOC individuals, trans women, and non-binary people, women living with disabilities, older women).

  • demonstrating how the proposed work will influence change and address systemic barriers and root causes.

  • strategies grounded in research or best practices.

  • projects that exhibit a collaborative approach.

Financial literacy, job training, and life skills training are at the heart of recent giving patterns. VWF funds organizations that work with teenage girls in order to create pathways for their successful careers. The Fund also provides grants to groups that raise public awareness about the needs of women and girls.

Today, the Fund focuses much of its giving on women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurship. In 2021, VWF launched This Way Up!, an initiative to identify and track the impact of Vermont-based women-owned businesses in an easily accessible database.

In its grantmaking, it currently prioritizes organizations that “make pathways to economic well-being,” for instance through career development and financial literacy, as well as those that “address systemic barriers to economic well-being,” such as education, transportation, health care, or childcare.

Recent grantees include Addison Central Teens, Champlain College, Community Asylum Seekers Project, Downstreet Housing and Community Development, Green Mountain Camp for Girls, and Lund Family Center.

Important Grant Details:

Vermont Women’s Fund’s competitive grants typically range from $5,000 to $15,000. In a recent year, VWF gave away a total of over $400,000. Although the fund and community foundation are based in Middlebury, Vermont, this women’s fund makes grants all throughout the state of Vermont.

  • The Fund prioritizes the economic well-being and self-sufficiency of women and those who identify as women in Vermont. For VWF, an emphasis on intersectionality is crucial to receiving a grant.

  • Grant seekers may apply through the Vermont Community Foundation’s online portal.

  • VWF generally accepts applications from January to March, with decisions announced in May. Check the foundation’s grantmaking overview for this year’s deadline, which also mentions the critical components of supported grants.

  • Review the Fund’s past grantees for more information on the types of organizations it supports.

Grantseekers can direct general questions to the fund’s Director, Meg Smith, at msmith@vermontcf.org or 802-388-3355 ext. 301.  If you have questions about the grantmaking process or would like to discuss an idea, please contact the Fund’s grants team at grants@vermontcf.org or 802-828-7760. Deadlines tend to occur in early spring, while grantees are typically notified in May.

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