The Vermont Community Foundation is a public charity that inspires giving and brings people and resources together to make a difference in Vermont.
A family of hundreds of funds and foundations, we provide the advice, investment vehicles, and back-office expertise that make it easy for the people who care about Vermont to find and fund the causes they love. Together, our funds and programs provide more than $25 million a year in grants in Vermont and beyond. And as a state with the highest proportion of population living in rural areas, we exist in part to improve the lives of rural Americans.
For too many Vermonters—especially those in rural areas—getting ahead in life isn’t simply a matter of hard work.
It is a question of access: to high-quality education, to meaningful job opportunities, to healthy and vital communities. In late 2017, the Community Foundation began to align its philanthropic resources to close the opportunity gap and give more Vermonters opportunities for advancement.
Through a combination of deep community engagement, grantmaking, and place-based investments, we advance our work on the opportunity gap along four main focus areas: Early Care & Learning; Support for Youth & Families; Community & Economic Vitality; and College & Career Training. Taken together, they represent a commitment to removing barriers for all Vermonters to be successful.
We elevate important issues in the state and respond when the need arises, including helping to coordinate philanthropic response in times of crisis and challenge.
The Vermont Community Foundation has a proven track record of stepping up to challenges facing the state. Since March 2020, our VT COVID-19 Response Fund has distributed more than $5 million to help vulnerable populations weather the worst of the pandemic and set the state on a pathway to more equity and greater resilience in the face of future disruption. The state’s recovery would not be complete if it did not address inequalities experienced by rural Vermonters, which is why many aspects of our recovery initiatives are focused on rural challenges, including entrepreneurship and broadband.
Click here to learn more about our funds and how they support rural Vermonters.