Vermont Grants

We look for proposals that will allow an organization to address these types of short-term needs: Emergency repairs of building structure or mechanical systems (heating/cooling, water service, etc.) whose sudden and unexpected failure interferes with the provision of services. Examples of a grant of this nature would be costs for a roof repair resulting from an extreme weather event at a social service provider or the mitigation of a water supply that has been deemed unusable in a food shelf. Replacement of essential equipment and technology whose sudden and unexpected failure interferes with the provision of services. An example would a crisis hotline phone system that fails without warning, or a stove at a homeless shelter that breaks just outside of the warranty period but well before the end of its expected life. Provision of services or acquisition of a resource that could not have been anticipated or budgeted, and without which the work of the organization would be severely hampered. An example of this type of grant is training on post-traumatic stress disorder for school guidance counselors supporting children in towns severely impacted by disaster. Another example is staffing a temporary replacement while an organization’s executive director is on emergency medical leave.

The program will fund work that increases the effectiveness and sustainability of nonprofits through: Strategic planning initiatives to clarify mission, goals, and performance measures; Financial sustainability planning, including diversification of revenue streams, resulting in embedded fundraising/development skills, plans or techniques; Merger planning and implementation; and Diversity, equity and inclusion policy development and implementation. To do great work, nonprofits and municipalities need strong leaders, clear plans, efficient systems, and a robust, diversified revenue stream. This takes investment in staff and time to explore and plan—something for which many nonprofits on limited or restricted budgets have few resources to spare. In response to this gap in the resources needed to strengthen organizations, the Vermont Community Foundation has created a small fund to help. The application is designed to be easy to complete and notification is within 6-8 weeks. We welcome applications to support your organization’s planning needs around achieving your mission, through strategic planning, merger conversations, or similar efforts. Grants will be no more than $5,000 each and will support the cost of consultants for the activities below. These grants are meant to supplement other funding, as we understand that this amount is typically not enough to cover the full cost of providing these services. In the project budget, please show the additional revenue sources to be used for this work, both pending and secured. We welcome the use of these funds as challenge grants to secure the additional funds. The program will prioritize applicants with operating budgets of $500,000 or less.

The Tarrant Foundation awards between 50 – 70 competitive grants annually. Because we believe we can have the most impact by concentrating these funds in Vermont, applications are accepted only from Vermont organizations. Youth: Resilience and Aspiration Our primary interest here is programs that support school-age youth to develop the dispositions, skills and resources they will need to move productively into adulthood. Our focus includes: achievement gap, job readiness, mentoring, out-of-school time, financial literacy, emergency & transitional housing, and community–based addiction recovery.