Out In The Mountains : News - More Funding Plans for Vermont Organizations

The Vermont Community Foundation, in partnership with the Samara Foundation of Vermont, has been selected by the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership Fund — a project of Astraea Foundation — to receive a 1:2 challenge grant. In order to receive the $100,000 grant, Samara and VCF will have to garner $200,000 in matching contributions from local sources.

“The spirit of the grant,” said VCF director David Rahr, “is to attract new donors, particularly from the straight community.” The Funding Partnership is set up to reach communities through the existing structure of community foundations. Samara Foundation teamed up with the eligible Vermont Community Foundation to bring the opportunity to Vermont.

Calling VCF the “premier public charity in Vermont,” Samara director Bill Lippert said the Middlebury-based organization’s pursuit of this grant “demonstrates an awareness of the value of the GLBT community and raises visibility of our needs.”

Rahr calls the pairing of the two organizations a natural partnership. “We’re not going to move the needle against the tough issues in our society without this kind of spirit of cooperation.”

To start the process, the organizations will set up an advisory board. This group will be made up of 15 community leaders and business people and should be in place by May. The intent is for the members of this group to be diverse in age, gender, and geographic representation.

That group will document the financial needs of the Vermont GLBT community. This assessment will be used both in soliciting donors and as a guideline in the re-granting of the funds.

The priority for fundraisers will be corporate and foundation donors first, then the heterosexual community, and finally the GLBT community. “The goal is to educate philanthropists that are not already donors to GLBT causes,” said Rahr.

The granting process will most likely begin in late 2000 or early 2001. “This first year is full of organizational issues,” said Lippert. “Once the advisory board is in place, the rest of the process will be clearer.” The only restriction placed by the Partnership Fund upon the regranting process is that these funds not be used for HIV/AIDS support. The Astraea Foundation operates a separate fund for such causes.

In late January of this year, the Funding Partnership announced its selections for the current cycle of challenge grants. Vermont was one of only three sites chosen this year. Community foundations in Oak Park, IL and Toronto were also selected.

In 1997 less than one-third of one percent of the annual philanthropic dollars of major national foundations were granted to address GLBT issues. In 1997, only 47 of the 12,823 foundations listed in the Foundations Directory made grants to fund GLBT issues.

Members of the Funding Partnership include The Collin Higgins Foundation, Columbia Foundation, David Geffen Foundation, Levi Strauss Foundation, Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Gill Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation.