Out In The Mountains : News - Unity Project Meets Goals

     The Unity Project, a collaborative fundraising effort between the Vermont Community Foundation and the Samara Foundation, has reached its goal of raising $200,000 outside the lgbtq community in Vermont. Meeting the goal releases a $100,000 matching grant from the national organization Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues.
Once administrative costs and an endowment grant are deducted, $230,000 is availablefor lgbtq projects and organizations in Vermont.
     "All the commitments are in hand, although some are pledged over time," said Bill Lippert, director of the Samara Foundation. "The funds were raised outside the lgbt community," he emphasized. "What that means is that we've opened new doors, received
new dollars from new donors."
     The project aims to have those new donors build relationships with the Vermont lgbt community and continue their giving.
     "The Unity Project gave us the opportunity to talk about the needs of our community with people we've not met before," Lippert continued.
     Under Unity Project guidelines, there are three levels of grants: under $1000, which can be applied for at any time until June 3, 2005; program grants of up to $10,000; and strategic partnership grants of over $25,000. The larger two categories of grants can be applied for in 2004 and/or 2005.
     The smallest grants are designed to support high school Gay-Straight Alliances and anti-harassment projects. Outreach to existing and emerging GSAs to publicize the mini-grants and review of the applications will be done by Outright Vermont,with support from the Unity Project.
     Lippert stressed that the Unity Project funds were not intended to "create new programs that would need continuing funding." Another important aspect of the Unity Project, according to Lippert, is that its grant guidelines are based on a community-wide self-assessment.
     "The collaboration between the Samara Foundation and the Vermont Community Foundation is not new," declared Ann Jones-Weinstock, Vice President for Donor Relations and Communications at the Vermont Community Foundation. What is new, Jones-Weinstock said, is that "The Vermont Unity Project goes beyond our own quiet grant-making. It's more public and higher profile."
     The Vermont Community Foundation is made up of 485 constituent funds, some of which made donations to the Unity Project. "While the formal fundraising phase is over for this project," Jones-Weinstock added, "our continued engagement isn't ending. It's the end of a project, but not of the mission."
     Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues Executive Director Nancy Cunningham said that Vermont is one of 33 community foundation partners, and, she said, it's one of the most successful. Eleven projects have lgbt partnerships, including VCF and Samara.
     "Vermont is a really, really good model. It's unique in that it's the only statewide partnership," said Cunningham. Most are either city- or county-based projects.
     Among the national granters involved in Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues are the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, the Aaron Diamond Foundation, the Ford Foundation,the David Geffen Foundation, the Gill Foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Open Society Institute, and the Philip Morris Companies.

Guidelines for Unity Project grants are on the Samara Foundation and Vermont Community Foundation web sites: www.SamaraFoundation.org or www.vermontcf.org.