Out In The Mountains : News - Samara Foundation Grants $23K

     Burlington – The Samara Foundation announced its grants and scholarship awards in June, totaling $23,000. That represents the smallest amount given by the foundation in the last five years.
The foundation’s giving peaked in 2002, with total awards of $39,000, according to foundation Executive Director Bill Lippert's figures. In 2003, the amount awarded was $25,000, including three $1,000 scholarships. In 2004 the total was $31,000, including $23,500 in grants, five $1,000 scholarships, and a special additional "regrant" of $2500 given to Mountain Pride Media.
       According to Lippert, the reasons for the decline are complex. "In the first three years we gave out grants, we made a strategic decision to give out larger amounts than we could necessarily sustain, in part to get our name out there," Lippert said. In addition, the foundation's board wanted "to move significant amounts of money into the community," since it was then the only Vermont foundation specifically responsive to lgbtq concerns. For the same reason, the foundation funds general operating expenses, a rarity among foundations.
       Another reason for the recent decline in Samara grants is the existence of the Unity Project, a partnership of the Vermont Community Foundation and Samara, as a new source of grant funding. The time-limited Unity Project – funded in part through a challenge grant from the Gill Foundation and other large foundations – had over $200,000 to award to Vermont lgbtq projects as of 2004, of which just over $78,753 was awarded last year, with $118,950 available this year.
      The additional source of funding for the lgbt community projects has allowed Samara to rein in its award amounts without leaving organizations high and dry, Lippert said. However, the Unity Project is slated to end its existence by disbursing all of its funds this year.
And finally, Lippert said, "Our board of directors has made a strategic decision to be true to our multiple stakeholders: our donors, our investors, our grantees, and those whose gifts will come to us in the future as bequests." That means limiting grant awards to available dividends and interest, while building and maintaining the foundation's endowment, he said. "Annual granting is not the only measure of what we're up to," he concluded.
      Fundraising, according to figures provided by Lippert, brought in $69,000 in the agency's 2005 fiscal year, which ended on March 31. That represents the highest total since the $78,178 the agency received in 2000. At the same time, Lippert's figures show annual income of $141,976, and expenses for the year of $141,225, leaving a slight gain of $751. The figures provided show that the Samara Foundation has had deficits in four of the last eight years (1998,1999, 2001, and 2003), including a loss of $8700 for 2003.
Some of these data are available on the foundation's IRS Form 990, which is public information, available for most nonprofit organizations through a website called Guidestar (www.guidestar.org). Basic information and a scan of the form are available free with registration. The most recent 990 form available for Samara is for calendar year 2003. The foundation changed its accounting process from cash to accrual and its fiscal year from calendar to April 1-March 31 in 2004.
      The grant figures provided to OITM by Samara show that Outright has been the recipient of the most money awarded in grants since 1998, with $42,500, followed by Mountain Pride Media (publisher of Out in the Mountains) with $34,500, and the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, with $20,155. Other five-figure recipients since 1998 include the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont ($12,600), R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center ($12,400), Vermont CARES ($10,600) and SafeSpace ($10,550).

This Year's Awards

       Eight organizations will receive some funding from Samara this year: the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, $1500; Vermont CARES, $2000; Outright Vermont, $5000; Mountain Pride Media, $4000; Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, $1750; SafeSpace $1250; Transgender Day of Remembrance, $1000; and R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center $3500 for "improving and increasing lesbian health work" in providing "support, education and information about health care for LBT (lesbian, bisexual, transgender) women."
       Three graduating Vermont high school seniors have been awarded 2005 Samara Foundation Scholarships. Larson Hogstrom of Killington, Lauren Parker of Williston, and Gavin Rouille of South Burlington were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Twenty-two Vermont high school seniors have been recognized as Samara Scholars since the awards were established in 2000.