The Vermont Community Foundation—in partnership with the Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund—has established a new permanent fund for disaster response. The David R. Coates Fund for Vermont Disaster Relief ensures Vermont communities and individuals have a reliable, immediate resource to prepare, respond, and recover when natural disasters strike.

While the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund continues to support victims of the 2023 and 2024 floods, we encourage donors to transition their financial support to this new, more agile, permanent fund, ensuring swift action when the next disaster occurs.

You can contribute to the permanent fund:

• Through our online giving platform via credit card, mobile pay, or bank transfer
• Stock or Wire: For instructions on how to send gifts of stock and wire transfers please contact the Philanthropy team at philanthropy@vermontcf.org or 802-388-3355 opt. 5.
• Donor Advised Fund: Make a donation through your VCF donor advised fund through your VCF Donor Portal account. 
• Check: The David R. Coates Fund for Vermont Disaster Relief at the Vermont Community Foundation, 3 Court Street Middlebury, VT 05753

• You can read our full strategy for the fund here.
• The VCF is coordinates with federal, state, and local partners to figure out where the need is greatest and how philanthropy can fill the gaps in network resources.
• At the highest level, the VT Flood Response and Recovery Fund supports emergency needs, families, farms, main street businesses, and communities that were affected across the state.
• Grants initially focused on emergency needs and has addressed longer-term recovery needs in later phases.
• We are not hosting a formal application process for the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund but are recording multiple inquiries. Contact the Grants & Community Impact team at grants@vermontcf.org or 802-388-3355 opt. 6 so that we may be aware of your specific needs. Additional nonprofit resources are listed in another FAQ below.
• You can read a partial list of grantees here.

To support a recovery that positions our people, places, and economy for the future, the fund supports and invests in the following areas:

• Farm Recovery
• Housing & Shelter
• Main Street Recovery
• Mental Health
• Watershed Resilience

Making sure that dollars from the Fund go out to assist those most in need is of prime concern. The Community Foundation draws on our extensive network of key partners and nonprofit organizations at all levels- state, regional, and local- both to understand the needs of these communities and to move the funding out to them. Especially in challenging times like these, we greatly value all of the Vermont organizations that have intentionally built the trusted relationships needed to meaningfully serve vulnerable communities and traditionally marginalized groups in all parts of the state.

Please visit our Resources for Nonprofits page.

Please visit our Resources for Farms & Farmers page.

Please visit our Resources for Businesses page.

Please visit our Resources for Individuals page.

Building on previous disaster relief grantmaking work, Hurricane Irene and the COVID-19 pandemic as two recent examples, the Community Foundation is well-positioned to respond to the current needs of Vermonters in crisis. The Foundation makes grants to trusted partners and organizations that have a proven track record of making sure the money is used as intended—the majority of these organizations are long-standing partners of the VCF. While some grantees are new nonprofits and funds, set up specifically to respond to crisis, organizers include partners that we have worked with in the past. In normal circumstances there are often requirements to report back to the Foundation to confirm the grant funds were spent as intended. However, in times like these, to not add undue stress to the nonprofit staff that is working feverishly to help those in urgent need, we waive the reporting requirements so they can spend more time focusing on the good work they are doing. That’s all to say, the VCF is in contact with nonprofit organizations and municipalities to understand both needs and how grant funding can best be put to use.