About Understanding Vermont

The Understanding Vermont (UV) program is a program of the Vermont Community Foundation. It is designed to provide useful information for philanthropists and other grantmakers who want to learn more about Vermont.

The program does this by:

  • Identifying and tracking some of the state's most pressing issues and trends as reflected in articles, events, studies, and conversations with Vermonters from all around the state. And,
  • Highlighting grant proposals from the community that are tied to those issues and trends.

The program includes:

  • The Understanding Vermont publication and the Understanding Vermont website, which are filled with information on 29 the state's most pressing issues and trends.
  • And, the Giving Together bulletin, which shares grant proposals from the community that are tied to the those issues and trends.

The Understanding Vermont Publication

The Understanding Vermont publication identifies 29 different trends. These trends reflect issues that surfaced as the VCF looked at articles and studies from recent years and talked with people across the state. The VCF also identified trends with the guidance of an advisory group composed of regional representatives from the Vermont nonprofit, government, and business sectors.

The Understanding Vermont Website

The UV website provides updated information on the issues and trends described in the publication. There are 19 issues & trends on this website. These 19 trends represent all of the 29 trends identified in the Understanding Vermont publication, though some have been combined to form one trend/issue category. (For example the trend "Vermont leads the nation in education but achievement gaps still remain" was combined with the trend "national education testing sidelines other school subjects" to form the "Education" trend/issue.)

Website Navagation & Trend Organization

The trends on this site are organized in alphabetical order under the "Issues & Trends" header on navigation bar to the left. You may also use this alphabetical list of trends to find what you are looking for.

Trend Content

Under each trend you will find:

  • A summary and a few "fast facts"
  • Upcoming community events
  • Recent headlines or publications

The Giving Together Bulletin

The VCF's Giving Together program invites advised fundholders to participate in supporting proposals that are received through the Foundation's competitive grant rounds.

A Giving Together bulletin is mailed to VCFadvised fundholders three times a year and contains a list of all proposals received for the most recent competitive grant round. Each listing includes a brief summary of the proposal and notes from Foundation staff about the proposal's strong points. Proposals that tie to information in Understanding Vermont are also highlighted, making it easy to support organizations working on the issues and trends that matter to you.

If you would like to receive the Giving Together bulletin, please contact us today at 802-388-3355 or info@vermontcf.org.