Introduction from Dan and Carolyn

Dear Friends:

We cannot reflect on 2020 without acknowledging the confluence of crises that shaped the year. COVID-19, our country’s reckoning with racial injustice, and the continued threat of climate change made for an intense year of disruption, loss, and isolation for many Vermonters, as it did for humanity around the globe.

And yet, it was a year that brought us together like never before.

In 2020, with support from fundholders and other donors, the Vermont Community Foundation distributed over $12 million to more than 1,000 organizations, providing, in part, healthy meals to food-insecure Vermonters, shelter for Vermonters without homes, access to online learning for students, and support networks for historically marginalized and vulnerable populations. As of May 2021, you donated an astonishing $10.39 million to the VT COVID-19 Response Fund, which remains active and focused on pandemic-recovery grantmaking. From our entire team, thank you.

It was also a year that brought closing the opportunity gap— the central tenet of our work—into full relief.

The underlying conditions that created the opportunity gap—the disparate experiences and conditions that hold Vermonters back by geography, race, and family background— were exacerbated by the pandemic. This year brought an even greater understanding of where our state lifts people up, and who it has left behind—and we leaned hard into those insights.

Our team is doubling down on closing the opportunity gap so that Vermont not only recovers, but recovers stronger, more resilient, and more equitable than ever before.

The five pillars of our pandemic recovery initiative—building more resilient food systems, supporting learners in transition, expanding rural connectivity, accelerating rural entrepreneurship, and advancing equitable, anti-racist communities—also provide a roadmap for closing the opportunity gap and changing the circumstances that hold Vermonters back. As philanthropists, we can move quickly and with clear eyes to stand-up the organizations doing work in our communities.

The stories within this report bring to life our work in these areas. Stories about high school graduates enrolling in a free class at CCV, farmers making yogurt for the Vermont Foodbank instead of dumping excess milk, and town libraries boosting WiFi to allow students and workers access from their cars. Time and time again, Vermonters showed up for each other.

As we look back on a year marked by isolation and division, we are grateful to all of you who came together to support our communities. We can accomplish so much together.

Dan Smith, President and CEO Carolyn Dwyer, Board Chair