The Samara Fund provides grants and scholarships to LGBTQ+ Vermonters.
Donor Name: Vermont Community Foundation
State: Vermont
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/07/2026
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Samara Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation is a group of Queer and Trans Vermonters committed to a vision of transformational grants and scholarships to the people and groups throughout Vermont who demonstrate their dedication to the empowerment, health, and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV positive (LGBTQ+) people.
Priorities
- Queer and trans-led projects and organizations
- Projects that center, are led by, and/or prioritize BIPOC and/or trans Vermonters
- Elders and youth
- Queers with disabilities
- Work that is harm reduction (including HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy)
- Projects meaningfully working beyond Chittenden County
- Smaller budget projects
- Long-term projects.
Core Values
Core values guide their work. They are:
- Anti-racist and anti-oppressive by practicing intersectionality, power-shifting, and transformative justice both internally and externally. This includes being proudly trans-inclusive in every level of work
- Transparent with community and funders about how they work
- Queering fundraising and redistributing wealth for a bigger impact on the Vermont LGBTQ+ community
- Prioritizing accessibility, gratitude, and accountability while queering work to make it fun, connective, and sustainable.
Types of Funding
- General organizational support
- Project-specific support to organizations
- Emergent (unplanned) needs for organizations
- Sponsorship of queer events
- Scholarships for LGBTQ+ high school students committed to positive change for LGBTQ+ people who seek to enroll at a four-year college or university, a career or technical college, or a vocational program
Funding Information
The Samara Fund will award grants up to $5,000.
Grant Period
Grant activities must take place within a year from when the grant is awarded to be eligible for funding.
Eligibility Criteria
The applicant must:
- be a Vermont resident
- be a graduating high school senior or receiving a GED by the end of the current academic year
- plan to further formal education training in any area, be it academic, vocational, technical, or the arts, in the following academic year
- demonstrate, through personal experiences and/or public commitment, a dedication to the interests of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.
For more information, visit VCF.
