The Canaday Family Charitable Trust is accepting Letters of Inquiry to encourage and support not-for-profit organizations that work in Vermont to improve the lives of children and families, promote environmental conservation and education, and reduce economic and racial inequality.
Donor Name: Canaday Family Charitable Trust
State: Vermont
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/02/2023
Details:
The Canaday Family Trust has distributed more than $20.5 million in grants to over 130 organizations in the areas of Children & Youth Services, and the Environment. Family members also make discretionary grants for which unsolicited proposals are not accepted.
Fields of Interests
- Children & Youth Services
- Grant areas include, but are not limited to, children’s education, health, housing, and insofar as it is in keeping with the Trust’s charitable nature, advocacy for children. Projects may directly benefit Vermont children, or might engage in public education on children’s issues or in research to identify, characterize, and measure children’s needs.
- Environment
- Grant areas include, but are not limited to, quality of land, water, and air, land use, waste disposal, biodiversity, sustainability, community involvement, and education. Vermont already has some of the most stringent environmental laws in the country; research into non-regulatory means of achieving environmental goals is encouraged.
- Social Justice &Economic Opportunity
- Consistent with its support for programs that benefit Vermont’s children, the Trust’s newest area of interest makes grants to programs that increase the standard of living for Vermont families. This has included job training programs, community organizing for affordable health care, and programs that encourage affordable housing and development. Programs supported share the Trust’s value of responsible environmental stewardship.
Criteria
The Foundation supports organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not classified as private foundations under Section 509(a) of the Code. The Foundation does not award grants to individuals, building campaigns, or endowments.
The trustees have established a set of informal guidelines:
- The trust prefers to fund projects that are Vermont-grown and Vermont-focused. Projects that duplicate or extend work done in other states, or that carry Vermont-based work outside the state are of less interest than projects that spring from the unique physical, human, and political landscape of Vermont.
- When a project has activities partly inside and partly outside of Vermont (for example, the project’s boundaries are watershed-driven, as opposed to political), they will consider funding the Vermont portion of the project, but other funding must be found for the non- Vermont portion.
- The trust prefers to fund special projects or new initiatives. They provide operating funding for existing organizations by invitation only. Proposals for funding for capital purchases (e.g., equipment) are considered.
- They are open to experimental projects even when a successful outcome is not assured, provided the impact of the projects is significant. They believe that a failed project that discovers why it failed may in the long run be more valuable than a successful project that learns nothing from its success.
- Specificity, clarity, and brevity are encouraged.
- A proposal for a school curriculum project should identify teachers, administrators, parents, and others who have requested and will be prepared to support the project.
- Familiarity with programs previously funded by the Canaday Family Charitable Trust is assumed and proposals for similar work should explain how that work expands or improves previously-funded work. For example, proposals for restorative justice programs should incorporate the policy work by Voices for Vermont’s Children in this area.
For more information, visit Canaday Grant Program.
