EQUiTY & JUSTICE

VERMONT Grant Program

The Vermont Equity & Justice Grant Program for 2026 is under development. Please check back in Mid-April.

Each year, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation offers grants of up to $15,000, with an average grant size of $10,000, to Vermont-based, Vermont-focused, non-profit organizations working to address racial, economic, social, and environmental disparities and injustice in Vermont. We will seek out innovative programs that are working toward fundamental change in Vermont and that approach their work through the lens of social justice and equity.

We do not offer grants to organizations that seek funding solely for social services to support individuals. This grant program is highly competitive. Please be sure to read through all of the priorities to ensure a good fit. We have allocated a total of $300,000 annually to this program.

Priority will be given to organizations that work with immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ+, low-wage labor organizers, and racial justice. 

DEADLINE:
The Vermont Equity & Justice Grant program is currently under development. Please check back in Mid-April for updates.

Requirements
Priorities
Areas not funded
Application Process
Deadlines
Faqs

Requirements

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING, EACH APPLICANT ORGANIZATION MUST BE:

Located in Vermont AND
A Non-Profit 501(c)3 organization OR
Represented by a fiscal agent with 501(c)(3) status
Have a Total Annual Operating Budget under $500,000

PrioritIES

FUNDING PREFERENCE WILL BE GIVEN TO ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE AREAS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Equity in education and early childcare
Equity in access to safe and affordable housing
Criminal justice reform
Workers’ rights and
Equity in access to healthy and affordable food

We will prioritize programs that work to meaningfully engage and intentionally involve and give voice to those who are most impacted by the problem the organization seeks to address. Grant recipients may be invited to make a presentation to Ben & Jerry’s Employees at some time during the grant year.

Areas Not funded

Unfortunately, we cannot consider requests for:

Programs that solely provide direct services to individuals
Discretionary or emergency requests
Schools
Colleges or universities
Individuals or scholarship programs
Research, litigation or legal expenses
Capital or endowment campaigns
State agencies or government-sponsored programs
Businesses or business associations
Religious or proselytizing activities
One time events
Other foundations or regranting organizations
Organizations or programs that are focused or based outside the state of Vermont

ApplicAtion Process

CAREFULLY REVIEW THE

Eligibility Requirements

TAKE NOTE OF ALL THE ITEMS LISTED ABOVE

CREATE AN ACCOUNT

OR LOGIN TO YOUR EXISTING ACCOUNT

APPLICATION SYSTEM LOGIN ▸

APPLY

Deadlines

The Vermont Equity & Justice Grant program portal has closed for 2025.

Frequently asked Questions

Due to staff limitations we are not able to meet with potential applicants. We encourage all potential applicants to review our grant partners page to better understand the type of organizations we fund and our typical giving amounts. If, after thoroughly reading all of the information detailed on this website, organizations have additional questions, they are welcome to email or call the Foundation directly.

For 2025, we have made a change to the grant program, although typically the Vermont Equity & Justice grants are offered one cycle per year and an organization would be able to apply up to three years before taking a break. This year we will have the process open throughout the year and an organization can apply regardless of how many years they have been funded through the grant program. However, an organization can be funded only once through the grant program within this same grant year.

No. We will only consider one application at a time across our grant program options, and thus recommend researching each program to ensure your organization applies to the most targeted program for your needs. If you have been denied from one grant program, you may still apply under another grant program, provided the work is aligned within the grant guidelines.

All our grant decisions are recommended by teams of Ben & Jerry’s employees.

Yes, we will be in touch with every organization to share our decision, funded or not funded. Notifications are sent through the grant portal system. Please ensure your inbox has our contact information as a “Safe Sender.”

The grant program will have rolling reviews throughout the year, however, we anticipate we will have many requests for our Employee Grantmaking Committee to review. We give them about 6 weeks to thoroughly read through all requests and allow for time to request any additional items that might be needed in their review.

The grantmaking meetings are expected to take place in cycles of approximately 6 weeks. If you haven’t heard from us by then, please feel free to reach out for a status update.

We do not accept mailed applications and support materials. All applications must be submitted online through our grants management system. You will need to first register your organization before applying online through the grant program. You can learn more about the grant system, how to register and apply here (New Dashboad). Please note that we do not accept additional support materials through the mail, as we do not have means to share it across the entire team. Please save your postage.

An organization should only be registered once in our online grant portal. If the organization does not have a record of their login details, please get in touch with the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation and we will add you to the list of contacts and provide you with a login. If you have already registered the organization and created an account and are worried that you cannot see the organization history, please contact us and we will connect you to the correct account. Please contact Dana Jeffery at 802-495-1378 or info@benandjerrysfoundation.org. We will attempt to resolve any issues during our usual business hours Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm, EST

Grant Partner Highlights

PAST Grant Partners

The documents below feature lists, by year, of the organizations and programs we’ve funded in the past. Not only is it inspiring to see all of the impactful work happening around Vermont, reading through these brief descriptions is a great way to better understand the types of projects that qualify for Vermont Equity & Justice Program funding.