The National Life Group Foundation will be issuing a news release this week announcing the opening of the 2021 grant cycle.
We wanted to share the announcement with all of you first.
National Life Group Foundation Will Focus on Covid, Economic Relief
Montpelier, Vermont – The National Life Group Foundation will again focus much its giving on Covid-19 and economic relief, just as it did in 2020 when more than half of its $2 million budget went to those areas.
The Foundation opened the application period on January 1 and it will remain open through March 31. Nonprofits in central and northern Vermont and Dallas, Texas where National Life has its campuses are eligible to apply.
“In these unprecedented times, we will give priority to applications that address basic human needs including hunger, mental health, domestic violence, and homelessness,” said Beth Rusnock, National Life Group Foundation president. “We also hope to see submissions that demonstrate how organizations can help our communities recover and emerge from the twin crises of the pandemic and the economic turmoil.”
The Foundation took a similar approach in 2020 when the pandemic emerged just as the general grant application period was closing. The time to apply for grants was extended to allow nonprofits to explain the impact the pandemic was having on their mission and how they planned to respond.
In all the Foundation donated to dozens of critical causes, ranging from Covid-19 relief funds established by the Vermont Community Foundation and the North Texas Community Foundation, to community rebuilding efforts championed by the Vermont Council on Rural Development and the Montpelier Alive downtown organization.
“We continued to refocus our philanthropic giving throughout the year,” Rusnock said. “This included an initiative by the Vermont Principals’ Association to provide mini-grants to schools for food and things like umbrellas to keep kids dry while learning outside as well as another by the Vermont Community Foundation, the Vermont Arts Council and state government to advance entrepreneurship and downtown vitality.”
Applications for grants are available online and donations that are approved will be made in late spring or early summer.
National Life also continues to make nonfinancial donations including refurbished computer equipment which has been given to nonprofits’ clients for telehealth appointments. And National Life employees continue to safely take advantage of the paid 40 hours of annual volunteer time the company provides despite Covid-19.