The National Life Group foundation announced this week that more than $1.1 million in grants has been awarded to nonprofits throughout Vermont and Texas.
Here’s a copy of the press release:
Montpelier, Vermont – The National Life Group Foundation has awarded more than $1.1 million in grants to almost 150 organizations in northern Vermont and north Dallas, Texas, the communities where its primary offices are located.
The general grants are in addition to other rounds of funding that the Foundation has already approved, including $609,000 that was awarded to hundreds of nonprofits chosen by employees and retirees and matched by the Foundation.
“We’re proud to help put into practice our company’s values to Do good. Be good. Make good,” said Beth Rusnock, President of the Foundation. “We know the important work that nonprofits are doing throughout the communities where we operate. This is just one way we step up to support them.”
National Life employees also volunteer at many of these nonprofits, taking advantage of a company benefit to pay 40 hours per year for volunteer work. National Life has also donated a variety of electronic devices, including computers and tablets, to nonprofits that needed to shift to an online strategy because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The greatest share of this year’s general grant funding, nearly $500,000, went to programs that help to address hunger. The Foundation also continued to help address the pandemic with $280,000 in grants to health and human services organizations and $166,000 to groups helping communities recover. Another area of need that developed in part because of Covid was mental health and the Foundation provided $111,000 to organizations that support it.
Since its inception in 2006, the National Life Group Foundation has made more than $15 million in grants to nonprofits. That includes a $500,000 grant this year to Let’s Grow Kids, which is devoted to advancing the campaign for high-quality, affordable child care for all Vermont families who need it by 2025. That was the largest grant in the Foundation’s history.