The Vermont Department of Libraries is part of a network of over 400 Foundation Center Cooperating Collections located in libraries in the United States and abroad.  The cooperating collections serve individuals and nonprofit organizations.  There is a second Vermont cooperating collection at the Ilsley Library in Middlebury.  If you live in a border community, you may find the cooperating collections in NH, MA or NY more convenient than either Vermont location.     

• Directions, access and hours
• Electronic services
  
  • Ask a Foundation Center Online Librarian
  • Foundation Directory Online
  • Foundation Grants to Individuals Online
  • Foundation Center web site
  • Vermont Directory of Foundations Online
• VT Dept. of Libraries' Lending library
• Reference services    
   

Directions, access and hours

The Grants Collection is located in the central offices of the Vermont Department of Libraries at 109 State St., Montpelier.  Take Interstate 89 to exit 8.  Turn left at the second traffic light and then right at the next light.  109 State St., the Pavilion Office Building, is the second building on your left after the State House.  Use the side entrance facing away from the State House.  Inside the building you will be asked to sign in with the security officer and use a visitor name tag.  The entrance to the Department of Libraries is off the elevator lobby.  Within the Department, look for the stairwell on your right.  The Grants Collection is on the second floor to your left in the lower reading room of the Law Library.

For handicapped access, take an elevator to the second floor and use the handicapped access door across the hall on your right.  Sound the bell and open the door when you hear the buzz.  The Grants Collection will be on your right as you enter the lower reading room of the Law Library.

You may use the Grants Collection during all regular library hours, 7:45-4:30, Monday through Friday.  The library is closed for Vermont State holidays.  

Electronic Services

Ask a Foundation Center Online Librarian

Do you have questions about grant research and writing? Email or chat with the Foundation Center's Online Librarian by clicking on the button to the left. 

Foundation Directory Online

The most sought after resource in the Grants Collection is the Foundation Center's Foundation Directory Online that lists grants for nonprofit organizations.  Foundation Directory Online offers searching by fields of interest for 91,000 foundations, corporate givers and grantmaking public charities.  Grantmaker profiles include descriptions of over 1.2 million recent grants and list the names of more than 400,000 key decision-makers.  These elements may be searched by keyword.   The Foundation Center has a brief guided tour of the Foundation Directory Online on its web site.

You may use the Foundation Directory Online at any of the Law Library’s three public computers on a first come, first served basis.  No appointment is necessary.  You may print copies at $.10/page, payable in the Department’s business office located on the ground floor.  You may also email search results. The Foundation Directory Online is available to individuals, by subscription, for home or business use.  Details including fees are available at http://fconline.fdncenter.org/.  

Foundation Grants to Individuals Online

The Center's web site allows you to order publications, visit the Center's online library, query the online librarian, examine the "proposal writing short course," download application forms, review funding trends, and much more.  At this site, find the free Foundation Finder for basic information about 70,000 foundations with searching by foundation name or location.  The  990 Finder links you to IRS forms for private foundations. Each foundation's Form 990 lists all grants for the year of the filing.You may visit the Foundation Center's web site at http://www.fdncenter.org/.   

Vermont Directory of Foundations Online

The Directory contains free information on grantmakers that have a primary address in Vermont, as well as grantmakers that are not located in Vermont but have an interest in funding Vermont projects.  Searching is very similar to the Foundation Directory Online.   The Vermont Directory of Foundations Online is based on the print directory created by Christine Graham.  It is currently sponsored by the Vermont Community Foundation and the Foundation Center.

Vermont Dept. of Libraries' Lending library

The lending library is helpful to nonprofit development professionals and grantmakers as well as individual grantseekers. 

The Foundation Center provides core resources:

•  grantmaker directories arranged by subject fields
• directories of grant recipients and their projects
• publications on fundraising, prospect research and proposal writing 

• directories of grants for individuals
• handbooks on grant writing
• handbooks on managing nonprofits
• handbooks on working with boards of trustees
• books on fundraising methods and development strategies beyond grant writing
• periodicals and newsletters on grantseeking

All of these titles are listed in the VT Dept. of Libraries' online catalog.  All but the most oversized are available to borrow.  Ask for an interlibrary loan through your local library. 

Reference Services

Reference librarians are available to assist you with print and electronic sources during all of the hours the Law Library is open.

Reference staff will supply factual data from the Collection.  In addition to visiting the Grants Collection, you may request information in any of three ways.  Send email to Reference and Law Services, telephone 802-828-3268,  or submit an interlibrary loan request through your local public library.

Since grant research is individual and subjective, extensive research must be done personally.

This program supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, through the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Vermont Department of Libraries.