McClure Foundation Mini-Grants

The McClure Foundation Mini-Grants aim to enhance career exploration and postsecondary planning for young Vermonters. With grants ranging from $250 to $2,500, the program supports schools, libraries, and community organizations that provide crucial resources for students. Given the low continuation rates to higher education, these grants seek to make pathways to promising careers more visible, accessible, and equitable, ensuring that all young people in Vermont have the support they need to succeed.

NOTE: At any time of year, we encourage you to reach out to discuss how your idea or project lines up with Foundation priorities.
Our Giving Philosophy
Over fifteen hundred electricians, nearly 4,000 nurses, and over 2,700 software developers and testers: these are the kinds and numbers of high-pay, high-demand jobs expected to open in Vermont in the next ten years. While we know that these and other promising jobs require education or training after high school, fewer than half of young people in Vermont enroll in degree programs directly after high school, which is the lowest in New England according to the New England Secondary Schools Consortium. That continuation rate is even lower -- 31 percent -- for Vermont students from low-income backgrounds.
With this data in mind, we use grants to help make the education and training pathways to Vermont’s most promising jobs more visible, more accessible, and more affordable.
Alongside the release of the updated Vermont's Most Promising Jobs resource with the Vermont Department of Labor, we launched a mini-grant program that awards $250 - $2,500 to schools, libraries, and community organizations that help young Vermonters plan and prep for life after high school. If you have an idea for how a small amount of funding would boost career exploration and postsecondary planning for young Vermonters in your community, please contact us. We promise a speedy turnaround on funding decisions and no formal proposal or reporting requirements.

Eligibility

Grant applications will be accepted from organizations that are located in or serve the people of Vermont. Organizations must be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or be a public agency, school, or municipality in the state of Vermont. Nonprofit organizations or community groups who do not have 501(c)(3) status may apply for grant awards if another eligible organization acts as a fiscal sponsor.Grant applicants must employ staff and provide services without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, political affiliation, military service, physical or mental ability.

Ineligibility

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, political affiliation, military service, physical or mental ability be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded in whole or in part with funds made available by the McClure Foundation.