Staff Blog

Foundation Controller David Morrissey shares how the organization went through the process of reviewing the Socially Responsible Investment pool and how even a 5th grader can relate to our values and intentions for the pool

Vermont has long recognized that demographic and economic trends make workforce development a key challenge—and the Community Foundation has long recognized that making the education and training pathways to good jobs more accessible, more visible, and more affordable is a key strategy for closing Vermont’s opportunity gap. It’s easy to draw the line between investing in career training and helping to close opportunity gaps in Vermont. It’s not as easy to figure out how to thoughtfully fund this issue in ways that lead to equitable and impactful outcomes.

The image most of us have of a college student—the quintessential 18-22-year-old living the idyllic college life—needs updating. According to new data from Advance Vermont, today’s Vermont students are juggling work, family and other life responsibilities like no generation before them. Twenty-five percent are parents. Over a third experience food or housing insecurity. Over half commute and 28% attend online. This requires a reckoning on the part of college and career training systems whose ethos and services are primarily designed to meet the needs of those 18-22-year-old full-time students.

If you are driving north on Interstate 89 and you get off at Exit 4 and turn left towards downtown Randolph, you’ll see this stunning image. (photo by Zac Freeman) The image of Whale Dance is particularly remarkable at the beginning or end of day, when the shadows are long and the colors roll through the valley and pool at the base of Braintree Mountain.

On Thursday, December 5th fundholders and friends of the Community Foundation gathered in Putney to discuss faith, spirituality, and philanthropy. Fundholders tell us that their beliefs and values are powerful motivators to why they give and the particular causes they support. That isn’t surprising; studies show that people who say faith or spirituality are important to them volunteer more, give more, and give more often, to both religious and secular causes. How do your beliefs and values inform your giving?