The Curis Fund provides educational scholarships to Vermont students pursuing a postsecondary education, aiming to level the playing field so that every Vermonter has a chance to obtain the education they need, regardless of family background, income level, or birthplace.

Thanks to the foresight of Emma Eliza Curtis, an extraordinary woman who had no children of her own and believed that education could change the course of a person’s life, over 10,000 Vermonters have realized their dreams of a better future. When she died in 1910, she left $120,000 in trust to provide financial assistance to young Vermonters to pursue a postsecondary education. Since then, the Fund has grown to over $30 million, granting $1.4 to $1.75 million in scholarships annually to low-income and at-risk Vermonters, many of whom are first-generation college students. Mrs. Curtis’s legacy lives on in every student who has received a scholarship.

The Curtis Fund is a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation.

Visit thecurtisfund.org to learn more.

No gifts to the Vermont Community Foundation shall directly or indirectly subject the Vermont Community Foundation to a prohibited material restriction as defined by federal law. All gifts are subject to a federally required amendment or variance power that permits the Vermont Community Foundation to vary from the terms and conditions of agreements with donors relative to the purpose, investment, and management of its funds subject to the procedural requirements of Vermont state law. In practice, the Foundation uses this variance power rarely and only if the needs of the community have shifted. The Foundation will be in communication with donors should such a shift occur.