The Walter Cerf Community Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation Announces $156,000 in Grants to Support Arts, Education, Historic Preservation, and Social Services

The Walter Cerf Community Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation recently awarded $94,000 in grants to 21 organizations in its 2024 competitive grants round. These awards build on $62,000 distributed in third-year payments to the fund’s multiyear cohort, bringing the total grantmaking for 2024 to $156,000. The fund is pleased to support two applicants with large, single year grant awards: the Brandon Museum has been awarded $8,000 to transform its meeting space into an interactive education room, and the Town of Waltham has received $14,500 to support the restoration of its town hall. Additional grants include a combination of awards to organizations supporting youth and families, education, historic preservation, arts, health, and community enrichment in Addison County and statewide.

The Walter Cerf Community Fund makes grants to address charitable needs in the state of Vermont, with the majority of funds given to organizations serving Addison County and Brandon. Priority areas of the fund include the arts, education, historic preservation, and social services, reflecting the pattern of giving established by Cerf over many years.

Born in Leipzig, Germany in 1907, Walter Cerf spent most of his youth in Berlin. He relocated to the United States in 1937 as a refugee of Nazi Germany. After becoming a U.S. citizen, he served in military intelligence and developed a deep appreciation for the preservation of art, culture, and local history. In 1947, he began a 25-year career as a Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College, eventually retiring to his summer home in Leicester, Vermont in 1972.

During the last 20 years of his life, Cerf made gifts exceeding $10 million to more than 100 different organizations in Vermont. At his death in 2001, a permanent endowment, the Walter Cerf Community Fund, was established at the Vermont Community Foundation. The fund makes grants annually in Cerf’s name and will continue the generosity of this remarkable man who cared deeply about the vitality of communities in Addison County, northern Rutland County, and beyond. Visit vermontcf.org/cerf to learn more.

2024 Grant Recipients

• Boys and Girls Club of Vergennes, $2,500
• Brandon Museum, $8,000
• Charter House Coalition, $5,000
• Open Door Clinic, $5,000
• Everybody Wins! Vermont, $2,500
• Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, $5,000
• Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, $5,000
• Lund Family Center, $2,500
• Middlebury Actors Workshop, $2,000
• Middlebury Area Land Trust, $2,500
• Orwell Historical Society, $5,000
• Red Clover Children’s Center, $2,500
• Salisbury Volunteer Fire Department, $5,000
• Shelburne Museum, $5,000
• Town Hall Theater, $5,000
• Town of Waltham, $14,500
• Vergennes Opera House, $5,000
• Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, $2,500
• Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, $2,000
• Vermont Humanities Council, $2,500
• Vermont Symphony Orchestra, $5,000

Multi-year Grant Recipients

• Addison Central Teens
• Addison County Community Action Group/HOPE
• Addison County Community Trust
• Addison County Home Health and Hospice
• Addison County Readers
• Brandon Free Public Library
• Elderly Services
• Fort Ticonderoga
• John W. Graham Emergency Shelter
• Middlebury Studio School
• Opera Company of Middlebury
• Otter Creek Child Center
• Preservation Trust of Vermont
• Vermont Historical Society