Farm to School and Early Childhood Community Supported Agriculture Grants

Program Overview

This purpose of this funding opportunity is to help early childhood education providers and after school programs access more Vermont grown and produced food. Successful applicants will receive a reimbursement grant to subsidize the cost of a community supported agriculture (CSA) share(s) or farm share(s). Shares must be from a Vermont farm, or farm collaborative.

Grants of up to $1,000 are available. The grants will reimburse programs for 70-80% of the cost of a CSA or farm share, up to the maximum award amount. Applicants are required to cover the remaining 20-30% of the cost of the CSA or farm share using matching funds. As a reimbursement grant, successful applicants will be required to purchase their CSA or farm share(s) prior to receiving grant funds.

Eligibility

The following entities are eligible to apply for this competitive grant:

• Vermont registered or licensed early childcare providers
• Vermont licensed after school programs
• 21^st Century Child Learning Center Programs

Previous CSA Grant recipients (2021 and/or 2022) are eligible to re-apply with a slightly higher match requirement than first-time grantees.

How to Apply

1. Download the full 2023 Community Supported Agriculture Request for Applications.
2. Register for an optional informational webinar on Thursday March 16, 2023 at 10 AM.
3. Register for an account in WebGrants if you don't already have one. It can take two business days after registering to be able to submit an application.
4. Apply by Friday April 7, 2023 at 12PM (noon) in WebGrants.

Important Notes

Prior to beginning an application, applicants are encouraged to identify and contact their desired CSA provider and to register in WebGrants if they have not done so. A map of many of the State's CSA providers is available on NOFA-VT's website. 

Applicants that do not have a WebGrants account will need to create one by filling out and submitting the WebGrants Registration Form. It is critical that new WebGrants users allow enough time for their registration request to be processed as they will not be able to fill out or submit an application until their account is created.  Applicants that fail to meet the submission deadline because they did not submit their registration request in time will not be considered for funding.

For a full guide to submitting an application, review the WebGrants Application Guide.

Applications must be submitted by the fiscal agent. For most organizations, the fiscal agent is the business owner, executive director, or business manager. This is a legal requirement, as the prospective grant agreement (a legal agreement with the State of Vermont) must be held with the organization bearing fiscal responsibility. Therefore, the fiscal agent is responsible for submitting the grant application, signing the grant agreement, and ensuring all terms of the grant agreement are met. Applications not submitted by the entity bearing fiscal responsibility will not be accepted.